The question has occasionally been asked where do we draw the line on photographic freedom. Anyone who has been reading this blog knows that we believe that as long as something can be seen from public space then it is fair game to be photographed. We believe that any interference, detention, harassment, infringement, no matter how minor is unacceptable as long as the photographer was standing on public property or publicly accessible property.

We do defer to true private property owners (not government agencies who want to be considered “private” like the Port Authority of NYNJ) who restrict photography while one is ON their property, and to any entity who restricts access to certain areas (i.e. railroad tracks). In other words we do not condone trespassing to get a picture. And THIS is a perfect example why:

The photographer trespassed onto railroad property putting himself and his friends’ lives in danger. In thier own words…

me and my buddies went out on a train bridge in albany the other day over the flint river. while out there i was walking out to the middle of the tracks to get some pictures of the river. my buddy sean warned me not to go out that far just in case a train did come. … i saw the train turn the corner about 20 feet ahead of me. panicking i started to run faster and i barely made it by jumping of the side of the tracks into an embankment about 6 feet away from the train. my two friends on the other hand couldnt make it that fast and had to crawl under the tracks onto a pillar supporting the bridge and they had to wait for the train to pass. to say the least it was one of the scariest moments of my life. but it all worked out because i got a couple of good pictures in the process this being one of them

Sorry but no picture is worth risking one’s life over.

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