Hockley Photography

My office for my day job is across the street from a Burger King. It’s not the healthiest of options, but I’ll eat there occasionally. Last week I noticed this new sign on the door:

As a private business, Burger King is certainly welcome to set their own policies. But I have to wonder… are they that uptight about lawsuits that they’re going to prohibit photography in a fast food restaurant. I doubt I would’ve been taking many gallery-worthy photos at my local BK, but their policy turns me off as a photographer and as a customer. I’d urge other photographers to choose alternate fast food instead of support a company that won’t allow photography.

Thomas Hawk has written some blog posts recently about the current anti-photography anti-terror campaign in the UK, but it’s not just the cross-Atlantic neighbors to the east that have issues with unreasonable photographer suspicion. Last summer there was quite a buzz surrounding two “Middle-Eastern looking” men who were seen taking pictures on the Washington State Ferries.

Turns out that they weren’t terrorists, but rather ordinary businessmen who were just interested in the ferries.

On an unrelated note, I’m aware there are some issues when attempting to page back through previous blog posts. I’m currently looking into the problem and hope to have it resolved shortly.

With a forecast in the mid-70s for yesterday, our family wanted to do something in the Portland area outside to enjoy the weather, and naturally I wanted to involve photography. My wife suggested the Portland Japanese Garden, which I’d only been to once (several years prior) and hadn’t taken photos. We looked at their website to get directions and information, and discovered they have a very restrictive photography policy.

In short, there’s a $150/year fee to take any photos which will potentially be used for any sort of commercial effort. If you don’t pay the fee, you have to sign a policy that you will never sell any of the images you take. If you’re like me and shoot stuff and then work on possibly marketing it at a later point, you’re pretty much screwed unless you pay the $150. They don’t allow any portrait photography under any circumstances. If you’re only shooting for personal, non-commercial use and don’t pay the $150 fee, there’s a $2 tripod fee. Everyone who takes photos (with the fee or not) is required to allow their marketing department to use the photos for promotional purposes.

Yes, they’re a private entity and are free to set their own rules. However when the rules are so restrictive that it prevents folks from an enjoyable experience, that’s a loss for the Gardens and a loss for photographers. Based on their restrictive rules, we chose to go elsewhere this weekend.