Photography forbidden

Just to add a little to this.

After the incident, we went to look around Chester town hall. And what a contrast in attitude. We naturally asked if it was OK to take photos, and were told that we were welcome to do this. In fact, the pleasant young chap at reception insisted in getting us to pose on the stairs whilst he took a picture using my wifes phone.

I mentioned the Boodles business to him, and he was already aware of their position on photography, so it couldn't have been an isolated incident.

Daft thing is, if I'd had my proper camera with me, I could have stood on the opposite side of the street and zoomed right in on the window display, out of range of jobsworth chap.

It's a pity I don't live near there, or plan to travel there, as I would make a point of taking a few photos right outside the shop

There used to be a total ban on taking photos inside Nat Trust properties, presumably you could have been 'casing the joint'... spotting the Rembrandts, locating the security cameras etc! This has now been relaxed and its usually ok to take photos but no flash. 

Very true, but I have found that the light levels are so low that you have to push the ISO up too much. On my last visit to Wallington in one gloomy day in March I borrowed a Canon 6D from work and as it has a full frame sensor it has excellent high ISO/low light capability. I was snapping away quite happily but kept getting asked if the photos were for my personal use only.

In  all  fairness  to  N T ,  Corners,  I  believe  that  the  light  levels  are  kept  low  to  avoid  the  colours  of  fabric,  wallpaper  &  even  wood  from  fading  as  much  as  possible.  We'd  be  a  right  grumpy  lot  if  those  gorgeous  rooms  were  all  the  same  shade  of  something  pale  and  anaemic 

Follow up, I was a little bored last week so I sent an email to the shop concerned with a link to this site. Today I recieved a charming email and I'm copying it here:

Dear Mr (editted to protect CS)

Thank you for taking the time to write in to us. Apologies for the slightly delayed response I have been on leave this week and only returned today to see your email.

I'm of course disappointed to read the comments and can assure you this isn't the way in which we would like ourselves to be projected from a company or brand perspective.

I'm sure you can appreciate that we do have very strict security measures in place to protect the store and always strive to accomplish this whilst maintaining a friendly and inviting to place to come and visit. Clearly in this case perhaps some common sense needed to be applied in order not to cause any offence. As you correctly state your are well within your rights to take a photograph in a public place and this isn't  something we would normally wish to prevent someone doing unless we had a serious concern for security. 

I will pass your comments on to our security manager who can brief our security guards on this. I note that you were referred to as young lady/man and this isn't appropriate and again we will pick this up with the individual concerned.

Again thank you for making us aware of this and I can assure you this will be followed up.

Kind Regards

Andrew Musgrave

Assistant Manager

Result! Good one, Corners.

My feeling is that there is a misunderstanding of how a public place is defined.  Many shopping complexes are privately owned, but allow public access.  A private road, with a public footpath running on it, as some gated communities would like the public to think is private, is public right of way and you can photo the greater double breasted bird sitting in a tree, but not in a front room.

My understanding of some privately owned land (camp site ?) is that a drunk can be arrested by police, if deemed to be a "public" nuisance.  Also if driving, can be charged driving under the influence, even if not on the road.

It is one of the ironies of today's world, that any show of a camera, brings out the PCorrect, "you can't photo here "  but anyone from the age of about nine years of age with a smart phone, can snap away to their hearts content.

rgds

Some time ago I attended a photography class. One tip given was to walk around (particularly in streets) with the camera casually held at your waist height and randomly and unbeknown to anyone in shot, press the shutter button. The idea was that the shots would be totally natural. Despite deleteing many shots, I must say that on occasions I have inadvertently taken some really cracking photos using this method.

thanks for the replies everyone

Thanks for following this up.

Interesting to read the part in his email that states "this isn't  something we would normally wish to prevent someone doing unless we had a serious concern for security." 

So they DO admit to trying this on, on certain occasions, regardless of not being legally entitled to do so.