shooting in sensitive environments

[haven]

When we travel, we want to capture images to remind us of our experiences, and to share the journey with others. Sometimes we encounter circumstances where photography and videography are discouraged. I'd like to learn how you overcame these obstacles.

Let me say that when photography is forbidden (e.g., some museums, military facilities, etc), then we should follow the rules.

I'm prompted to post this thread by a remark in a interview with Chad Ingraham, the videographer for the Middle Kingdom motorcycle trip around China. Chad mentioned that videography in public places is frowned upon in Lhasa, Tibet, perhaps because of the recent history of Buddhist Tibetan unrest. Under these circumstances, Chad says he switched from a Sony video camera to a Canon DSLR with video capability, and passed as a still photographer. The interview is here
http://digitalphotographydepartment.com/mkride-china-and-photographer-chad-ingraham/

I had an experience one time in Venezuela. I was carrying a video camera on a tripod. At first, the national park employees said I had to pay extra to enter because I looked "professional." Removing the Domke vest and leaving the tripod in the car, I was able to pass as a regular tourist.

Share your stories of shooting in a sensitive environment.

 

[maxingout]

When we sailed around the world on our yacht, we filmed in sensitive areas like Yemen and Oman, as well as other Middle Eastern countries as we sailed up the Red Sea.

We got some great video shots by turning off the flashing red light on the front of the camera that indicated we were recording. We got good shots by doing two things.

We were using a Canon XL1 video camera with a wide angle lense. The wide angle lense is forgiving as to focus, depth of field, and composition in general.

The most important thing in video shots is to have a level horizon and pictures that are not bouncing around. We put a small green bubble level on the top of the video camera, and we shot with a wide angle lens at the hip. By using the wide angle lens and keeping the bubble level centered, we got some nice shots in difficult circumstances.

You can see results we got shooting from the hip with the bubble level by viewing some of our videos taken in Aden, Yemen and Salallah, Oman.



There are other video clips at: http://RedSeaChronicles.com

Enjoy

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

We had issues with Museums and specific areas that will say they dont allow professional cameras or just areas where a big DSLR would draw too much attention.

What we've found is by removing the bottom grips on our Canon Cameras, and taking off the larger 'L' series lenses makes the cameras look less intimidating. One time I was told specifically I could not enter with that Press Camera. I returned to the truck, took off the grip, swapped out the lens and put on just a normal lens, bumped up my ISO to compensate for the lack of F/Stop and re-entered without any issues.

Shooting from the hip when in areas where holding the camera up to your face would draw too much attention is also a favorite of ours. It helps to have a wide angle lens on the camera, set a good f/stop so you'll get more in focus and bump up your ISO so you know it wont be blurry. It also helps to fire away like mad from the hip if the scene is good, then just be real picky with the delete button once back at the computer

So far, we've had good luck with these practices. It also helps to have a Point & Shoot when they're more strict about cameras. Especially if its one that has video capabilities