DC Train Station Hates Photography (Updated)

In April, I was scolded by a security guard in Washington's Union Station because I was sitting on the floor of the Amtrak waiting area. (It was the only spot where I could plug my tragically weak iBook into a power outlet.) No big deal — I moved. But now it seems security guards at this station have started confronting passengers for all kinds of iffy reasons, including photography.

Fox 5 Washington reports that Union Station guards are enforcing a non-existent ban on photography in this historic and often-photographed train station. Check out this clip: Just as an Amtrak spokesperson tells a reporter that photography is permitted in the station, a security guard arrives to tell the TV crew to stop taping.

Related post: Watch police confront a filmmaker on a London street

Update: On his blog LightBoxDC, photographer Joel Lawson (who appeared in that Channel 5 video) is posting updates to the story... including a link to the video response by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, one of D.C.'s non-voting Congressional delegates.

Comments

[dbram]

I was questioned by the local police and FBI after taking a photo of the Albuquerque Bus Station, from the street.

read more here...
http://davidbram.blogspot.com/2008/02/questioned-by-fbi-and-police.html

[StMarc]

You know that guy lost his job.

Not for being a lying bully - that's pretty much a job *requirement.* No, for being dumb enough not to notice the HUGE HONKIN' ID BADGE on the AMTRAK flack and not having the brains to go harass somebody else.

[Michael]

The links in the article go to missing clips.

[Daryl Lang]

Thanks, Michael. Just fixed the link.