Not allowed to take pics of rides at CP!?

Gruelurks said:

Situations like this are not limited to just parks.
Check out what happened to a good friend of mine at a recent carnival event here in Livonia MI.
Carnival Warehouse Msgboard

That's weird. I live in Livonia and was at the Spree every day and I saw a lot of people taking pictures. I don't see anything wrong with it?

Hmm. I have taken lots of photos at CP before. I have even gotten away with it at SFWOA! That is odd with their picture policy (at SFWOA). I had not even heard of it before.

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Off to CP in August, Hopefully off to two other parks in July though!! YEA!!!! :-D It will be a good summer!
Questions:
smles@ilstu.edu

Gruelurks, I think sometimes the "authoritah" can go to one's head....I don't believe for a minute the cop was *told* to go and harrass the crap out of some poor guy taking photos....I think he (the "bad cop") may have found some entertainment at the carnival for himself....

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Welcome to the Cedar Point skyride....we'll take you up 50, drop you down 30, all at an amazing speed of 6 miles per hour....we won't see you back unless you make the return trip!

The only problem I've ever had at CP was taking pictures on the platform and the trains were coming in. They told me that wasn't allowed and asked me not to do it.

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Jeff-Jeff
Wood - Raven
Steel - Millennium Force
Generic, isn't it?

Gonchar you said though that your camera has a large lens on it right? I would put good money on it that they assumed you were undercover media and not just a casual photographer - explains them stopping you and not stopping those with point-and-shoot cameras (or digital). Most reporters aren't going to have a "crappy" camera, so that might have been what aroused suspic(s)ion (sp?)

millrace said:

Doesn't CP have those little signs proclaiming certain areas to be "Kodak Photo Spots" or whatever?
You should have stopped by the office and inquired about this.
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everything's better with a banjo

I believe PKI has those at the Vortex and where King Cobra was.

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Bill Yost
"I never rode a B&M I didn't like.":)
http://www.small-business-webs.com/pkizone

Yeah, I think the camera draws too much attention. It's far from a "professional" camera, it's just a mid level SLR. I have two lenses one with a 28mm to 80mm focal range and one with a 70mm to 300mm focal range. The 70-300 is on the larger side and is the one I was using at CP when told to stop, however I do think it was a case of a ride op confusing the words "on" and "of". Big difference between taking photos on a ride and taking photos of a ride. In the case of CP I knew he was wrong and moved on. At SFWOA I was using the smaller lens on the monorail. Still most folks don't exactly haul a SLR camera to the parks so that alone draws some looks. It just happens that I enjoy taking pics of these rides (they make great posters for around my desk/PC) and I do plan on opening my site in a few months. I've heard horror stories about this sort of thing at Disney parks, but never thought it'd happen in Ohio.

At any rate it's not that big of deal in the end. I still got my pics. Maybe I'll have to start "introducing" myself at the offices before taking my photos. I hate to do that because I don't want to seem like I think I'm some kindof bigwig:

"Hi, I'm here to take pictures and I have a big ol' camera, blah, blah, blah" - I just prefer to stay low key, enjoy the park and snap a few zillion photos. I don't want any special treatment, I just want to have fun.

For the record, here's a pic of the camera with the big lens on it for size reference:

http://home.ptd.net/~gonchar/cameras.jpg

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 12

Could they be using heightened security for the up coming 4th of July...just a thought.

You keep coming up with the reasoning being your camera. That's bogus, JMHO. Anybody can buy a camera, you know people can buy nicer cameras, & you know how much more cash you could spend on your existing one. Just because your camera is nice doesn't mean that somebody is going to be jealous of your property, or assume you're professional because of it. Many "professionals" use small cameras, disposibles, instants, as well as nicer rigs. If you were just "there to spy something out", what use would you be out there with a pro job to get the quickest of descrete snaps?

