Hello Scott,
I realise this won't help you - wrong continent, wrong century - but
I can't resist recounting the story. Some necessary background first.
Australia is the driest continent on earth other than Antarctica, so, vast
spaces sparsely populated or unpopulated. Much mineral wealth. A miner, or
mining company, can take out an "Authority to Prospect" over an area of
potential mineral wealth, giving them exclusive rights to search for
minerals for the period of the Authority. Searching can involve quite
sophisticated electronic, etc., equipment.
Norman Robinson, now deceased, was a CSIRO ornithologist who did a lot of
bird recording. Have you seen a Nagra open-reel analogue recorder?
Considered the 'Rolls Royce' of recorders 50 years ago (and priced
accordingly!). Massive, heavy metal case, with an impressive lot of dials
and meters.
So Norman is chasing a bird recording in some remote part of Australia.
Alone, and didn't realise he wandered onto a mineralised area covered by an
A to P. Nagra plus Sennheiser 'Shotgun' mic in hand. And he's found by a
couple of the miners who hold the A to P ... and who immediately assumed the
gear was some sort of mineral prospecting device. Things looked pretty
nasty for a while, Norman told me. Fortunately he had already recorded some
bird song and was able to play this back to them and convince them that's
all he was doing.
Cheers
Syd
> From: "Scott" <>
> Reply-To:
> Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:03:00 -0000
> To:
> Subject: [Nature Recordists] Security (Real or Perceived) Issues Relative To
> Recording In Today's Society
>
> Forum Members,
>
> This is posted not by a Newbie but rather by a Wannabe. As I weigh my
> phonographic interests versus the involved finances to support the
> hobby I also give though to several question.
>
> In particular, society's nervous, edgy nature relative to national
> security issues leads me to ask about recording in public areas. Do you
> experience strangers questioning your activities, motives, etc.? Has
> harassment ever been a problem? Has law enforcement personnel ever
> questioned or inhibited your recording activities?
>
> Perhaps the wannabe concerns are unwarranted but the question does
> enter my mind as I consider purchasing recording equipment.
>
> Thanks for your reply,
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause
>
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