Ben's Bits

The Minnesota Center for Photography is the "leading center for photography in the upper Midwest" and regularly showcases photographic exhibits. They have recently re-launched their website and hope to start offering members access to darkrooms at their Minneapolis location later this winter. In addition, members have the ability to display their work in rotating "spotlight exhibitions" and can access a library of photography related information.

It's important to remember that even in this digital age many resources can still be provided by local agencies. One such example is the photography collection at the Minnesota Historical Society. While not all of their resources are avilible online, many are.

One of may personal favorites is the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company collection. It's amazing what you can find if you know where to look. On this site you can find photos of everything from power plants to the Alaska Highway Construction to Minneapolis Saloons. What a great resource!

Let's also not forget that it would be impossible to get such insteresting photographs as the power plant and telephone company photos with the restrictions (real or just imposed by unknowning officials) in place today. Will our modern infrastructure be documented in art such as this for future generations to enjoy looking back at?

Now more than ever photographers are under fire from government officials to stop taking pictures of "sensitive infrastructure". Never mind that there is no evidence showing that photography has played an important role
in any terrorist attack in the last forty years. Perhaps more importantly unrestricted photography by private citizens has played a critical role in the fight for civil rights and protecting the freedoms we hold so dear. Much of the harassment faced by photographers is due to a lack of understanding by both the general public and police forces about what is and is not permitted in the United States. In general, if you're on public property or have permission from the land owner you can photograph anything you want from that location. This has not changed by the implementation of the PATRIOT Act or any other national legislation to date which is a common mistake made by government officials. For a more complete understanding of the laws involved I suggest taking a look at Attorney Bert P. Krages The Photographer's Right". For a truly in depth look at the laws and concerns for photographers take a look at Bert's book "Legal Handbook for Photographers: The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images".

Unfortunately, many police officers (and even federal agents) fail to understand these rights. One grievous example of this is the story of Ian Spiers, a Washington state resident and photography student, who was harassed by police on two occasions for taking photographs of a local lock and dam as part of a photography assignment. He details his experience on his web site Brown Equals Terrorist. Lest you think this is an isolated case I suggest you listen to the National Public Radio Morning Edition story where they interview several East coast photographers who have also been harassed. The rights of photographers are being trampled from coast to coast and over zealous government officials who seem to have no understanding of the law and little regard for individual rights are making a mockery of the constitution. If you're interested in this sort of thing one resource where you can stay up to date on the issue is the news site PhotoPermit.org which tracks news stories related to legal issues surrounding photography.

Thanks to a free hotel WiFi connection I've been able to post many of the pictures from the CES/Grand Canyon trip already. You can view them here in my photo gallery.

While NASA makes a lot of public domain images availible via its six websites devoted to imagery, I find that some of the most stunning photography can be found at the third party "Project Apollo Image Gallery" site. Among these images you'll find some truly amazing photographs of both earth and space.