An undercover media photographer, sneaking around with his parnets? That would have been enough to have me offended, the fact that you were with your family. They don't want you having these pictures, maybe there's more of something on there that's personal to YOU. Undercover media photographer, geez, you'd think people had other things to worry about.
My first instinct would be to read the back of my ticket or pass, whatever the means of admission was. If somewhere therein it says some spiel about them having the right to seize my property, such as film under those circumstances, then I might think about handing it over. Otherwise, what's mine IS mine. If that's the case, then they need to label everything in the park as either 'PHOTO' or 'NO PHOTO'.

At CP, I think you know you were breaking no rules, the guy should've been ignored. Like somebody else said, take his picture;). You're NOT on the ride, you're not on quee, you're not in an employees area, it would be annoying for them to be asked permission all the time for photos, so there's got to be a common sense zone that I think you were well within.

That's quite a huge lense and I could definitely see CP seeing you as part of the media, although they probably should have asked before immediately telling you that you can't take photos.

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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com

Wow is Kodak found out what Cedarpoint has there workers saying weather its right or wrong they'ed be flamed.

I had no problems taking photos at CP two weeks ago.

Having an SLR, even a cheap one, does tend to draw attention, especially if you have a long lens. People ask me, "Who are you with?" from time to time. I reply, "My wife." ;)

My shiny new Canon D60 is just a little bulkier than my old Elan IIe. People were watching me on my last visit to CP, but the average employee (sweepers, gamers, etc.) could care less.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"We used to hate people, now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way." - KMFDM, "Dogma"

I think I have convinced myself that the way to go is the little disposable cameras. I told my wife, if I drop it or break it or lose it, no big loss... just the price of the camera plus the photos in it. Now losing my good Minolta... that is a different story. Besides, I hate carrying the two lenses I have for it. The zoom is nice, but bulky.

Never stopped or anything at a park when using it though.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

Bust out a tripod and you will get even more looks.

Actually, the photography policy is clearly posted on ride signs.

"Picture taking or filming of any kind is prohibited"

We were told just once, briefly, at the beginning of the season, that photographing the ride is not permitted. Surely, not everyone caught it, and some simply chose not to enforce it, but about once a day you'll hear the spiel from the Power Tower, "Picture taking or filming of the Power Tower is prohibited."

We weren't informed why this policy exists, but those on this board have apparently completely forgotten Sept. 11th. PT is 300 feet tall, MF is a little over 310. The queue lines around them are very close to the rides themselves, and these are very easy targets.

We had a middle eastern looking gentleman recording the tower recently, only when the cart went up...he taped the bottom. When the cart came down, he taped the top of the tower. Rather strange, and wouldn't respond to our spiels. Security was actually called in this case.

I'm not sure if this is the reason, but it is policy, and it is posted on ride signs (at least on ours).

Alan--PTC02

I would doubt that anyone would tape a ride to figure out how it works with the intentions of disabling it (or worse).

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Off with the trims!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com

I have a nice little camera that I can fit into my pocket to sneak on the rides. It has a thing to tie around your wrist so there is no way that it could get loose and it works really well. The Ride-Ops at PGA and most SF parks will let you take pictures on the rides (or they just don't comment). If you get caught, you didn't know. ;)

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www.EverythingRollerCoaster.com

I got that once with my Pentex Camera at Coney Island. I was in the station of the cyclone clicking away when the ride operator came up to me and yelled at me for taking photos. It was pretty wierd.

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Hmm, 2003 at SFGAm look it's a Bird It's A plane It's S**** M**

I wasn't aware of any such policy at Cedar Point last year. Picture taking ON THE RIDES is prohibited for safety reasons and that is what the signs mean. They do not mean you can't take a picture of a ride from the midway. C'mon - what would be the logic behind such a policy? I doubt it exists seeing as how there are literally thousands of pictures of CP rides on the web and this is the first I've heard of any resistance to taking pictures. You probably just ran into a confused employee. We didn't want people standing on our exit ramp last year filming, but if they took a quick snapshot and moved along, no one cared. We just didn't want the ramp clogged up.

Heck, the guys on the crew kept track of the number of girls that came up to them and asked to get a picture with them! ;)

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew