Capture the Elusive Building

The ACLU confirms that you have the sacred right to photograph federal buildings.

This is a relief to me, since I have based my retirement plans on becoming a famous and ridiculously well compensated federal-building-photographer.

Yeah, OK, I haven't. In fact, I have rarely had any desire to photograph a federal building, other than the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica, where I wanted to memorialize the thin yoga mat in someone's cubicle on which I and my sister slept for a couple of frigid nights while Hurricane Dean bore down on us.

Most people do not pack warm clothes when they go to Jamaica, but if there's any chance that you'll be sealed inside a highly air-conditioned building for days, you really ought to consider it.

Anyway, the point is that federal buildings belong to citizens, so go out there and take some photos. Here's the important info:

The three-page document plainly states that “absent reasonable suspicion or probable cause” security personnel must allow individuals to “photograph the exterior of federally owned or leased facilities from publicly accessible spaces.”

Do it!

The keen mind will note that the document in question does not actually cover what I wanted to photograph, which was the interior of an Embassy from a space that was not open to the public. But if I want to go back and take a picture of the outside of that building--which I probably will not, but one never knows--I'm golden.

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