Is it illegal to take pictures of a construction area?

[AgingEyes]

Perhaps it is not illegal to take pictures of a construction site - I did that before one way or another but without any workers close-by or they didn't care and I shot hand-held - I think your situation is like when you want to photo a stranger in the streets, and he/she comes and tell you he/she does not want you to. I think the best thing to do is to just walk away.

And if you still want to photo that particular building, perhaps you should do it in some "invisible" way

I know one guy who at one time photo'ed somewhere in W Van. One bump yelled at him and asked him not to take any pic. The guy wasn't photographing the bump and he pretty much responded the way you did. He yelled back at the bump and said he wasn't photographing him. Anyhow, it ended with a fight and his camera was toasted. No, he also did not win that fight.

[herg]

Well I went to the cops and asked them what the deal is (i didn't go into detail about what happened. i was pretty much just asking in general). They said I was right about what I said to the worker. But the cop also went into detail kind of about what franglais said (photographing public property from a public area), which I can understand (although I will disagree with the whole "causing a breach of peace" that franglais mentioned. The cop kept saying "The owner of a private propery area has the right to tell you to stop taking pictures of that area" -also understandable. But when I asked the cop why the workers had any right to tell me to stop (they have no ownership over the building), he kept saying "Well, now you're gettnig into semantics", and never actually gave me a reason.

And of course something like this is not worth getting into a fight over. I'm planning on talking to the actual owner of the building and explaining that I just want to take a couple pictures of the work going on. I'll respect whatever he (or she) says. Afterall, it is their building.

Well, either that or I'll take a couple shots out my car window.

[AgingEyes]

The cop kept saying "The owner of a private propery area has the right to tell you to stop taking pictures of that area" -also understandable. But when I asked the cop why the workers had any right to tell me to stop (they have no ownership over the building), he kept saying "Well, now you're gettnig into semantics", and never actually gave me a reason.

Actually, he may be not. I think what he was thinking was the employees at that point was representing their employer or perhaps the owner of the property. It's like any employee who go out on the field, go meeting with potential clients for their company, they are representing their employer, they are the representatives of the company. Perhaps that's something that you have not thought about.

I do not think anybody is saying you're wrong as far as legality is concerned. At the same time, since you were photographing a private property and strangers who do not want their photos taken, I see nothing wrong for them to ask you to stop. Then again, they actually have offered you the opportunity to take the photos as long as you can tell them who you are and leave them contact info. I think that was a fair request I like to know who photographs me, too

As long as you are willing to accept the consequences, go ahead and excercise your legal right.

Have you been photographing much along East Hastings and those back alleys on Downtown Eastside?

[herg]

Actually, he may be not. I think what he was thinking was the employees at that point was representing their employer or perhaps the owner of the property. It's like any employee who go out on the field, go meeting with potential clients for their company, they are representing their employer, they are the representatives of the company. Perhaps that's something that you have not thought about.

I do not think anybody is saying you're wrong as far as legality is concerned. At the same time, since you were photographing a private property and strangers who do not want their photos taken, I see nothing wrong for them to ask you to stop. Then again, they actually have offered you the opportunity to take the photos as long as you can tell them who you are and leave them contact info. I think that was a fair request I like to know who photographs me, too

As long as you are willing to accept the consequences, go ahead and excercise your legal right.

Have you been photographing much along East Hastings and those back alleys on Downtown Eastside?

I haven't been to vancouver in a while (at least not since i got my SLR), so I haven't taken any pictures there, especially on hastings. Where I live we only have hippies, no junkies (well, maybe a few. but not anything like hastings).

And I can understand both sides of this story. They did have the right to ask me to stop, but it was their immediate attitude towards me that put me off and made me angry about the whole situation. And I could just see from the way they mentioned about me giving them my name that they would abuse it somehow (like going to the owner with my name and complaining) So I wasn't about to do that.

Anyways, we'll see what happens. I'll probably just end up taking a couple shots from my car.