San Diego Trolley Guards

        San Diego Reader has just published a story that was started by my video, which can be viewed above. Please click this link to read the SD Reader story. The title of the story is, “We Don’t Want You Talking Pictures.” and it is written by Kathryn Snyder. It reports about my video and how the trolley guards tried to stop me from filming or taking pictures. The article goes on to say that the incident report for the evening is not available for one of two reasons: “…based on the California Public Records Act, which exempts documents from disclosure that are either: (1) records pertaining to current litigation to which the public agency is a party; or (2) records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, and any state, or local police agency.”

        These are links to posts and videos that lead up to the SD Reader story:

My original blog post can be read by clicking here.
Story featured on Carlos Miller’s “Photography Is Not A Crime” website can be read here.
The San Diego Reader Story can be read by clicking here or by clicking the photo below.
For the follow-up story on “Photography Is Not A Crime” website click here.
To visit the Illegal Photography page referenced in the San Diego Reader story, click the following link: www.theworldisraw.com/illegal-photography/

        A friend of mine has produced a very complete and easy to follow tutorial about the basics of brewing your own beer at home. The video is clear, succinct and takes you from adding your first drop of water to sipping your brew in about 7 minutes. The text below the video is much less complete than the dialogue of the video, but it may help you to follow along.

        Start by adding 3 fresh gallons of water to your kettle.  Place the steeping grains in the water while it’s (the water) still cold.  The type of grain you use will in large part determine the final color and flavor of your beer.

        Once you’ve added your grains, bring on the heat and bring the water to 155 degrees F (68 C).  25 minutes is best.  Remove grains before temperature reaches 180 F.  180F will cause the husks of the grain will impart their tannins into the brew and will give it astringent qualities.

        Whether you use liquid or powdered malt, be sure to stir the wort vigorously to prevent the malt from burning to the bottom of your kettle.  Turn off the heat while adding the malt if you don’t have an assistant.

        About ten minutes after adding the malt, as the wort begins to boil, a layer of foam will develop that will boil over unless you either remove the kettle from the heat or tame the foam with a spray bottle.

        The proteins will coagulate; sink to the bottom become cloudy

        After about ten more minutes, the foam will disappear and you can now add your hops.

        Once you’ve added your hops, set your timer for 60 minutes.

        As the pot boils you may need to scrape the hops from side of the kettle to keep them in the wort.

        DO NOT COVER THE KETTLE!

        At the 55 minute mark add some more hops.  This final addition of hops gives your beer a fantastic aroma.

        At the end of the boil it is very important to cool your wort as quickly as possible.  Your brew can grow hazardous bacteria below 140F which is why cooling quickly in an ice bath or using an immersion wort chiller is imperative.  Do not cool your wort by letting it sit out at room temperature.

        After the boil the wort will have very little oxygen so it must be oxygenated by using a sterile whisk or by vigorously pouring the wort into the carboy.  The colder your wort is, the better it will absorb oxygen.  This is important because more oxygen makes it easier for the soon to be added yeast to take hold and absorb to its environment.

        Add cold water to the wort (which at this point is in the carboy) to bring the total volume to 5 gallons and a temperature between 65F and 75F.

        Add your yeast, top with an airlock and go to bed…  In other words, after adding yeast, don’t mess it!

        Primary fermentation takes about a week.  You will know (in about a week) that it’s time to siphon your brew into another carboy when it bubbles once every 90 seconds.

        While making this transfer, you want to keep oxygen AWAY from the wort, so be gentle and don’t splash it around.

        After transfer to the secondary fermenter, you can forget about it for the next few weeks.

        After those  few weeks you can either bottle or keg your beer.

Trolley Police Have No Right To Prohibit Photography

        The proof is in the pudding. The video above was broadcast on Friday, September 18th, 2009 on San Diego’s local NBC News affiliate 7/39 at 11pm. What more can I say other than this is a very distinct victory for photographers’ rights. We are allowed to shoot video or take pictures at trolley stations, and San Diego Trolley police have NO RIGHT to ask or make a photographer stop.

        The entire statement, made by Ken Moller of Heritage Security Services is as follows:

“We have no right to tell people they can’t shoot (video) down there. My officers were wrong in telling him that. And I put the word out as soon as I saw the video. It’s a public place and people can certainly shoot video down there if they want to.”

        So there you have it. Here is what I have learned from this experience. If an authority figure challenges you while taking photos or shooting video, be polite. Ask them if you are violating any law, and KEEP ROLLING during the transaction. As a photographer, I hate to say it, but this would not have made the evening news if I wasn’t shooting video, so make sure to switch to video mode as soon as you see an authority figure approaching you.

