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| Photography Stupidity on the Left Coast too. (was:Re: PHOTOS: Misc. Amtrak and Freight Trains) (542283) | |||
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Photography Stupidity on the Left Coast too. (was:Re: PHOTOS: Misc. Amtrak and Freight Trains) |
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Posted by WillD on Thu Dec 27 15:25:06 2007, in response to Re: PHOTOS: Misc. Amtrak and Freight Trains, posted by WMATAGMOAGH on Thu Dec 27 11:49:45 2007. I thought part of the project to build the Olympic Sculpture Park included the elimination of the Broad Street crossing. I think I see now that they just put in a pedestrian overpass, but last time I was there in '05 they hadn't done any of that.I found an interesting aside when looking at what they were doing at the southern end of Myrtle Edwards Park. The Olympic Sculpture Park turns out to have some fairly boneheaded people running it. The pieces in the park are generally either commissioned by the Seattle Art Musuem, or loaned or donated from various benefactors. According to the wikipedia article this has lead some to criticize the park as a dumping ground for charitable white elephants. However, in the case of Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, by Claes Oldenburg (the same guy who did the Penn Plaza Clothespin across from City Hall in Philly) and loaned to the musuem by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen the musuem actually put up signs stating that photography was prohibited. Now the musuem already has a "no touching" and "limited photography" policy ostensibly in the name of preservation. That begs the question of what exactly they're trying to preserve when they're exhibiting a 'sculpture' that consists of 100 foot long curving sections of rusting steel in an extremely wet environment right next to a saltwater bay, but I digress. Aside from that bit of stupidity, they actually put up signs telling people that photography of Mr. Allen's sculpture from on or off musuem property. Now, if Mr. Allen has his enormous sculpture in his backyard and I'm on the nearest public land with a view into his yard, I can legally shoot a picture of his gigantic typewriter eraser without a problem, just a big zoom lens. However, the Seattle Art Musuem actually tried to enforce their policy to the point of chasing people off the adjacent park land and threatening to confiscate their cameras. Thus, according to SAM it is legal for someone to shoot a picture of something on private property from public land, but not an object on public land from anywhere. A few angry comments from the local ACLU apparantly got them to back down and chalk it up to a "misinterpretation of the loan agreement". It certainly goes to show you that persecution of photographers is by no means limited to railfans, plane fans, or those who find beauty in the blatant functionality of an industrial complex. Admittedly the reason for their harassment was for an entirely different reason, but it was applied with the same level of illegality. Also keep in mind these are the same geniuses who decided this white elephant dumping ground was a better use of waterfront property than the Waterfront Trolley. The Olympic Sculpture Park required the demolition of the Trolley's shop just north of Broad, and the line still hasn't reopened. |
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