Phototaking allowed in mrt?


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I think the issue of stopping a person using a DSLR to shoot in MRT is more a matter of commercial reasons than terrorist threat....

Saying so cos tried applying to shoot a overseas TV commercial in MRT station. Applied and then asked to take recce pics. Reply was a NO. We were all stunned.... as to why? Asked and said that we need to show clients the recce pics. Reply from MRT was classic. "I am sure your client knows what a MRT station is like... if they dont know, ask them to come and see for themselves, at SMRT, every photo, video chargable" Needless to say the job went overseas to BKK where the thais did the ad......

I think SMRT is more concerned that the photos are used commercially without paying loyalities to SMRT for the usage than terrorists....
 

Think PnS and camera phones are quite acceptable to the security but that's what the terrorists are going to use. Don't they realised that no terrorist would want to be seen snapping away with big setups like what bro raincool2005 mentioned? Just to share, I was at City Hall one Sat morning waiting for a friend and saw a couple of foreigners (Philipino & Bangladeshi) taking photos in the station control area using their PnS and some students playing and taking pictures with their camera phones, the security did not bother them. Then 2 guys came with a small (consumer size) video cam and 1 guy was filming another walking through the underpass area and the security picked that up quite quickly and followed them to see what they were taking until they went to the City Link BreadTalk area. :dunno:

Oh, yea. The thing about DSLRs is that some people mistake them for digital video cameras. It's the video cameras that Mindef is worried about. It's easier to record an overall layout of a building using a video camera (and the shooter doing a walkthrough), than to take still pictures and try to figure out where they were taken. Video cameras also show crowd trends and the behavior of security personnel more fluidly, since basically acts like an extension of the person doing the walkthrough.
 

I got stopped once at Clementi. I asked and they just say cannot shoot. Oh well, some suggestions though, try to shoot during non-peak hours. eg at 3pm in the afternoon is ok. A even safer bet is the less crowded stations. And tripods seem to attact far more attention than hiding the DSLR in your bag then quickly whipping out with a fast fast lens then shoot and hide it again.
 

Oh, yea. The thing about DSLRs is that some people mistake them for digital still cameras. It's the video cameras that Mindef is worried about. It's easier to record an overall layout of a building using a video camera (and the shooter doing a walkthrough), than to take still pictures and try to figure out where they were taken. Video cameras also show crowd trends and the behavior of security personnel more fluidly, since basically acts like an extension of the person doing the walkthrough.

hehe...pns got pretty good video capability now :bsmilie:
 

Oh yah, I remembered that some time back, I was on an outing with a couple of fellow CSers and we were taking the track of the MRT which was about 100m away from the station and was approached by the Station staff who said that no shooting allowed. :confused:
 

Oh yah, I remembered that some time back, I was on an outing with a couple of fellow CSers and we were taking the track of the MRT which was about 100m away from the station and was approached by the Station staff who said that no shooting allowed. :confused:

hehe...depend on your luck lor. so far no one stopped me ;p
 

My humble opinion..

I think that the staffs do not want to jeopardise the safety of the operations/passenger...

If they allow anyone just to take photo so easily, others will take this example and follow suit...Then, they will face difficulties in controlling the situations when they are challenged next time....

Putting myself in the position of another passenger. I see people (trustworthy?) taking photo of the public transportation so easily, and I knew a few such disasters which just occured overseas due to lack of security.......I worry too..:sweat:
 

My humble opinion..

I think that the staffs do not want to jeopardise the safety of the operations/passenger...

If they allow anyone just to take photo so easily, others will take this example and follow suit...Then, they will face difficulties in controlling the situations when they are challenged next time....

Putting myself in the position of another passenger. I see people (trustworthy?) taking photo of the public transportation so easily, and I knew a few such disasters which just occured overseas due to lack of security.......I worry too..:sweat:

thats true...then why they stop some of those with dslr but not those with pns? why stop locals and not tourists? interestingly...terrorists could pose as tourists and use pns also. i think the problem is inconsistent enforcement.
 

hehe...hope the SMRT pple see this...and improve lor..
 

i think the reason is like what centuryegg say...commercial. then again they never post "no photography allowed" signs :p
 

Which is why I now reinforced in ,my view that there is simply very little, if any, risk of criminal liability merely by shooting an MRT station. The risk is futher mitigated in those instances where the shooters were 100m away from the station, standing on a public road.

