Know Your Rights: Photographers

Great article.

Agree with Mr. Pitt

I am a railfan. Planes are my job. We are sometimes questioned by police but that is a rare occasion. I've had four encounters with law enforcement while photographing and all have been very positive. The officers only wanted to know what was going on and in most cases started talking trains. BNSF and now AMTRAK encourage railfans because we recognize things or people that are abnormal and report them.

This is a great summary of photographer's rights.

Not to side track the post, but as I recall, it is not clear whether the TSA has a legal basis to do a lot of what they do.

Good article here with much good information. I think the best thing anyone can ever do is to respond politely though. You catch more flies with honey as they say...

Man, so true.

onjuku20 , my friend does a lot of rail fanning and he gets questioned by the cops constantly. One told him he had to be 200ft away from a crossing on public property....the recommended is 15.

Rail crossings in Texas are private property and belong to the railroad. This is an old law going back to around 1900.

when in denver i was taking some photos of an amtrak locomotive and was told to leave as they told me i was tresspassing and i was across the street from the railroad property. while during my 5 hour layover in L A X i was able to take photos ot the different airlined coming and goin NO QUESTIONS ASKED and the staff wanted to see how well the photos turned out since i was using my cell phone and they were in awe how well the photos turned out and they wanted me to send the photos to their e-mail addresses so they could use the photos as screensavers

I would use an ounce of caution when photographing people on private property. I've seen photographers standing on FBO property photographing passengers.

Based on my experience, a lot of cops don't know what they're talking about. They might be good at enforcing a 35mph speed limit or arresting a guy with a gun that just knocked over a c-store. When it comes to boats, planes and trains, they are out of their element. I've been harassed while walking out to my plane or parking in the GA lot returning to my plane. Most recently I was dropped off and walking to the gate. My plane and pilots were waiting on the other side of the fence. This powertripper started questioning me like I'm a terrorist. I was well dressed and had nothing but my phone and a file folder in my hand. It took the three of us a half hour to convince this guy that we were legit. He even ran my plane's registration. Railroad property is private and in many cases they employ RR Police. Some of my favorite fishing holes are cut off by a RR and they are now suddenly enforcing the trespassing. It's their right and I respect that as I've had to start cracking down on problems on my own properties.

Your article gave me insight on airport photography.Because,i do it.When aircraft are taxiing.And,i am waiting for my fight.

I was questioned by TSA at LAX for photographing planes while waiting for for my delayed flight to JFK, but once they got my ID and chatted with them for awhile, they said they were just doing their job, wished me a pleasant flight back, and let me continue taking pictures.

Excellent article, now if only the TSA would read it!

Pretty good article. The ACLU is off on one point as usual. (this is according to CRS, your state laws may differ) If a photographer takes a photo on public property or on private property not owned by the individual, they do not own rights to the photo, and it can be viewed or deleted as a law enforcement officer sees fit.