A recent trip to the Woodlands Water Play Park for a local father took an unexpected turn when he was approached by city staff and police over reported concerns about his photography.
A recent trip to the Woodlands Water Play Park for a local father took an unexpected turn when he was approached by city staff and police over reported concerns about his photography.
Jason Jeffrey, 33, accompanied his children to the splash park on Tuesday, packing along his camera and a new lens.
Jeffrey, who owns a photography business with his girlfriend, ended up embarrassed after he was approached by a city staff member because someone complained they were concerned he was taking photos of other people's children.
“Being a parent and a photographer, I bring my camera with me everywhere,” he said, noting he's taken his camera on outings with his children before with no problems like this.
He pointed out who his kids were to the city staff person, and the city staff person reported back to the concerned patrons.
A little while later, an RCMP vehicle arrived on scene and the officer came to question Jeffrey. He showed them the photos and who his kids were.
He acknowledges he might look younger than his age, but feels he was singled out due to being male. Women at the park obviously taking photos were not approached.
Jeffrey said he believes the RCMP and city staff were doing their jobs by responding to the concern and the issue was not with them but those who complained, though he was embarrassed at being spoken to in such a public manner.
“I totally believe it was discrimination towards me being a male in that environment with a camera,” Jeffrey said. His kids are still questioning what happened, he said.
Cpl. Laurel Kading of the RCMP said typically if the RCMP receives a complaint they will respond to it.
Sharleen Edwards, aquatics services manager for the city, said the staff member responded to a concern following the protocols they'd been trained to use, though she acknowledged this is the first time she's heard of such a complaint in the last few years.
She said staff will try and speak to the person discreetly but don't want to take them out of sight of their children.
This isn't the first time in recent months the St. Albert Gazette has heard from a man who was questioned for taking photos of his own children. A father wrote a letter to the editor back in May when he was grilled by a coach while taking photos at his daughter's baseball game and threatened with the police.
Candace Elliott, a freelance photographer who works for both the Gazette and the Edmonton Journal said while she has never been greeted with suspicion, she's had male colleagues who have.
“I'm walking in there with a big camera as well, it's no different,” she said, noting her male colleagues have “probably had a little more trouble” with people being suspicious of their motives.
Chris Colbourne, one of the Gazette's staff photographers, said in over 15 years of professional photography, he's never hit an issue.
“We're pretty recognizable,” he said of the paper's pro shooters.
He noted he tries to keep his press badge visible and make it clear who he is. As a parent, he can even understand the tendency to think the worst.
“It's a tough one,” he said of the issue. “It's sad that a father who's taking pictures of his kids and he's asked to constantly justify his actions,” Colbourne said.
Colbourne noted that those who go to public places should have a diminished expectation of privacy in those public spaces, and that photography in public places is allowed.
“People should not expect that they can't be looked at,” he said. “People carry cameras … the fact is we're a visual society.”
Noel West, a staff photographer who works for Great West Newspapers, the chain which owns the Gazette, said he's encountered occasional incidents where people seem to be concerned about what he's doing, in part because he's male.
“It almost seems like profiling,” he said, though he noted, like Colbourne, he tries to make his presence and intentions known.
No one's been really rude, he said, but in some circumstances there is some suspicion.
“There are times when I feel I am discriminated against because I'm a man,” he said.
