For Once I Was Almost Glad I Wasn't Allowed To Take Photos

[phetaroi]

Like most of us, I get rather frustrated when at a place you're not allowed to take photos. While there may be valid reasons on occasion -- security, for example -- most of the time it's just silly whim. At Suan Pakkard once I was told no photos because the light from the flash could damage the old treasures...and then that nice Thai smile. When I pointed out I would use the no-flash setting, that nice Thai smile disappeared in panic, and I was told I could still not take photos. When I asked, "Oh, okay, but just curious why," they got so nervous it made me smile. It was all very friendly of course, and with a nice tone.

But that's all off my topic. Yesterday I went a place I've been waiting to see for 22 years -- the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Dusit. Have you been? I find the exterior way too stark and in desperate need of landscaping. But, the interior...OMG! More stunning than the American Capitol building, for example. I was frustrated when, as expected, I had to lock my camera in their little lockers. But as I got up into the throne hall, I could not imagine being successful taking photos in there. The colors are on the dark side, but in a very attractive manner. Many of the murals are on extremely high ceilings (think the US Capitol dome), and lighting would be an extreme challenge. The nice thing is that they give you a headset, so you're not confined to a standard tour and can take as much time as you like.

The recent art works on display (most of gold and silver) are exquisite, and here again I thought lighting would be a real challenge...arranged so to bring out the "sparkle" of gold and beetle's wings, but almost glaring and somewhat in your face.

Ah well, nice to dream about what could be if we were allowed to take photos!

[Pooklook]

I think you echoed the frustrations that many of us many of us have experienced. Well said.

[phetaroi]

I think you echoed the frustrations that many of us many of us have experienced. Well said.

When I was still living outside of Washington, D.C., people were fairly consistently prevented from taking photos at Union Station. I had been stopped a couple of times because I had a "big" camera, although people with cell phone cameras were not stopped as often. Believe it or not, one resident of the region went to his Congressman, who then held a Congressional hearing where the people who ran Union Station were called on the carpet. Guess what. Voila. Everyone is now free to take photos except in one very specific location where you can look down on the train platforms (legitimate security issue). Who says politicians never accomplish anything!

[Pooklook]

That is the perfect balance, we get so used to taking pics in Thailand in many places and you come back home and

find that irrational concerns prevent you from taking photos in many places. Now if we can just get some people in

high places her to review the photo policy's.......or at least come up with a better explanation for the prohibition.

[phetaroi]

That is the perfect balance, we get so used to taking pics in Thailand in many places and you come back home and

find that irrational concerns prevent you from taking photos in many places. Now if we can just get some people in

high places her to review the photo policy's.......or at least come up with a better explanation for the prohibition.

Actually, I think it relates directly to what is done in the West. Someone here who directs a museum, for example, goes to a conference about museum procedures in another country. There they see that many museums in the West don't allow photos. They come back here with the idea and suddenly it pops up here, as well.

The funniest similar thing I ever saw -- although it wasn't about taking photos -- was at the outdoor court of the fairly new American Indian Museum on the Mall in Washington. A little boy climbed up on something. The guard came over and gruffly said, "Get off there! You could damage that!"

It was a huge granite boulder.

[SurfRider]

.

I was in San Jose, Costa Rica and went to visit one of their premiere museums. I had a small digital Minolta camera in my pocket which I carry everywhere when traveling, and it never occurred to me about whether or not photos were permitted.

When you enter the compound, the entrance to the museum was right there -- or so I thought at the time.

I went in and immediately saw a feast of images that I had to capture with my camera. I went through the entire museum and probably shot about 50 or more pix.

When I finally departed the museum, there was a VERY LARGE sign saying "Absolutely NO Photography" in the museum.

I suddenly discovered that I had entered the "exit" of the museum and traversed it in reverse order of the intended direction. The No-Photo sign was at the entrance, which I used as an exit.

Strange, because I encountered several museum attendants while I was wildly shooting away with a bright flash and nobody said anything.

I still have and enjoy all the photos today.

Maybe the secret is to use the Exit for an entrance and play dumb

.