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In Favor of Ban on Commercial Photography at East End Park - Kingwood

In Favor of Ban on Commercial Photography at East End Park - Kingwood

By: Bob Rehak
Published: Nov 19, 2014, 11:00am

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Recently, KSA erected a sign in East End Park banning commercial photography. This caused an outcry from photographers who saw their income threatened. The resulting news coverage has not been kind to KSA, which I believe acted in the best interests of the park, the animals that inhabit it, neighbors that border it, and all Kingwood residents.

As a commercial photographer and someone who spent more than a decade of his life helping to develop East End Park, I felt very conflicted about this issue. The photographers feel that the park makes a beautiful backdrop for their photos. There�s no denying that.

The problem was that commercial overuse and disregard for park rules was starting to destroy the very amenities that make the park so attractive. Not all photographers disregarded the rules or created problems, but enough did that KSA was forced to do something to protect the park and public interest.

A few examples:

1) Some photographers often parked in the fire lane at the entrance to the park to load and unload their props. They then blocked the fire lane sometimes for hours � a serious safety hazard � while they shot elsewhere. As someone who once had a heart attack while walking in the park, blocking emergency access concerned me greatly.
2) Clearly posted park rules request visitors to remain on trails or mowed areas, but many photographers felt the rules did not apply to them and their clients. Some trampled areas of tall grass in the meadow day after day to create fresh backdrops for their photos. The Lake Houston Nature Club has documented 141 species of birds in East End Park, some of which are threatened or endangered; they depend on seed from that grass.
3) Trampling tall grass also reduced forage for one of the last remaining herds of deer in Kingwood. At least one photographer then tried to attract deer for photos by spreading bags of corn and salt, although this is also clearly prohibited by park rules.
4) The tall-grass areas trampled by photographers and their subjects contain coral, copperhead, and rattle snakes. Some photographers led babies, toddlers and pregnant mothers into these areas day after day.
5) Some photographers littered the park with abandoned props including balloons, blankets, rotting pumpkins, pallets, and bales of hay. KSA had to remove these at public expense.
6) Some of the photographers using the park were not from Kingwood and do not pay to maintain the park like residents do.
7) Some Kingwood photographers booked sessions with non-residents � using up the park�s sparse parking space, forcing residents to park blocks away. On a Sunday afternoon in October, I counted four K-stickers among 22 cars in the lot. That afternoon, I also counted more than a dozen photographers �working� the park. One that I talked to had 18 different sessions booked for her elaborate pumpkin stand tableau that she set up in the middle of the main entry trail. On that afternoon, many residents had to park on streets up to three blocks away to get in the park.
8) According to Houston police, many neighbors on those streets complained that they couldn�t park in front of their own homes.
9) Lately, the sheer volume of photographers became problematic in itself. Residents complained that a �walk in the park� was like �running a gauntlet of photographers.�
10) Because deed restrictions prohibit �for profit� activities in the park, when photographers started operating what amounted to regular businesses there, they forced KSA to act.

Commercial activities have always been prohibited in all KSA parks. So the sign erected at East End Park that put photographers on notice should not have come as a surprise.

I personally find nothing wrong with taking pictures in the park in a way that doesn�t undermine the park experience for others; many photographers were very careful in this regard.

But I do have a problem with non-Kingwood photographers, some of whom felt they had a right to trample wildlife habitat, block fire lanes with cars, block trails with props, litter the park, take up scarce parking spots with clients from outside Kingwood, undermine others� enjoyment of the park, and externalize their �studio costs� at residents� expense.

In talking with my KSA and photographer friends, no one feels happy about the prohibition against commercial photography. What some photographers consider an outrage, I think KSA would consider a regrettable necessity. Sad to say, I feel it�s a regrettable necessity, too.

Bob Rehak
Kingwood Resident
Commercial Photographer
Former East End Park Steward
Former VP of KSA






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