Sterling Library

Interesting that when I mention to somebody that I've been working in New Haven, they assume it has to do with Yale.  "Yale is New Haven and New Haven is Yale" people have told me.

To me that's not true at all.  Yes, Yale is there and Yale is important but figures very little in the work I've done.  In a very cold (January!) 2013 trip, we decided to 'break the Yale barrier.'  Why not go to Yale and see if they have some low hanging fruit in their archives.  About the Board of Education or something.  It's right here in town.

So we went to the archives but didn't find much.  But when we walked into the Sterling Library (pictured), my brother (I was there with Charl and Mary Ann), always looking for photographic opportunities, exclaimed, "What great low light!," and immediately set up his tripod.  He really wanted to work on his skills of working in a beautiful setting with not much light.

I've written about this before.

So he sets up his tripod and his camera and goes into that photography trance thinking how he could get a really good high quality shot.  His picture is so clear that I can read the sign on that massive desk in the background. 'Circulation.'

Unfortunately and without realizing the consequences, he had set up the tripod directly in front of the security desk.

Uh oh.

After a few minutes, steps behind him and a security guard approached him saying, with emphasis and not a little intimidation, that photography was NOT allowed in the Sterling Library, that he must stop immediately, and furthermore, if Yale University were to find out that he had made any money on images of this library, they had a large number of lawyers who would personally crush him.

Or similar. 

All righty then, no need to get so sensitive.  My brother pleaded regarding the pursuit of artistic expression which didn't carry much weight with the security guys.  Eventually they told him that while he might take some tourist type snapshots, should they catch him with a tripod they would roast his liver.

Or similar.

So, the takeaway is to hide your tripod so it's out of the sight of the security desk.

Lesson learned.

Beautiful shot though.