This is the last shot of Exeter I made before I headed back to Boston. If nothing else, I took away with me the beauty and image of the town impressed in my mind BEFORE the 'incident'.So I spent last Sunday and Monday in Exeter, New Hampshire, about 1 hr 15 mins north of Boston. I rented a Zipcar for two whole days at 68/day and drove up with the purpose of shooting a profile of the small town for the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce, who wanted fresh pictures to supply to the New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR). The NHPR wanted to profile Exeter on their website as one of the towns for the New Hampshire Primary.
The last item on my shooting list on Sunday was the Exeter Hospital which I thought was easy enough to do. I made the mistake of walking on the hospital grounds with my camera exposed. This attracted the hospital security who decided to 'tail' me after seeing me with the camera. they drove past me and then made a turn to come up behind me. At this time, I didn't know they were already approaching from behind and put the camera to my eye to snap a few shots. Of course they immediately stopped me and said I wasn't to shoot, it's hospital policy blah blah, I didn't have permission, etc. I'm all too used to this having encountered such situations before back home. But I was careful not to 'create trouble' as I was alone in a small town with no one to bail me out if anything happened. Despite my protests that it was a public road and that I didn't need permission to shoot from the outside, and that I did not shoot people, just the building, the chap would have none of it and demanded that I stop. He raised his voice after I tried to protest some more, and I decided there was no point arguing with him.
So reluctantly, I stopped shooting only after having got a few frames which were not of the main entrance of the hospital building at that. So I walked on with the intention of eventually getting to my car which was parked at one end of the road. The security kept their watchful eye on me, waiting to pounce on me at the first sign of me even touching my camera.
They made sure I left the area and was out of sight before they left me, or so I thought. I made a big round towards my car, as I didn't want to go through hospital grounds again, for fear that they would find some unreasonable means to detain me. As I was walking along a road that would lead me to the car, there it was again, the security car parked strategically at an intersection where they knew I would have to pass. They guy then stopped me and said he wanted to have a look at what I'd shot and have the pictures deleted as I had no authority to shoot them in the first place.
Whenever a photographer is presented with this 'option', our defences automatically heighten and I immediately told him there was no way I was going to do that, and refused to show him my pix, even though I knew I had nothing he could pin me down with. I did not appreciate the fact that he wouldn't let the matter rest even though I obediently stopped shooting as instructed. He was trying to intimidate me by adopting a high and heavy handed manner in dealing with the situation, thinking I would be shivering in my pants with fear. I told him that I know my rights as a photographer and there was "no way" I was going to give up my pictures, and suggested he call the police as I knew we wouldn't get anywhere if there was no third neutral party to settle the matter.
The situation was a little tense, though I tried not to let it get the better of me. I told myself to remain calm, and tried to call the guy at the Chamber of Commerce whom I had visited in his office just half an hour earlier, but as it was past five, no one picked up the office phone as expected. And the worst thing is that I didn't have his cell phone number, which was a huge oversight on my part, not getting it in the first place.
The police arrived within 5-10 mins and the bloke proceeded to tell him I was in effect trespassing and the whole story followed. I let him speak and after he'd finished, I asked the police officer if I could tell my side of the story.
Basically, I knew that they have nothing on me as I did not do anything illegal. Again, I told them I knew my rights and that I was in no way obliged to show or delete any of my pictures if I did not see the need to. I also accused the hospital security of making the whole situation unpleasant by intercepting me on my way back to my car when he could've just let the matter rest since I complied with his demands to stop shooting. I decided to show the police officer (and the mean bloke) the few pix I'd shot to prove that I did not shoot any patients' faces, and after the officer saw that I really had nothing, gave me the usual explanation of how the hospital had very strict privacy laws and the hospital security was just doing their job yadda yadda yadda, nothing I'd never heard before. I basically just wanted to go back to my car, get out of there and go home.
Finally, I was 'released' and now I had two vehicles following me to make sure I got out of the grounds asap. The police officer was nice enough to give me a lift to my car which was still some distance away. I think he just wanted me to get out quickly so I wouldn't make the security people nervous. All this time, I was rather outspoken and showed that I'm not about to be intimidated by anyone when I know I haven't broken the law. I think this helped in that they knew they weren't dealing with a submissive, ignorant Asian. Imagine what would've happened if I didn't speak English well and could not defend myself!
I was quite relieved that the drama was over and was glad to get out of there. I actually like Exeter the town, but having encountered this situation, let's just say my memories of the place won't be as fond.
The only good thing I got out of my time there is that I think I managed to shoot some nice pix of the place. It was pretty intensive shooting over the full day (Sun afternoon to Monday evening) and I was quite ready to leave at the end.
