That “No Photography Allowed” Policy

Yeah I was also apprehended by a security guard while taking photos (street photography) in Cebu Business Park Ayala using my canon m100. Really sucks.

sa akin parati kong nararanasan ang pag sita ng mga guardiya saakin sa Ayala Malls.. kasi naka 1000D ako na may battery grip at 75-300mm lens na naka kabit.. tinatanong nila saakin,

1st scenario (sa labas ng mall kasama ko dad ko)
guard: ser para saan po iyan?
me: ikaw ba ang subject ko?
guard: ser bawal po kasi mag picture dito..
me: mukha ba akong terorista?
guard: ser bawal po talaga mag picture dito eh..
me: so kung bawal edi bakit hindi ninyo sitahin lahat ng nag.pi.picture dito mapa camera phone, digicam at slr?
guard: ser ginagawa po namin lahat..
me: eh paikot iokt lang kayo at nag wo.walkie talkie lang kayo eh..
guard: (napikon at umalis)

2nd scenario (sa loob ng mall sa may Timezone kasama ko ang dalawang kaibigan ko)

guard: ser para saan po iyan?
me: its for personal use..
guard: ser bawal po mag picture sa loob ng Timezone..
me: eh pinipicturan ko yung kaibigan ko eh BAWALA BA IYON?
guard: ser bawal pa din po yun eh..
me: saan banda? nakasaad ba sa Saligang Batas na bawal kunan ng litrato ang mga kaibigan mo?
guard: (na tameme *tahimik)
me: halika tawagin mo yung manager ng Timezone at mag usap tayo!
(tinawag ng guard yung general manager ng time zone)
GM: sir ano po ang problema?
me: eh yung guard ninyo dito bawal daw mag picture ditosa Timezone eh..
GM: sir bawal naman po talaga ang mag picture dito sa loob ng Timezone..
me: eh bakit ako lang ang sinisita ninyo? nag libot kami at kinuha ng isa kong kaibigan yung baril sa arcade tapos sinabi niya na picturan ko daw siya kinuhaan ko naman.. anong masama dun?
GM: sir ginamit ninyo yung property namin para sa picture eh..
me: ah ganon? so bawal naming gamitin ang mga arcade machines dahil property ninyo? edi bawal din pala kami mag laro dito?
GM: hindi naman po sa ganun.. (kinakabahan na)
me: eh dun nga sa maliit na merry go round kung saan malapit sa battle gear 4 na nilalaro ko and dami daming nag pipicture dun ng mga magulang sa kanilang anak.. bakit hindi ninyo sitahin yun? tska yung mga gumagamit ng digicam or cellphone cam hindi ninyo sitahin? bakit ako lang? eh subject ko naman yung kaibigan ko? may pang bili kami ng load pero wala kaming pambili ng airsoft o TOTOONG baril para gamiting props!
GM: sorry po sa abala sir..
me: this is a place of fun! ever since dumating yung timezone dito sa pinas eh dito na ako nag lalaro ng mga pinsan at kaibigan ko at nag pipicturan pa kami.. hindi ako aalis dito hangat wala kayong gagawin tungkol dito at wala akong nakukuha..
GM: sir im sorry po for the actions of our security gagawin na po namin yung gusto ninyong mangyari at kunin ko po yung card ninyo para loadan ng P1,000..

ending may ginawa sila tungkol dun pero ganun pa din sa buong mall..

I was once approached by a security guard in SM City Cebu. I was taking a picture of my 2year old daughter eating ice cream outside the grocery. I asked why and he cannot give me a clear reason. He then told me that its not allowed anywhere in SM City Cebu to take picture. This is very silly. I’m not interested in their products’ prices or design. I’m more interested in my daughter whose face is all dirty with ice cream!

what does yuga look like? ahh! ok.. kaya naman pala.. :p

have u seen how sexy that russian spy caught lately by the fbi? imagine that! from movies to real life..

Sm appliance sm center point – no taking pictures of prices baka nakawin ang idea nilang magtinda ng LCD at led tv. I took my business somewhere else and for good reason that they are also one of the more expensive places to buy appliances.

my first post…

first experienced this at Rockwell – Pwoerplant mall. bawal daw pero wala sa policy ng mall, I asked them for their policy wala sila ma-present. then two guards were already beside me telling me there is a politician in the Mall kaya bawal. If I take one more shot, they’d confiscate the camera.

wtf…

btw, this was a few years back, when the Yaris first came out.

Hit and run! Works all the time. :) hehehe

@MarkAnt
How about a 4/3rd?

@nexusboy
The Philippines isn’t the only nation that’s hostile to SLR owners. The UK and some US states are quite hostile (in the UK it’s illegal to take a picture of cops).
For some hindsight, check out Photography is Not a Crime: http://carlosmiller.com/

As for MOA, yeah it’s really the most unfriendliest place for an SLR owner.

@BungeeJack
“They are instructed to do so.” While I agree, most of the time, they’re just asshats.

