Side Dish

Photography is not a crime, yet many people have been harassed, detained, and arrested for the harmless act of taking a photo.

We are not terrorists. We are not dangerous. And we are certainly not a threat. — JPG Magazine

Rhonda Fast on Urban Vancouver:

When I was in highschool the slogan we plastered on t-shirts, stickers, backpacks, you name it, was Skateboarding is Not a Crime. But of course no matter how much we flaunted that we were still always getting kicked out of parking lots, undergrounds and the like.

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I blogged awhile back about the rights of photographers when shooting in public places and since I've found that there are a ton of people outside of my immediate circle that are getting hassled left, right and center for shooting in places that we are indeed allowed to shoot in.

JPG Magazine has also noticed this and has put out a call for photo submissions that fit the theme "Photography is Not a Crime."

JPG Magazine:

In a post 9/11 age of paranoia and suspicion, public photography is increasingly seen as threatening, or mistaken as criminal. And we here at JPG are sick of it.

So we're devoting issue 5 to this important topic. The theme, "Photography is Not a Crime," is a rallying cry. It's meant to remind everyone that amateur photographers are the documentarians of real life. People with cameras bear witness to the everyday dramas of ordinary people. We capture our world to help us understand it.

We are not terrorists. We are not dangerous. And we are certainly not a threat.

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