See the two men? They are just about to turn around and walk over to me with sufficient briskness that I know what is about to happen. The man in the blue is part of the security operation on this site and photography is not allowed. The road is on a bus route, thousands of people must drive past this spot every week, yet standing and taking a photo in a totally open overt way is a ‘security’ threat.
This is the headquarters building for UK and Ireland of Bayer plc. Perhaps they were being especially twitchy knowing that one of their products – Roundup – was about to be all over the news?
In UK so much apparently public space is now private that it comes as no real surprise to be challenged and told to put the camera away.
I tried to straighten the vertical lines on this picture – not sure if it has worked or does it look a bit strange?
Is it private land?
Yes it is though there are no signs saying so ( unlike, for example, Windmill Hill in Swindon where there is a big obvious sign when you drive in). It is Green Park Business Park in Reading. I think it is interesting how companies can effectively insulate themselves from the public through CCTV and security. I have no idea if any public money went into this.
So I’m assuming the laws are different in the UK than in the US. From my understanding, here in the US, we can take pictures as long as we are on public property, i.e. a sidewalk or street. Only once have I had a security guard stop me. It was after taking a photo of a school in downtown Denver. I was with my wife and son walking through downtown, I had stopped and taken some pics of the school which resided in a large office building like structure, something I found odd.
My wife and son continued walking while I shot some pictures, I then walked away at least a few hundred feet when I gentleman stopped me. I had a lot of explaining to do. Had to show him ID etc. He didn’t make me delete the photos. They weren’t even very good images.
If I ever visit the UK, I’ll probably get stopped all the time : )