Photographer’s journal: DART, smile for the camera

by Brody Mulligan of Brody Blog

Lugging my equipment up the frozen escalators, tripod in hand, I methodically laid out my camera and lens atop Mockingbird Station, hoping for a beautifully blurry shot of two DART trams passing beneath by the dawn's early light.

I never had a chance. I was approached by two DART police officers, who starkly informed me that no photography was allowed, and told me to put my camera away immediately.

Legally, the rights of photographers have been protected for some time under United States Federal Law, which stipulates that in all but few circumstances, a photographer may take and own any sights visible on a public sidewalk or street, with the exception of federal buildings.

Recently, major public companies like Google have implemented new urban imagining technology that gathers photographic data from a moving vehicle, and have thus far been unchecked by local, state, or federal law enforcement.

Technically, DART property, built in part by federal and public funds, is private, and therefore, DART may regulate photography at its respective stations. But many of DART's dozens of stations are along public streets--fuzzing the lines of what is public, what is private, and, most importantly, what is legal.

With questions regarding DART's official photography policy, I telephoned Morgan Lyons, manager of media relations for DART.

The policy he explained was a complete opposite of the experiences I'd had in the last few times around. According to Mr. Lyons, DART has no restrictions on photography with the exceptions of City Place and Convention Center stations. Those stations were identified as having heightened security risks after the September 11th terrorist attacks.