usually i write twice to three times a day, and sometimes, i write only once. well, yesterday was be one of those really busy days (or those days in which i cannot get myself organized!) and i just wrote one post, but then this thought kept coming back and i had to talk to someone. well, i decided to talk to you. so i started writing this yesterday.
a few weeks ago, when i was going to do the first of this {engagement session} i had my first strange situation, more like “i was not expecting this and i never thought this could happen” situation, but i learned soon after that, for photographers, this is actually very common. i had scheduled the first session for a very beautiful place, near my home, the tropical garden. it is huge and i have mentioned it several times here. for 2€ it is a pleasant place to take a walk, take a few pictures… you can even take a book, lay on the grass and read it. no one will bother you! so, this sounded the perfect place to start! errr… wrong! no, this will not be the perfect place to start, because they stopped us from getting inside, letting us know that for commercial photo sessions, like weddings and other ceremonies, we needed to fill out a paper, address to the director and pay 50€. we tried to explain that there was no such thing as a wedding, nor any ceremony. we would just wander around the park and yes, take some pictures, but nothing fancy! no way… things got a little complicated after a while, and we felt the need to file a complaint. last friday i received the answer from the president of the tropical garden, and i was so angry. so angry at so many things. the answer he gave was so wrong, that i cannot even explain. from things that were clearly told in a very different way from reality, to things that did not even happen… that answer was the worse thing a president of such place could do.
we all heard about that famous quote “the customer is always right!”, i know that the customer is not always right, sometimes he is wrong, very wrong. but the idea behind this quote, is not to flatter the customer too much, but to understand that the customer is the reason to keep the doors open. if the customer finds no reason at all to go inside… then eventually, you will have to shut the doors, because your business is dead. this president clearly thinks that he can shut the door to customers that actually like the place he represents, go there often and recommend the place. clearly he listened to the men who stopped us from getting inside, even though they sold us the tickets, and both certainly told a different story to protect their backs, making us the horrible persons that wanted to kill… oh no, we were not going to kill any tree, we were just taking pictures! and no, we were not a huge party of 257 people, we were three. ok, moving on to the next stupid thing!
taking pictures… is not always a good thing. photographers know that there is this thing called model release, in which models give us permission to take their pictures and accept our conditions. otherwise we are not allowed to take pictures of others and publish them or whatever. well, we can, if they are our friends… and even so, we need to protect ourselves about some verbal agreements. we also know that taking pictures of children is a no-no! unless you have your own child playing in the park, you might get a smile, otherwise… you might see some parent calling the police on you. ok with me on this. we need to protect our children and we never know who is that person sitting on that bench taking pictures and talking to no one.
but what if i want to take pictures of plants inside a greenhouse that is selling them? like rosemary… hydrangeas… chives… roses… will i do any harm in that? i don’t think so, yet, yesterday, again on a botanical garden (i have two around my house!) i was walking through the botanical garden, went inside the small place they have, in which they also sell plants and a lady saw me with my camera, asked if i needed help and then told me that i was not allowed to take pictures! why the hell not? will i kill the chives with my lens? will i take all the flavor from the rosemary if i click the shutter button? or will the roses act very shy for the next 6 months if i “steal” a picture from them?
i cannot understand. this is so weird, so stupid… so non-sense… i have no words for this (ok, after being all wordy on this post, i have no morale to say i am speechless, i know!). i understand some things, but other just seem ridiculous. photographers will not steal something, will not do any harm. we might… just like any other person doing their job, if we mean to do harm. we are not terrorists… we are not bad people. we are just trying to do our jobs… and eventually, we are even trying to promote something asking nothing in return, just because we like to go there. i am frustrated and annoyed by all this. annoyed at my own country. annoyed at rules that have no reason to exist and no one even questions them. i always feel like asking “why? why can’t i take pictures?”, but i don’t, because i would get a “those are the rules, if you don’t agree, you need to leave!”. it annoys me when someone doesn’t know how to explain some thing. and keeps repeating that rules are that way, unable to give another kind of answer. and this is it… now i will let all this go… so that my heart and mind feel some rest. and moving on to happy & good things! if you reached this point… whow, i want to say thank you! i feel like hugging you! really!
images: twiggs’ photography for the 365 project
Monica says
What an experience! I am angry FOR you! I agree that it’s frustrating to deal with people blindly following and repeating a senseless sentence. Unfortunately there are way too many of those about. The fact that they cannot even see how they are damaging their own reputation or business is beyond me!
