Powell Street Muni & Bart Station

When I woke up Monday morning, it was pouring rain. Normally, I wouldn’t mind — but Travis, Stuart, Julie, and I had decided to meet up for a group portrait and later go shoot Mid-Market and the Tenderloin. Not to be discouraged by the weather, we decided to try and shoot all 9 subway stations on the Muni Metro lines instead.

We started at the Embarcadero station and headed to Montgomery to Powell to Civic Center to Van Ness to Church, (where Julie departed) and to the Castro Station where Travis and I said goodbye to Stuart and continued to make our way towards Balboa Park.

It was fun to travel in a small group, moving quickly, photographing what presented itself to us and then making our way to the next station.

The day was not without incident, however, as an uninformed station agent at the Castro Station insisted that all photography on Muni was “illegal because of 9/11.” I asked her to call Muni Central Control for clarification, she was unable to reach anyone. Additionally a search on the SFMTA website for “photography” or “photography policy” yields no results. I have an email out to media spokesperson Judson True asking why Muni’s new photography policy has not been publicly posted or communicated out to its employees.

Other than those few minutes, it was a great afternoon to move around underneath The City, shooting together with no real destination.

You can check out our group portrait here.

UPDATE (1/22/10):

I received an email from Judson last week:

Hello Troy—

I apologize for the experience that you and your group had yesterday.  In particular, I am sorry that the interim procedure in place until the guidelines are fully disseminated did not solve the problem.

The guidelines will be on the Web site by Friday.

In addition to following up with this particular Station Agent (who, in her defense, has not been trained on the guidelines), I will talk today with my Operations and Safety colleagues about next steps in getting the word out to staff and holding any necessary trainings.

Best,

Judson