This is another minus on tourism…

hahaha ……pag foreigner di nila sinisita…. mga tol bili na lang kayo spycam….spypen etc. spy gadgets kung gusto nyo mag photo shoot or video shoot sa mga malls…. as far as i know walang laws na nagbabawal mag photo shoot …. praning lang ang mga nag-uutos sa mga guards ng malls Xd

I remember seeing Korean-looking guys trying to take a picture along Ayala Ave with the RCBC Tower in the background. The guard from GT Tower approached them and prohibited them from doing so. I’m assuming they are tourists, poor guys :(

I use phone camera to take pictures. That’s why I opted to have one with higher res.

@MSDS

Are there any proofs that a group of evil cameras caused that explosion?

maybe for security purposes…
Remember the 2007 Glorietta explosion…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Glorietta_explosion

Tingin ko ayaw lang ng Ayala management ang mga “paparazzi” to protect their privacy conscious clients, especially the VIPs. I have this experience before wherein a guard politely asked me to just shoot people who belongs to our group and not to take photos of their other customers.

I usually feign a foreign accent and say “I don’t undah-stand you!” but kidding aside, they seem to go after folks with a dSLR. I’ve shot numerous times at Ayala malls using a point and shoot (Sony w300) and have never been harassed or stopped by guards. I’ve even shot at MoA earlier too.

point shoot and run lol, maybe if photography are not allowed policy is implemented for security purposes in preventing terrorist attacks eh di okay lang siguro kung magpakuha na lang ng picture kay manong guard para siguradong picture picture lang yung habol mo hehe.

This is plain paranoia.

on a related incident, a security guard asked me to leave my iPad or any computer that i might have inside my bag because it is prohibited daw. i almost lost my bladder control upon hearing this weird rule. i argued and persisted that he allow me or else he will pay for it if somebody steal it then pumayag din. di ba karamihan ng cellphone ngayon may video capability na din? e yun hindi naman pinagbabawal dalhin sa sinehan, ang daming praning!

same topic here http://bit.ly/dAmXcG

What a shame.. but still.. Point..Shoot..Run.. always works right.. but some of the peeps already said that other countries do allow such thing.. wonder what makes manila or other part of our country that special.. are we like N. Korea? haha.. lol…

re: no photography for “security” reasons

“Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”

– Benjamin Franklin

It is for security reasons. It gets intensified after 911 tragedy. Terrorists take high detailed pictures of places then plan on the attack of where to put bombs, blind spots, escape points, where guards usually situated, faces of guards (later bride for special access to places, )etc etc. Actually this precaution act of not allow people to take photos in business buildings or malls were also encouraged by the Police Force even in other countries.

For other countries, the police force is usually the one taking care of the security. They are trained to determine if they are only taking pictures for fun or have other intention (suspicious). Usually taking A LOT of wide angle pictures is an alert point to the security. but a flower pot, a few friends, a few tree won’t trigger a threat.

In philippines, the guards are the front end security everywhere we go, they are not highly trained and would really tends to be so generalize and just by saying taking pictures is not allowed or ask you to delete everything etc. As one of the comment stated. They are only instructed to do so. The true dumb ass is the one instructed them without giving enough training. =)

Maybe the guards think that those who have DSLRs are professional photographers, thus the need for permits. Foreigners taking pictures in malls are often tourists so the guards don’t mind them. Just bring a P&S and you’ll be fine.

Ayala. Was walking around just taking photos for my blog. Usual dumbfuck “bawal” guards. From that point on, I made it a point to take pictures of that building *every* time I pass it. I don’t know what the point is, these people have no logic.

If anyone wanted to, anyone could just bribe the right people and get the blueprints to their precious buildings…so what’s their point again?

Well, this is one thing maybe that I lost interest in photography–aside from the fact that maybe more and more people are lugging those big dslr’s around.

@Francis… matagal na to. They are tolerant of the occasional “picture-picture” touristy shots and pictures where people are the main subject… but they seem to frown on people intentionally taking pictures of the mall. Especially, as described here, those with big-ass DSLRs.

Thing is. This policy is across several that I am aware off. Particularly Ayala Malls. I didn;t know that SM had the same thing.

Be that as it may, there must be a reason or precedent for this. So again, I ask… why?

Complain to management. Whether mall, park, whatever. If I don’t want to take the hassle during that particular day, I give them a call when I’m free. If I don’t remember, it’s no skin off of my nose. If I remember, someones nose is going to get skinned. I do it nicely of course, but firmly enough to get my point across.

A Restriction like this puts more of a burden on honest people than it does for anyone who might be doing something illicit.

we also got apprehended taking photos in Cebu Business Park (Ayala center), Asiatown IT Park and SM Cebu Mall. and the sad thing is, security personnel wont bother foreigners taking shots. DISCRIMINATION

only happened to me once when i was using my dSLR camera; what i did was ignore them and keep going, haha. i even pointed out other people that were taking pictures that they weren’t pestering, and guess what wala na silang mahirit dun.

there was this one time that we are shooting vids and photos for our xmas party presentation. what we did is one of my team member talked to the guard and we continue shooting. hehe after we finished shooting we just said to the guard we will go.. hhehhehe