Inês says
unbelievable…
Há coisas neste país que realmente me dão vontade de gritar! enfim…
Parabéns pelo blog e pelo trabalho.
if… made with love
Claire | Hearthandmadeuk says
what a douche. Yes that is incredibly annoying and bloody stupid. Its hard not to get so angry at things like this. I feel for you!
anka says
I know the feeling. The favorite answer in Romania is “these are the rules”, no matter if they make sense or not, no matter if the same rules will hurt the one so strongly empowering them. I think that in time these things will change, but this will happen slowly and with a lot of education in respect to what rules are really made for.
So sorry you had to go through this, it is so frustrating. But then, sometimes life has a way to compensate, right?
sílvia says
é muitas vezes incompreensível e partilho a estupefação contigo, mas o problema não é deste país… é geral, cada vez maior. e há locais ainda que é ainda pior! http://photographernotaterrorist.org/
annawithlove says
Ughhh I completely feel your frustration!! I HATE it when that happens….they are plants for crying out loud!!!
gorgeous photos nonetheless xo
Ana says
Cláudia,
Tendo trabalhado num museu com um parque associado eu sei que há principalmente duas razões para a proibição, protecção das peças e protecção dos direitos de imagem.
Não quer dizer que se apliquem as mesmas regras nas situações que te ocorreram, mas a situação é prática comum em vários organismos públicos.
As organizações não querem que outrem, sem autorização e/ou sem pagar a taxa determinada para este tipo de serviço, obtenham imagens sem que estes saibam para que serão utilizadas e das quais podem vir a lucrar sem que estes tenham qualquer compensação.
Há outros sítios em que é uma questão de segurança mas não me parece que seja o caso.
Claro que se tiveres uma point-and-shoot ou telemóvel normalmente ninguém te incomoda.
E realmente recebes respostas do género “São as regras” sem maiores explicações porque por vezes quem te atende não sabe ou procurou saber os reais motivos para esta proibição.
Alguns te dirão que as instituições vivem com grandes dificuldades financeiras e que não podem prescindir de fontes de possível rendimento. É de facto verdade, mas existem outras alternativas.
suzie says
Oh I get told off so many times; in the flea markets and brocantes are the worst! I even got told off once by a gallery owner for writing down the name of an artist in my notebook!!
Totally ridiculous, and I hope that the president and the lady at the greenhouse get a good dose of payback!
Iro {Ivy} says
I’m here, so I get a hug I suppose ; )
Just wanted to totally agree with you in letting it go. You just encountered “authority” and in most cases but a tiny few, authority is neither pleasant nor a correct situation. I sympathise with such feelings. I wish so often to change the world, for the better… only to find myself hurt quite often, having spent valuable energy.
This world will always be both unfair & fair… I guess it is its duality. And the hardest part is for us humans to accept it and move on.
You have recently begun doing what you have always dreamed in your life! Taking pictures, selling them, working with people taking their photos… just concentrate on how fabulous it is to actually be doing what you love & all you wished for.
Every wrong response is simply powerless in front of this. Even the one of a president of the botanical garden ; ) ha!
Keep on enjoying… the couple session has been such a darling one! Have tried to see more of the pictures on the Portuguese Blog, but it takes ages to load! Currently in Greece, with a snail slow (of course non wireless, unless I sometimes “borrow” the neighbour’s) connection & one very old p.c… will try again anyway. They are both so happy & pretty :)
Kitty @ lavender playground says
For those who do not understand beauty..I feel sad for them. I hope you will have better experiences in the future.
tarapatices says
Se o uso das imagens retiradas pelos fotógrafos for para uso comercial acho normal que esse uso seja pago, mesmo que não seja monetariamente e seja por exemplo em publicidade com os justos créditos para os locais fotografados. Neste caso a proibição não me parece que tenha a ver com critérios museológicos de segurança das obras. De qualquer forma, seja como for, o lema de que o cliente tem sempre razão é para ser tido sempre em conta, mesmo que não ele não a tenha e seja tido apenas como pano de fundo. Infelizmente, esta não é uma prática muito portuguesa… é pena! Espero que não as situações desagradáveis fiquem por aqui! Continuação de um excelente trabalho!