        Now we know why video mode is important to us photographers… Not to add a bullet to your wedding photography resume, but rather to protect yourself and to show in HD quality just how your rights are being violated.

        Below you will find the video that started it all, and above will you find the video that decided it all.

San Diego Bay As Seen From Harbor Island

        Not every fracas is a victory, chief. Watching a boatload of tourists fire invisible cannonballs at each other is not as exciting as it may sound. It was one of those 3 hours of boredom followed by 10 seconds of nothing situations, and I uh… I got nothing.

Don’t Blink Or You Will Miss The Action

        I just don’t know what to say, which is ironic considering this is a blog post which would imply that I have something to say.

No Collisions & No One Fell Overboard

        I suppose it’s the movies that have spoiled me but God damn, there was just NO excitement at all. At least in the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride at Disneyland the water splashes where the cannonballs hit and there is a soundtrack to add a sense of drama. This was just boats and puffs of smoke… Sorry, I just nodded off while typing about it.

Damn The Fake Cannonballs, Full Speed Ahead!

        My dilemma now is this: Do I pay $65 next weekend to be on one of these boats, and see if that particular vantage offers up better photo opportunities or do I just sleep in instead?

Beauty & Danger At Technomania Circus

Technomania Circus is also host to music acts that range from normal guys with guitars to to men in full-on welding rigs that use fire and brimstone as their instruments. The video at the top as one of those, the video below is somewhat more traditional.

          It would seem that San Diego Trolley Police need a few lessons in local law. The man on the ground, was smoking in the 12th & Imperial Transit Center in San Diego, CA. This happened on September 5th, 2009 at 8:20pm. Assuming that what you see the San Diego Trolley Transit Police doing is legal and assuming the transit police are keeping other public commuters safe, there should be no issue with photography taking place. If a protector of the public, whose salary is drawn from the taxes of the public is also prohibiting the public from LEGAL activities, then San Diego trolley police are breaking the law. Heritage Security has a 5 year, $25 million with San Diego which was signed in January, 2006. The hierarchy seems to be: Unarmed trolley officer, armed trolley officer, armed supervisor, armed lieutenant and armed captain. If I read the contract correctly, unarmed San Diego trolley police officers receive a 2.5% annual pay increase, while armed trolley police officers receive a 3.5% annual pay increase. There are also small pay increases every 6 months, assuming performance is satisfactory. As San Diego trolley police have constant interaction with the public, why do they prohibit photography of themselves if they are performing their job in a satisfactory manner? The contract makes no mention of a photography ban nor does it state what qualifies satisfactory performance versus unsatisfactory performance.

Some highlights from the video above are:

1) For the first 40 seconds or so, the man on the ground makes numerous requests for the officer closest to me to get his knee off of his head, and specifically, his scar which was obtained during a recent surgery to remove cancer.
2) At the 15 second mark, a female officer crosses the Trolley tracks and says, “Get away with that camera!” I can be heard to ask, “How far?” The San Diego Trolley Police Officer says, “You’re not allowed to take pictures.”
3) At the two minute mark, right after a bus passes between me and the officers and their handcuffed smoker, the same female officer from before (now on the left side of the screen) looks at me, walks to her colleagues as says something. A second later three officers turn around and look right at me. The female officer points at me, which causes a one of her own to approach me for the ensuing challenge.

        UPDATE! Read my follow-up post here. My video is featured on NBC 7/39 San Diego News. Watch my interview and read a statement made by Heritage Security regarding the situation. Suffice to say that photography at San Diego Trolley Stations is in fact 100% LEGAL!

Trolley Stations Are Public Property

          Photography is not illegal. You’ll hear me say that a half dozen times or so in the video, as well as asking if I am in violation of any law. Two of the San Diego Trolley Cops told me I was not allowed to take pictures. Interesting. We public commuters can look at them, show them our tickets, obey orders given by them, be tackled to the ground by them and placed, in handcuffs inside SUV’s with dark tinted windows, BUT WE CAN NOT PHOTOGRAPH THEM DOING ANY OF IT! Or so they say, at least in this video.

          San Diego trolley police officers that don’t want pictures taken of them while they do their job are out of luck. If they are captured on film while tackling some one to the ground, why would photography be prohibited unless they were doing something illegal? I have emailed Heritage Security asking this question but got no reply. I would appeal to visit the contact page of Heritage Security and ask them. On that page you will find and email link with text that says hr@heritagesecurity.com, but when you hover over the link it says the email is jsullins@heritagesecurity.com. I hope their trolley police officer selection process is not as disorganized as their website.

A Transit Station At Night Can Be Scary Enough on It’s Own