Workshop Update

So last Monday I called the Corporation of Shepherdstown (their city government) and asked if there were any restrictions as far as photography with light stands go. I was told that the clerk would check and get back to me in about an hour. So I called back. Now I was told that I needed to e-mail the clerk the information about where we wanted to shoot and what we were planning for the day. So I did that.

Eventually it turned into this whole mess of how she, the town clerk, needed to get with the mayor to have this approved. In the back of my mind I was wondering what we truly needed approval for and how bad was this going to get. After all, the Shepherdstown locations we were wanting to shoot at were all considered to be in public view. If we were denied, would this indeed be a challenge to the right of photographers?

Any ways, on with the story. The Shepherdstown clerk called me back the next day, maybe it was the day after next, and told me she needed the group name and any credentials. I sent her an e-mail telling her that technically, we're not a specific group or club and we just met and started arranging this via a Flickr group. We don't have specific credentials as a group. I also asked why she needed this information. My response was along the lines of "The mayor has had problems with photographers in the past". So who's this almighty mayor to impose and bend laws at his will based on an experience with another group of people who share the same hobby? I mean, there are often motorcycles, primarily Harley's and Custom choppers that will sit outside shops and rev their engines for two or three minutes, then tear off rattling all their windows with their straight pipe exhaust. My bike's exhaust is unnecessarily loud, but I don't sit outside shops and rev my engine. I start my bike and go and two minutes is a long time if some one's constantly toying with a vehicle capable of producing that many decibels that it makes your teeth rattle. And despite the loud noise and the complaints and the bad experiences with that group of people, there's no magic law that prevents them from being able to ride into and out of town.

Enough with the rambling...

Well, about four days had passed since the initial call. Remember the first workshop post and my rant about Harpers Ferry? Well it seems that they've had a change of mind. I received a letter in the mail for a self guided tour of 16 photographers with no mention of needing a permit. But I held out.

Finally on Monday, one week later, I found a voicemail on my phone saying that the photography was approved and we could go ahead with the meet. Talk about politics moving slow. So we're good to go. I have this whole great organized idea planned and I'm hoping it turns out great. After my partial dissatisfaction with the Patapsco meet(sorry to everyone that helped plan the Patapsco meet. It was extremely fun and I learned a lot, but it was chaotic and I felt bad that it seemed like certain people didn't get an equal chance at trying out new things...at least on our side of the river.), I really want to do something fun and organized that will turn out to be a great experience to everyone that attends, not just those with all the equipment to do this. I also would like for there to be more communication and sharing of critiques and ideas between the people in the groups to accomplish an experience that will produce some good photos and a sense of having learned something valuable that pertains to photography and what the people will be doing in the future.

Oh, and I hope no one thinks I'm being a Nazi because of the whole organization thing. I appreciate organization in certain things in my life, definitely no my computer desk or my programming works, but definitely for things that involve groups of people and their satisfaction.