The bike, being out in public, has no reasonable expectation of privacy.

This is a real source of pain for certain celebrity bikes, which can't go anywhere without a gaggle of photographers or 'bicilipaparazzi' following them around and (arguably) making their lives impossible. A hot-tempered young bike, once a member of the 'Brat Bike Pack,' achieved some notoriety some years back by smashing a photographer's camera, but that only got it more attention.

That is called "Being Trekked".

I take photos of interesting bicycles frequently. They are out in the open, they're fair game. If someone questioned it, I'd do what you did above - I'd explain I loved bikes and tell them why I like theirs. I remember looking at one bike with a friend and a guy rushed up on us telling us to get away from his ride. When we explained we were bike guys, he instantly cooled off and we had a good conversation.

The worst is when one of those bicycles is photo'd in public without any tires and then complains about privacy. Well why was it in public so brazenly without tires?

photos yes, touching no. I've had to jump up from my seat (sidewalk table) to rescue my bike from being tipped over several times, due to clueless people bumping, handling, etc. my bike. Some are surprised that it's apparently a big deal to me. Maybe I should sit on their car hood or surf their lap top next time since they are so easy-going.

noksagent - I go through that with the Schwinn tandem all of the time...people think it's perfectly acceptable to put their kid/loved one/dog/diaper bag on the bike and take a photo.

OK, you guys ignore that guy taking pics of your bike, and when he's riding your bike down the street, I'll be polite & wave at him. I guess I "might" be a little more paranoid than some folks, but I've had 3 bikes stolen in a 2 year period before, 2 of those times with good Kryptonite locks on them. So at least my paranoia is somewhat justified.

I find it interesting that everyone who has responded has assumed that the OP is the owner of the C&V bike described and not the photographer or none of the above.

I assumed the OP was the photographer and had a run in with an irate bike owner. He's asking if he was out of line. My post above indicated I thought he was the photographer as well

"I take photos of interesting bicycles frequently. They are out in the open, they're fair game. If someone questioned it, I'd do what you did above - I'd explain I loved bikes and tell them why I like theirs. I remember looking at one bike with a friend and a guy rushed up on us telling us to get away from his ride. When we explained we were bike guys, he instantly cooled off and we had a good conversation."

I ride the campus a lot and always check out the bike rack, mostly for unlocked bikes.

Wasn't there a thread about a CL ad where a guy said he could get sell you whatever bike you wanted, in fact if you took a picture of a bike on the street and tell him where it was, he'd go by and check it out?

Oh, sorry to include you in that. I don't see your posts.

No problem, if you can see it

My bike can be seen in front of my house by anyone on the planet who has access to Google Street View.
I'm fine with it. What's outside is not private.

The first time someone asked if they could take a picture of my bike, I was walking with it the day before L'Eroica. I said yes, and then there was an awkward silence, until I firgure out they wanted me out of the picture. So I leaned it up against a wall, drive side out, and let the bike have its momment. It was then that a whole slew of people began taking pictures. I guess they were too shy to ask, but once the opportunity was presented, they just went right ahead.

My wife just laughed at me while this was going on. It was like I was the ugly best friend to my bike. Nobody cared about me.

Oh, yeah - no matter what LA says, it is all about the bike

DD

No.
No, quite the contrary -- I take it as a compliment and an opportunity to meet someone with a shared interest.

I was the one snapping photos. I work next to a university and a hospital and there are bikes everywhere and sometimes my own bike is among them. On breaks, at lunch or when there is a lull in the work flow I often wander about checking bikes out, sometimes laughing, sometimes drooling. It is a habit that I have had for the last ten years and it has not once been an issue until this week and I have hundreds of photos that I have snapped all over town. Sometimes with the owners in the shot, other times not. It had not ever occurred to me that anyone would take offense, in my experience the general mood among fellow cyclists is one of camaraderie. Of the bikes I took pictures of when the cyclists were around, all of them were thrilled that I was so impressed with their bikes and on occasion they have in turned snapped pictures of my bike.

