The Importance Of Asking Permission

When I was lining up the photo shoot with Pet (see previous post), there were a few places in Cherry Creek she wanted to shoot. The biggest part of the shoot was supposed to take place inside of Cherry Creek Mall. Another part she wanted to include was some shots at a restaurant.

While it can be easier to play dumb and beg forgiveness rather than ask permission, it's usually a good idea to ask permission first. These days photographers are under more scrutiny than ever, so I would much rather play it safe and not get interrupted in the middle of a photo shoot by security or the police.

First, I paid a visit to the management at Cherry Creek Mall. They were very friendly and open to photographers in the mall, but they explained that there were contracts to sign and a legal department to deal with. They said the process would take at least two weeks and probably more if there were any changes to the contract. I had less than a week, so the mall was out. The woman I spoke to did say that she was glad that I asked, as they treat photographers as trespassers and will usually call the police if they catch anyone taking photos without permission!

The second location I visited was North, an Italian restaurant in the middle of Cherry Creek. The woman I spoke to there gave me a business card, wrote down a name and email address and told me to contact this person in their corporate offices. She said that it shouldn't be a problem to get permission to shoot, but we still had to go through corporate.

I contacted the woman, Debbie Porter, and almost immediately received a response saying that it would be fine to shoot at the restaurant. Not only that, but she asked how many people would be in the crew and what we needed from them! She even recommended we use the restaurant before it opened to make it easier for us (and probably for them as well). When we arrived at the restaurant, they were expecting us (yay for good communication!). Everyone was very nice and helpful and offered to get us anything we needed. Once we were set up, they left us alone until we were done. They prepared a great salad for us and set the table, even though they weren't even going to use the table that day.

It only took about 5 minutes total on my part, but the payoff for asking permission was huge! Did it seem like a little extra trouble at the time? Sure it did. But, when I think about how easy it made everything when it came time to shoot, I'll be asking permission every time from now on.

Thank you to North - Modern Italian Cuisine in Cherry Creek.