So…who’s the “President”? Michael Moore??

By the way, I started my videography business as a way of justifying my own overzealousness! Now I’m a “documentary filmmaker” and not just old annoying Uncle Mike who videotapes everything.

Thanks for the disclaimer, Mike. But I’m afraid that I might sometimes qualify as both a tourist (a very touristy tourist) and an overzealous dad. I did NOT drop a big wad of money at the American Girl store, however . . .

I don’t mean YOU, Erich!

Here’s how I approached it. I was a legitimate customer (I actually bought some accessories for my daughter’s Kaya doll during the visit when I took the photos).  [note to Tim Hogan: they were relatively inexpensive accessories] [Note to my daughter who now reads fairly well: they were significant purchases]. Because I was in the store to actually shop, I had the right to be where I was. I didn’t see any prohibition regarding taking photos–no signs told me to not take a photo. American Girl is also somewhat of a tourist hot spot, and I’m sure I’m not the first person to snap a few pics. I am pretty unobtrusive–I’ve got it down to a quick procedure that starts with having a small camera hanging–ready to go–around my neck. I avoid taking the images of any customers. I’m sure it’s easier and less threatening to use a still camera than that video camera you must be using.

If confronted, I would be polite and explain what I was doing, and cease if they asked me to cease–after all, I’m in the store as an “invitee” (legally speaking), and my status as a permissive user can be withdrawn at the discretion of the store, as long as it’s not for a Constitutionally protected reason (e.g., race, religion). If I got desperate, I could even take out my ID Card showing that I’m an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church!  That would give me some immunity, right?  On the practical side of the issue, why wouldn’t they want me looking around and memorializing all of that exotic merchandise? I might tell others about the things I saw. I might thus be an unwitting advertiser.

I had a bit more luck than you did in Toys R Us.

I think that the bottom line is that a store might not care in a practical sense, as long as amateur anthropologists like you and I are inobtrusive and we avoid intruding on the rights of other customers. Otherwise, to the extent that a business disallows customers to take photos of the things they are selling, I do wonder– What do they have to hide?

Speaking of which, I was stranded in Las Vegas from September 11-13, 2001 (I had been visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and was trying to fly home from LV on 9/11/01). I would not advise walking around any casino with a camera. I merely snapped one photo of a band that was playing near an entrance to the massive MGM Grand, when a 6′ 5″ security guard appeared suddenly and rudely scolding me to put the camera away immediately.  Back then, I remember thinking too bad our airports didn’t have this kind of aggressive security guard working on 9/11.

I would have loved to take some photos of the customers at the casinos, but didn’t want to invade their privacy and the security guy clearly gave me the message. What fascinated me was that so many people were willing to do frivolous things at a casino on the same day when the so many Americans died in a horrible tragedy and it SEEMED that civilization as we knew it was ending (based on the news reports). But there they were, gambling, drinking, laughing. The casinos were not completely full on the evening of 9/11/01, but they seemed to be at least half full, a fact that was verified by some employees to whom I spoke.  What kind of person goes to a casino to have fun on the evening of 9/11/01, I wondered.