CoryDoors — Shhhh! Sooper Sekrit! #ThursdayDoors

So I was taking pictures for this post and this seemed like a natural. The Corydon Democrat is often Indiana’s Blue Ribbon Weekly Award winner. It used to be true to its name, but not so much these days.

So I went in and raised my phone to snap a picture of the gallery of former owners (O’Bannons, mostly — yes, like Frank O’Bannon, one of our former governors — his father was one of the owners, and a story goes with him). And the office lady stands up and gets all like I’m paparazzi and the wall is her client.

“Oh, you need to get permission to take photographs in here.”

Me: It’s the lobby. I’m not taking pictures of your scoops or anything.

Lady: I’m sorry [she didn’t sound sorry, she sounded damned suspicious].

Me: Okay, I’m putting the phone away. What’s the problem with my taking a picture of past owners, right up there on the open-to-the-public wall?

Lady: You need permission to take pictures.

Me: I would be posting the picture on my blog, showing things about Corydon.

Lady: Would you like me to call someone?

Me: No, thank you. I’ll take pictures somewhere else.

LIKE OUTSIDE.

Here’s the door.

DemDoorHere’s the sign.

DemSignHere’s the wall.

If I was going to be snotty, I'd paint my damn wall first.
If I was going to be snotty, I’d paint my damn wall first.

Here’s the door next to that door. This door is in the center of the front wall. It’s prettier than the Democrat’s door.

DemLawYou can maybe just barely tell there are sidelights on either side of that door. I took a picture through one of them, with an extra bonus door showing.

DemStairsUp those stairs, which are as steep as death, was our lawyer’s office. They’ve moved to ground level down the street, which is good news for an aging clientele.

Now, about Governor O’Bannon’s father. Very late in life, he married my best friend in Corydon, Mildred Kepner, who was a life-long friend of his and his late wife’s. Neither of them lived very long after, but they were very happy. I miss Mildred every day, and she’s been a long time gone.

This has been a somewhat snarky addition to Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors link-up. Go visit his page and click the link to find other participants or to add your own Thursday Doors link. You have until Saturday.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Your character is forbidden from doing something, the forbidding of which doesn’t seem rational.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “CoryDoors — Shhhh! Sooper Sekrit! #ThursdayDoors

  1. Dan

    February 11, 2016 at 7:10am

    I wish the laws governing taking pictures for public places applied to public areas of private places. The letter box photo I used several months ago was supposed to be from the building I featured that day, but I wasn’t allowed to take a picture in that building’s lobby. Of the mail box.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 11, 2016 at 8:42am

      Scratching my head about this private public thing. I mean, okay, I respect their human right to decide what they do and do not want photographed. I respect their right, but I don’t have to respect their choice. That’s why I asked what the problem was, so I could understand it. The poor lady didn’t KNOW what the problem was; she had just been told “no pictures in here.” I guess.

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  2. Jane

    February 11, 2016 at 8:14am

    Wow. Go get the Law on this miscreant!

    Great story about Mildred. A happy ending! Sweet.

    You keep up that investigative journalism, girl! Go photog more sekrit places and stuff.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 11, 2016 at 8:45am

      On consideration, I’ve decided she was asking if I wanted her to find someone who could give me permission, not if I “wanted” her to call a cop, like a mom would ask if you “wanted” a spanking. heh

      Yeah, most places are like, “Cool! Snap away!”

      Mildred was a real lady. I’ll have to dig up a post I did about her and repost it.

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      • Holly

        February 11, 2016 at 10:11am

        I was about to point that out. It would require permission from the property owner; if they were there, it probably would’ve been a simple, “Sure, no problem.”

        Grab yourself a stack of model releases and property releases and keep them in your purse. (You’d have needed a release from anyone IN the photo, too.)

        Of course, I’m not really sure that the law DOESN’T allow you to take “editorial” photos (which this would be) in the “public areas of a private place.” Commercial (like stock photos people would pay you for) would be different. But I think you might’ve been within your rights to simply snap away. It’s always best to be respectful of their rules, though, and not be banned from the property for being a troublemaker – unless you’ve got a copy of the relevant state statute in your purse, along with the model releases. πŸ™‚

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        • Author

          Marian Allen

          February 11, 2016 at 10:43am

          Releases? I never thought of getting releases. I always ask if I want to take a picture of a person, and tell them what it’s for, but I never thought of getting a release to take a picture of a place. Now you’re spookin’ me.

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            • Author

              Marian Allen

              February 11, 2016 at 11:58am

              My mind, like the rest of my body, generally stays at rest. But I thank you for the resources. I’ll hop (for a given value of “hop”) over and read.

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          • Holly

            February 11, 2016 at 11:46am

            This is also helpful: http://lifehacker.com/5912250/know-your-rights-photography-in-public

            So, if the place was open to the public (but the property itself was privately owned), you have the right to take photos there UNLESS you are asked by the owner or delegate of the owner to STOP (which you were).

            And while it’s good form to ask, it may backfire. I was taking a class, once, and asked the Kroger store manager if I could take photos in the produce section. I should’ve just taken them unless asked to stop. Because he wasn’t sure what the owner’s policy was, he said no, and gave me someone out of town I could contact. By then, the class would be over. I took photos of something else. But that was also before cell phones and selfies were ubiquitous, and retail establishments figured out that unless you were documenting roach droppings in the lettuce, your photos probably were more helpful than harmful.

