"Excuse me sir, do you have permission from marketing?" Nope, but Subvertising says hi. "You can't be using professional equipment in here without permission from marketing." Really, now? Okay, who do I need to talk to? "I don't know, check with the front desk."
Art museums aren't my usual haunts, but my partner is an artist and a member at the Speed Art Museum down on the University of Louisville's campus, occasionally find myself wandering about there. Couple weeks back, we stopped in at the Speed so my partner could make sketches in the galleries, was passing the time testing out my new 70-200mm lens when the run-in with the camera police happened.
Went and checked with the front desk, was told as long as it wasn't for commercial purposes it was fine. Emailed marketing the next day to try and get some clarification but haven't heard hide nor hair from them since. Think it's probably like when I got detained at the power plant, don't nobody know exactly what the rules are.
It's all kind of funny, seems to be another instance of people judging your level of professionalism by the length of your lens. Had been there the week before with equally "professional" kit, but was using a 24-70mm instead and nobody cared. Hell, I've posted photos from previous visits on Instagram and the Speed Art Museum's account even liked and commented on it, so I'm blaming it on the camera police.
Joke is on the camera police, wasn't there for the artwork anyways. Was practicing seeing a familiar place differently and just chasing angles, shadows, and reflections. Had fun with that, even with the bit of excitement.