Last month, I was in Tempe Arizona to watch some friends race an Ironman race and try and get some good pictures. I spent some time walking around and found some good places to get pictures. One of them was a nice median where I had a good background for the racers and a nice straight approach so I could see them coming and be ready for the best shots. This was a medium sized median and I was not in any way interfering with the racers or even likely to be noticed by most of them.
After shooting for awhile, an officer about a half a block away crossed over to the median and started heading my wayAt least my first run in with the law was friendly. He came up to me and said he was sorry but I had to get off the median. When I asked why, he said he didn't know why, but that was in the rules they were given. When I asked who made the rules, he said the race people. I didn't know North America Sports could make new laws. In talking with other photographers, I heard that some of the officers didn't even try the "ask nicely" approach and went straight to the "bad cop" routine.
He was decen about it and I kept shooting as I waited for traffic (bikes and cars) to clear which was nice because there were some professionals coming through right then. After he made sure I safely left the median, he turned around and headed towards the next violator.
You can probably see why we liked this area since we were able to get close to the action and still be in a safe place.
I have been an official volunteer on this particular course (2007) as well as a competitor in the previous event (April 2008) and I have both shirts to prove it. I was never told in any of the volunteer or participant meetings that there were any rules about where people could spectate from, only that crossing at designated points needed to be guarded by volunteers to look out for racers.
Interestingly, this "no median" policy was not enforced at the turn-around point in downtown Tempe and there were dozens of people standing in the median. They were however waving signs that could easily fall into the path of an oncoming biker. It seems possible that the "no median" policy was more of a policy to try to restrict the quality of pictures freelance photographers could get than to keep the racers safe. Important to remember if you are thinking about paying almost $500 for this event.
Any thoughts from anyone else on this no median policy and the haphazard enforcement at this type of event?
I've been a coordinator on similar events, and while there are certain guidelines, most simply pertain to the safety of the race participants. The course, for example, is usually off limits to everyone except participants and race staff.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they give a hoot about the quality of the photos, good or bad, nor would this cross their mind. That you had a camera was likely irrelevent - unless you saw other specatators on the same median, and only you were targeted.
In short, the enforcement of this may be haphazard, but, likely wasn't about free speech.
In the future, try and get a press/photo pass - you'll need to cite some sort of media outlet - which may get you better access and photos, and, occasionally a bit more leeway in taking pics from the course itself. Or simply ask ahead of time for better spots to take photos - they may or may not help, but can't hurt.
I sincerely doubt the event permit included language that would afford the event producers to ban your use of the median for photography. Even if they attempted to write such restrictions into their permit, it would be illegal on its face.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to write to the event organizers, who almost assuredly would have no problem with what you were doing (more public awareness of their good event). Perhaps the event organizers will appreciate being made aware of the complication you encountered, so that they can include something in their training/communications with security and police at their next event.
You may also want to write the police department directly, CCing local/county elected officials, to complain (calmly, of course) about your treatment, and requesting written copy of the policies, if any, they claim to have been enforcing that day.
Drilling down to the lack of policy is fun, and could help avoid this problem for other photogs in the future.
Thanks for the comments!
ReplyDeleteI would guess they would cite "closed course" and "safety" as the reason they kicked us off, but I was on a median as were many other people at different areas of the course that were not kicked off.
Also, from reading IronMan's web page, it seems that they are pretty picky about who they give press credentials to. They also state: MEDIA ACCESS TO COURSES AT THESE EVENTS WILL BE SEVERELY LIMITED due to continued safety concerns. (Their CAPS)
I guess I should start working now to find a media outlet willing to sponsor me to go back this Nov and try again.