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  3. Shelly

    February 11, 2016 at 10:39am

    That’s the local newspaper’s office? I wonder why they are so secretive? What did they think you’d get a picture of that they didn’t want the public seeing? This seems very two faced and strange to me for a business that makes money off of selling stories with pictures.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 11, 2016 at 10:45am

      It seemed weird to me, too, but it’s their office, and they get to say who does what there. It just ticked me off a little, and I felt like having fun with them. Another time, when I’m not on the clock, I’ll go in and ask permission and, as Holly said, they’ll probably give me a tour and a cup of coffee. πŸ™‚

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      • Holly

        February 11, 2016 at 12:02pm

        I would bet on it. And to avoid wasting your time, you might even just call ahead, explain why you’d like to, and that way they can make sure the coffee’s hot when you get there. πŸ™‚

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  4. Norm2.0

    February 11, 2016 at 12:33pm

    Nice post Marian, I like photographers with a bit of snark πŸ˜‰
    If you’ll allow me to play devil’s advocate for a minute I’d bring up another point of view on this. Considering the fact that it’s a newspaper (albeit a local one), and newspapers do at times publish things that some do not appreciate, well, after Charlie Hebdo last year I’d cut them a little slack if they’re a bit paranoid about people coming in and casing the place.
    I’d still be annoyed of course… but I think that walking out and not making a fuss was the right thing to do.

    Disclaimer: Thursday Doors is not responsible for bail money, should it become required, while in pursuit of door photos πŸ˜›

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 11, 2016 at 12:48pm

      No bail money? I thought you had a slush fund for that! Well, dang! πŸ˜‰

      I hadn’t made the connection with Charlie Hebdo, but I suppose media do have an extra incentive for caution. Okay, they’re out of the doghouse. πŸ™‚

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  5. joey

    February 11, 2016 at 2:37pm

    Hahaha! I loved this. Paint the damn wall, ahahaha! Oh thank you πŸ™‚

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 12, 2016 at 8:25am

      Glad I could give you a laugh, Joey. And thank you for my new word: Propylaeum. I love it!

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  6. jan

    February 11, 2016 at 6:44pm

    Haha! “I’m a blogger, not a terrorist! Honest!”

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 12, 2016 at 8:28am

      I know, right? I’m a dumpy, Senior Citizen hick in sensible shoes. I guess I COULD be a super-spy undercover, but Indiana’s 16-time Blue Ribbon Weekly is not the paper I would be scoping out, right?

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  7. janet

    February 11, 2016 at 8:34pm

    Ok, while I enjoyed the photos, the story and comments were great. I was just wondering about releases again today. Years ago, we were told that if we took photos of people and used them (not sure if that was commercially), we’d need releases. Today, with blogs, cell phones, etc., I’d love to know what that legal position is. Lots of people I know use portraits of people on their blogs. I sometimes wonder whether that’s legal.

    janet

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 12, 2016 at 8:32am

      Holly Jahangiri left some useful links in the comments here that explain all that. I always ask people if I can take their picture and tell them what I want it for. If my blog were more popular, I’d be more worried about getting permission in writing, I guess. The legalities are probably in disarray right now because of what you mention — blogs, cell phones, social media photo-sharing, and so on.

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  8. Deborah aka CircadianReflections

    February 11, 2016 at 9:27pm

    I loved your comment, “if I were going to be snotty I’d paint the damn wall first!” Too right!

    Both doors were nice though.

    RE: Releases if you’re on private property you need to get permission, and if you’re going to use their likeness you should have a model release. Especially if you’re going to sell the image even if you think that possibility is remote. There are apps for releases! I have a model release on my iphone.

    If you’re doing “street photography” or are somewhere in public where there isn’t an expectation of privacy you don’t need a model release, but it’s always nice to ask first if you can take someone’s photo. If you’re on the sidewalk taking photos of a building’s exterior you don’t need a release, but the owner may come out and ask what the heck you’re doing. It’s happened to me while photographing doors and exteriors.

    OT- My Mom was born and raised in Louisville, and I lived there for several months before my parents relocated us to California per my mother’s request…ah er desires. πŸ™‚ My cousin is about the only one left there in the family now.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 12, 2016 at 8:36am

      ~waves to Deborah’s mom~ Wherabouts in Louisville? Does she ever still say “whereabouts”? Does she say “tump” as in, “Just tump that out on the compost heap” or, “The wagon hit a rock and tumped over”?

      Thanks for the info. Imma go download that release app right now!

      p.s. I was born and raised in the West End, generally in the Portland area.

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  9. Patricia Stoltey

    February 12, 2016 at 10:30am

    Marian, you do snarky really well. I do like the door photos, and the wall that needs painting. :DP

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  10. Carol Preflatish

    February 12, 2016 at 2:22pm

    I was taking a photo of something once for a pictorial history book that was published several years ago. I was standing in the middle of a public road taking the photo of a privately owned piece of historical property. Apparently, word got back to the owner, who did not live around here, that I had taken the photo for the book I was working on. The lady called me and told me if I published that picture in the book, she’d sue me. I explained that I was in the middle of the public road when I took it, not on her property. She didn’t care. The photo was not included in the book, but we made sure we mentioned that the owner refused to let us print a photo. Some people just don’t have a clue.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 12, 2016 at 2:36pm

      I was surprised to find out it’s a no-no to publish pictures of identifiable private property that’s clearly visible to the public. It seems like, if anyone can just look and see it, then why…? But, as Ranger Doug says, “I don’t know, but I don’t have to know.”

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