A few days ago while riding home on a NJ Transit train I had an interesting and luckily uneventful converstion with a Transit employee. I was testing out a recently purchased camera, snapping pictures of the passing scenery enroute to Penn Station. A few stops go by and I can feel someone’s eyes on me. At first I am alarmed and think, “Is this person going to try and take my camera?!?” The thought quickly fades as the likelyhood of such an event was remote at best on such a crowded train. But the person remains and I continue clicking away. Finally, I hear “Why are you taking pictures?” I am still looking through the viewfinder at this point and the voice comes out of nowhere. It jars me, helping to produce a blurred photo of one of my favorite pieces of graffiti. I look up and begin to offer an answer. I say something to the extent that I find the scenery “interesting”. This was not a good answer as I was to learn. The man across the way repeats the word and adds “yes it is,” in a tone that is meant to entrap. I quickly dodge his intentions by mentioning that I had just gotten the camera a few stops ago and was checking it out. He gave me slow look over and said “yeah you look okay, but just last week I asked some guy the same question and he got all flustered and we had to confiscate his camera and take him in for questioning.”
There is no law against taking pictures on NJ Transit trains; regardless of that fact, it seems as though taking a picture does put one in a risky situation–and this situation is largely complicated by how you look. Which makes me wonder what the recent victory by photo advocates means for New York City subways? (For backstory on the MTA’s proposed ban check out Eliot’s post on the subject).