“Commercial activity, including photograpy, is prohibited on the Isle of Palms beach.  Unless a special exemption is granted by City Council, photographers who take portraits or photographs on the Isle of Palms beach as part of a commercial transaction are in violation of City ordinances.”

For now I will ignore the part where they mis-spelled photography as ‘photograpy’ (because it’s probably just a typo).  Instead I would like to take a moment to discuss the larger implication of making photography illegal.  It is noted further down that commercial photographers can “obtain an exemption” but this is far different from the traditional practice of “requiring a permit”.  This is basically making photography illegal.  You can be granted an exemption from legal enforcement if you request it from City Council, but that is entirely different than requiring a professional photographer to pay for a permit at City Hall.

View the full page here

Keep in mind that coastal beaches are publicly owned and maintained by the state, and thus public access is required.  While restricting the nature of access is fine, the verbiage here presents serious problems and implications for photographers.  So, the burning questions in my mind are:

• Can IOP do this?
• Is this an acceptable practice?
• Does the ASMP know about this?  If so, why aren’t they taking appropriate actions?

Why has no one come forward to challenge the legality of this law, because on prima facia grounds, it seems to run in direction contradiction with traditional practices toward permitting and banning of commercial activities.  Typically, commercial activity requires simply paying a fee at the local municipality, obtaining the permit to continue, and then continuing.  That is not the case here – they are requiring an exemption to be granted by the entire City Council!  Lastly, I also cannot help but wonder where organizations like the ASMP haven’t gotten involved or taken exception to this.

I understand what SC is trying to do, and don’t necessarily have a problem with the intent – what does appear to be problematic though…are the words.  Worded correctly, there would be absolutely no issue with this, but as it currently stands, there is a definite problem with the words!  What do you think?  Vote in the poll or sound off in the comments…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

With that pretext set, we’d all be interested in hearing the blogosphere thoughts on this subject. So, vote in the poll, then chime in with the comments – the fate of the universe rests in your hands (not really, but join in anyway, it’s fun! )

I promise tomorrow I will return to photography topics.  In the meantime, Happy Shooting!

Here’s the show notes:

• Cards as gifts
• Photo Contest Watcher
• Top 8 of ’08 Nominees thus far
  • The Online Photographer
  • Strobist
  • Photoshop Insider
  • Photowalk Pro
  • Jason D. Moore
  • Dave Cross Blog
  • Digital Photography Life

With so many blogs and podcasts out there, it’s tough though – some were in it last year, so I should give consideration to others, so who do I go with?  Let me know your favorites in the comments and the tallying shall begin.

ETA Update:  Here’s the link to find your Google Profile page:  Your Google Profile

In other blog-related news, don’t forget to vote in the poll on the sidebar! Only a few weeks left there  I’ve also got a link to my twitter, to my Google profile page (you’ve got a Google profile page, right?), and more I am sure will be forthcoming. So twitter me, I’ll tweet ya back!

Last, but not least is this week’s “What’s This?  Last week was a skyscraper from the ground-up, so everyone was right on the money. Back to a tougher one this week…can you decipher this?

As I tinker a little with the audio quality of the show and try to make things more seamless and enjoyable, you’ll notice I am pushing the show out in segments, with some music to break things up in little snips between the subject material.  If you like it, chime in via the comments section of the blog.  If you don’t like it, well…chime in via the comments section of the blog.  If you are ambivalent, well…chime in via the comments in the blog.

Hmmm…seems like someone would like to hear what the listening audience thinks of the changes in the format for the audio podcast.  And it also seems that the feedback can easily be done via:  the comments section of the blog!

If you’ve listened to the show and are still yearning for more, please stop by fellow podcasters Scott Sherman and Michael Stein’s new podcast series:  Digital Photography Life.  Formerly, these guys hosted the Digital Photography Show on another network and they’ve since moved on.  Their first show on the new network mis up and ready for your listening pleasure, so do stop over and give it a listen – great to have them back on the air!  Their podcast can be found here:  Digital Photography Life

[podcast]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/CBPodcast58.mp3[/podcast]

As always, happy shooting, have a great weekend and keep watching those apertures!