I think the issue of stopping a person using a DSLR to shoot in MRT is more a matter of commercial reasons than terrorist threat....

Saying so cos tried applying to shoot a overseas TV commercial in MRT station. Applied and then asked to take recce pics. Reply was a NO. We were all stunned.... as to why? Asked and said that we need to show clients the recce pics. Reply from MRT was classic. "I am sure your client knows what a MRT station is like... if they dont know, ask them to come and see for themselves, at SMRT, every photo, video chargable" Needless to say the job went overseas to BKK where the thais did the ad......

I think SMRT is more concerned that the photos are used commercially without paying loyalities to SMRT for the usage than terrorists....
 

thats true...then why they stop some of those with dslr but not those with pns? why stop locals and not tourists? interestingly...terrorists could pose as tourists and use pns also. i think the problem is inconsistent enforcement.

I shoot in the trains, platforms with PnS and camera-phones and no one questions me. What I feel they should ban is playing of music through the loudspeaker of mobile phones!!
 

I shoot in the trains, platforms with PnS and camera-phones and no one questions me. What I feel they should ban is playing of music through the loudspeaker of mobile phones!!

100% agree! People might die from those noise before any terrorist threats come along! :bsmilie:
 

Not only on MRTs, the other day I was in a bus heading home after a tiring day. When I boarded the bus, it was quite empty. Then a group of people (shall not name which race) boarded the bus and started talking loudly and blasting their MP3. What a nuisance. :angry: At one point they were playing and one of the girls in the group started exclaiming very loudly and all the passengers turned to look at them (in disgust) of course. Hate these people. :angry: Sorry for OTing.
 

Not only on MRTs, the other day I was in a bus heading home after a tiring day. When I boarded the bus, it was quite empty. Then a group of people (shall not name which race) boarded the bus and started talking loudly and blasting their MP3. What a nuisance. :angry: At one point they were playing and one of the girls in the group started exclaiming very loudly and all the passengers turned to look at them (in disgust) of course. Hate these people. :angry: Sorry for OTing.

No need to guess... I know which race you're talking about. They are the only ones which I hate to meet up with when I take a bus... Always talk loudly and play music as if the whole bus was theirs... If I make racist comments, it's all because of their behaviours... darn irritating.
 

No need to guess... I know which race you're talking about. They are the only ones which I hate to meet up with when I take a bus... Always talk loudly and play music as if the whole bus was theirs... If I make racist comments, it's all because of their behaviours... darn irritating.

Actually majority race also does that.. nothing against any race but just stating that all races do that. Have seen malay teens playing music on mp3 aka boys in the hood and also seen chinese teens esp ah lian ah beng type blast their mp3 capable sony ericssion phone walkman.... Dont think they realise that they are doing anything wrong.....
 

Actually majority race also does that.. nothing against any race but just stating that all races do that. Have seen malay teens playing music on mp3 aka boys in the hood and also seen chinese teens esp ah lian ah beng type blast their mp3 capable sony ericssion phone walkman.... Dont think they realise that they are doing anything wrong.....

Well, I guess that's Education for you.. the new generation seems to be getting from bad to worse...
 

Dun think they'll allow shooting inside MRT stations, outside I'm not sure. Kinda reminds me of this incident while shooting some artwork in the Esplanade.

Was walking around and tried taking abstract shots at some signs within the esplanade building. Was immediately approached by a guard tell me "Excuse me sir, the internal ceiling structure is copyright of the esplanade". It so occured to me that his concern is about me publishing the picture somewhere so I replied, "Don't worry, i understand, these pics are for personal use, wonlt be published anywere". He said ok and left.

After a while I saw some sunlight coming through a window above the ceiling and thought of taking another shot. This time another guard (supposingly the supervisor) came along and told me "Do you know that you are not suppose to shoot the building structure? This is the 2nd warning". My reaction was like :dunno:, nobody said anything about I can't shoot in the first place. Only when I explained and questioned further they mentioned that its about security concerns. At least his overall attitude was good.

My thought was that they could have just explained clearly upfront instead of telling me the "copyright" excuse. Well i guess, shooting is gonna get touchy in places where communter traffic is immense.
 

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