Maria and I went to the Wilton Mall in Saratoga Springs last nigh to see the last Harry Potter movie. I like it, but was sorry to see the movie took itself so seriously, and was so pre-occupied with battle special affects it kind of forget the magic and fun. There were perhaps a million creatures of various kinds killed in this epic battle for the castle, and it was kind of numbing.

Walking through the mall, I  got busted. I was taking photos, including the one above, when two teenaged security guards came up and stopped me and said I couldn’t take photos in the mall. They said it was because of the “terrorist” stuff. I guess malls have been terrorist targets. I said I was a professional photographer and that I did not believe it was against the law to take a photo in a mall. The guards said it wasn’t against the law, but it was mall policy. I briefly considered getting myself arrested to protest the “policy” but didn’t.

I might go back and do it.

Photographers around the country are successfully challenging these  waves of post 911 laws and restrictions and private citizens, tourists and  photographers are being prevented from taking photos of subways, trains, malls, public squares and buildings. In Boston on a recent book tour, police stopped me from photographing a public fountain (there were children splashing in it) and the Prudential Center.

Malls are the new main streets of America, and it seemed a profound loss to me that photographs of them could not be taken, scenes like the one above not shared. It would be a significant loss for images of malls to be banned.  I can’t imagine anyone banning photos on any Main Street in America. Does this ban really prevent a terrorist attack? Why couldn’t a terrorist simply walk into a mall and look? Security is one thing, the illusion of security seems to be another. I’m signing up with some photographer’s associations to fight these laws, except where it seems to clearly affect security. The Wilton Mall is not a nuclear power plant or a government installation. It is an important public space, and I think it’s images are worthy of being seen as part of our culture, and important to record.

I understand concerns about security, and the need to take terrorism seriously, but no security guards are going to stop somebody from photographing  a mall if they really wanted to. I could have just held my small camera in my palm and done it.  I’m not sure what the line is between security and Orwellian fearfulness, unable to make rational decisions about safety, so passing sweeping and unthinking restrictions that choke off important and elemental freedoms. It seems to me that it is a basic right to take photographs in a public space, just as it is to walk them and say what you want, within reason.