Socially, I am not exactly adept it is not unusual for me to completely misread a social situation. Still, I was none the less caught completely off guard yesterday afternoon. I saw black Raleigh that looked like a 70's something and walked over. There was no one within 20 feet of the bike rack. I hadn't had time to get a good look at it but it appeared to be in pristine condition and I noticed "Nottingham" on the Raleigh head badge so I pulled out my phone, never touched the bike, but zoomed in on the head badge and snapped an a picture. I walked around to the other side and started to line up a shot and this guy comes running over yelling at me.

I explained what I was doing, showed him pictures of my own bikes, but he was convinced I was a bike thief. The police came, they ran my license, I explained everything to them twice, let him see me delete the pictures of his bike and was then let go. The police suggested I not do that any more. It was quite humiliating.

Yikes!

Well, if it were my bike, I would be more flattered than upset, but then again I'm the kind of guy who posts his own bikes on the internet. And I imagine most of us, reading this thread, are like me (and you) and different from the average bike owner.

On the other hand, I have seen cool bikes locked up in public, and wanted to take photos, but felt creepy doing it. So I didn't.

Did you ask the police what you had done wrong? Did they cite a city ordinance against taking photos of other people's stuff? I mean, I respect other people's privacy as well as their foibles, and would have deleted the photos as you did. But if the police are suggesting you committed some kind of an infraction, I would have wanted to know what it was.

Taking a pcture of your kid on the playground....wierd, suspicious, and cop-calling worthy

Taking pictures of a nuclear facility... possible terrorist activity, and guys in back fatigues with night vision - calling worthy

Taking pics of your vintage ride on a bike rack? Not so much.

You have every right to take photos in a public place. Weird and possessive owners are a byproduct of today's 'me' culture.
If there's anyone who should be humiliated by that encounter, it's the cop. He demonstrated a poor ability to read the situation and a worse understanding of the law.

I do believe that taking photos out in public falls under our constitutional right.

Direct from the ACLU:

Link

That said, there is a line, and that falls between what's "plainly" in public view and what's intended to be private, like a person inside his home. But a bicycle locked up in public, on a public sidewalk (or private building with public access), would fall under the category of being in the public domain for being photographed.

On the other hand, to defer to the owner of an object in plain sight whether to photograph or not is simply being considerate of people's feelings and sense of privacy. A few weeks ago a car went by my house, and the passenger photographed our house from the moving vehicle. It could have been someone from the tax office, doing a drive-by to update their tax records (our property taxes are listed online, open to the public, with digital photos of the properties). Or, it could have been a speculator. Or, it could have been a stalker, a perv, a voyeur. Who knows? Did it freak me out? No, but it made me slightly uneasy and it roused my curiosity. If I had a chance, would I have asked them to stop? Probably not, but I would have asked them why they're photographing my property. And in the end, I would have no power over whether they did or didn't. My house is publicly visible. It would be ridiculous for me to try to call the cops.

If you are a photographer who loves to photograph bikes, or even not a photographer, or you just want to photograph anything in public, by all means do so, it's an exercise of your artistic freedom. But if someone approaches you and expresses discomfort, try and be considerate. But certainly, if a situation escalates like it did for the OP, know your rights!

. . . all three of 'em.

Let me guess... this happened in Pyonyang?

You did absolutely nothing wrong and, while I don't know your local/state laws, I am certain you violated no statutes. You had no obligation to delete the photos. You had no obligation to show anyone that you deleted photos. I probably would have done what you did since it's not advisable to argue, even politely, with people who have the authority to arrest/inconvenience you...but I'd also be making inquiries now with their supervisor and I'd probably make a formal complaint about the incident. Generally speaking, if you're having an incident with police you do what they say during the incident and confront afterwards. The thing to understand is that there are often vague laws like "creating a disturbance" that can be used/abused in cases where people are "asserting their rights." That said - the police were likely just trying to resolve the dispute as easily as possible.

You mentioned being near a University/Hospital...were these campus security guards or police?

Glad we are all on the same page. It seemed strange that anyone frequenting this forum would see an issue, so it makes more sense knowing you were the photographer. Chalk it up as one uptight dude, and move on...but don't change your ways.

Wow! He called the police!? That guy is definitely uptight and the police should have screened the call as irrelevant if they had known the details. I would certainly file a complaint about the incident.