Not the usual Highland welcome: ?I'm going to smash your camera ...

During last Summer I found myself working up in?Edinburgh?training some journalists from The ?Times (of London).

On the trip I met up with the Scottish photographer Alicia Bruce. She?s been covering Donald Trump?s ?infamous creation of a golf course by destroying a precious sand dune system in Scotland. In particular how families were holding out against the possibility of being forced to sell their homes whilst coping with the destruction ?of a landscape so beloved to them (John has written about this on duckrabbit here).

I was pretty disturbed by the instances of?harassment?the families were facing for holding out against Trump, and how photographers and?filmmakers?trying to tell their story were also getting?harassed.? I invited Alicia to share her experiences with duckrabbit?s readers.

Alicia Bruce:

I?ve been working on an ongoing photographic project at Menie, the site of the controversial Trump International Golf Links Scotland since 2010.? In spite of working in a respectful manner throughout I have been constantly followed and harassed by Trump?s security force and stopped on numerous occasions by Grampian Police whilst visiting or photographing the residents on their own properties.? I have been assertive but co-operative throughout my time in Menie. ??I include a case study of a recent incident in this article to highlight the ongoing problems faced by image-makers in this area.

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Project overview:

?Susan Munro: Leyton Cottage? from series ?Menie: a portrait of a North East community in conflict?

Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2010?All Rights Reserved

??Menie: a portrait of a North East community in conflict? ? ? ? ? ?

I grew up in Aberdeen in the North East of Scotland.? I spent my childhood summers playing on that beach. ?This area of outstanding natural beauty and SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) on Scotland?s North East coast has become a site of conflict. Local?s have been harassed, bullied and belittled. The Trump organisation declared plans to re-name Menie ?The Great Dunes of Scotland? and the resident?s homes were under threat of Compulsory Purchase Order. It concerned me that our heritage could be sold off so easily and short sightedly.

My focus began with the people of Menie and the place, not the Trump development. I wanted to present a humane story of people and place.

The residents have chosen not to be complacent but to stand up for our heritage.? These extraordinary people appeared as reluctant celebrities who had been thrust into the media spotlight in a PR spin to gain attention for the commerce which was about to encroach the area.? I was especially struck by the way local farmer Michael Forbes had been portrayed in the media as ?living in a slum?. It was a story of the Scottish David vs. The American Goliath with more than a hint of Local Hero.? If compulsory purchase order had gone ahead in Menie no home in Scotland would be safe. It?s a human rights issue.

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Susan Munro shows me a photo the day film-maker Anthony Baxter was arrested on her doorstep.

Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2010?All Rights Reserved

Filmmaker Anthony Baxter was making his documentary ?You?ve Been Trumped? at the same time I made this work.? We very much worked in parallel.? It allowed me more artistic freedom as it shifted the responsibility I had felt to tell the whole story.? I could operate differently and target a new audience.? I was aware the local press?wouldn?t?print a positive article about the residents but what if it was an art exhibition?? My guess was correct.? When the images were revealed in early 2011 we gained positive press not only in culture sections of newspapers but also in news sections.? This was the first time the residents of Menie had positive press in this way.? Within a week of the exhibition opening at Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, Trump International released a statement saying they were no longer pursuing?compulsory?purchase orders.? In February 2011 the portraits of Mike, Sheila & Molly Forbes were acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland securing their place more firmly in our National and cultural imagination.

Incident: Sunday 3 June 2012

My boyfriend and I had planned to visit Menie resident Susan Munro for a coffee earlier that afternoon but re-arranged to arrive at 6.? Susan wasn?t home yet so I photographed outside her home. ?On the way back to the car, still on Susan and John?s land, I stopped to photograph the view from end of her garden.? This view, once a dynamic dune system was becoming Trump International Golf Links Scotland?s car park with the temporary clubhouse in sight.

It should also be noted that the scene I was about to photograph can be seen from the window of the Munro?s.? I was not trespassing (would I have been anyway if I crossed the line?? There?s a right to roam in Scotland in most circumstances).

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A scraped back sand due at the end of Munro Family?s garden at Leyton Cottage to make way for Trump?s car park and temporary club house, from series ?Please don?t pretend to care about my country?s scenery in order to make yourself even richer?

Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2012?All Rights Reserved

I lined up my shot then came face to face with an angry aggressive security guard.? Trump security again! He blocked my view and started screaming:

?Who the hell are you? What do you want?? I?m going to seize your camera?

?I?ve called for back-up.? My boss is coming.? We?ll seize that camera?

?You?re in trouble. Just you wait.?

I politely said that I was in a friend?s garden and didn?t need permission.

He repeated that I had no right to be there or photograph & that he would seize my camera & that back up was coming.

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View from Leyton Cottage blocked by Trump?s angry security gaurd.? 3 June 2012

Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2012

All Rights Reserved

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Angry security guard now on The Munro Family?s private property at Leyton Cottage blocking our route out & screaming ?I?m going to smash your camera?? 3 June 2012

Please note the bank of sand topped with trees to block Susan?s property from the view of the golfers.? Evidence of intimidation.

Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2012

All Rights Reserved

My partner & I decided to go and walked a few footsteps back to our car.?? He then drove a few yards from the construction site onto Susan?s private road blocking our way out.? The only way we could have got out at this point would have been to reverse the entire way up the steep private road which is damaged due to the construction going on.?? We asked him to move back and he refused again stating that he would ??seize & smash the cameras??

Close up: Angry security guard now on The Munro Family?s private property at Leyton Cottage blocking our route out & screaming ?I?m going to smash your camera?? 3 June 2012

Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2012?All Rights Reserved

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This was when I started to get frightened, as he was so aggressive and angry.? I?m usually quite assertive, I know my rights and have the ability to take the emotion out of these situations reminding myself that these guys are just doing their job.? Unfortunately we couldn?t calm this guy down.? I was worried for my safety but also for the safety of my cameras. I asked my boyfriend to call the police.

The man continued to shout and was about to make a launch for me.? My partner stepped in and told him not to go near me pointing out we had every right to be on Susan & John?s land.?? He again said I had no right to take photographs and that back up was coming. ??I always carry a print out of photographers rights.

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The security guard?s boss talks him into reversing back onto Trump property allowing us to drive away.? We drive to Hermit Point the home of David & Moira Milne to wait for Grampian Police

Leyton Cottage 3 June 2012,?Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2012,?All Rights Reserved

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His boss, a man in a golf buggy with a young boy came from the direction of the golf course.? He asked what was going on.? The security guard barked that he?d ?caught these people taking pictures? ?we are going to seize their cameras?

I responded that I was frightened; I was on a friend?s property and wanted to call the Police.? The boss, who had an Irish accent, said everyone needed to calm down & that we could sort this ourselves.? The security guy kept shouting and I asked my partner for his phone.? I asked the boss to get the security guy to let us out.? He obliged.

I called 999 and waited for the Police at Hermit Point, the home of David & Moira Milne.? I chose to go there as I was also worried how the police may respond in light of what happened with filmmaker Anthony Baxter in the same garden in 2010.? Anthony & Richard Phiney were arrested, held for four hours and had DNA samples taken.? They hadn?t broken the law. I was worried a similar thing may happen to Andrew and I.

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?Moira and David Milne: Hermit Point?

From series ?Menie: a portrait of a North East community in conflict?,?Photo ? Alicia Bruce 2010. ?All Rights Reserved

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Two Grampian Police officers arrived at Hermit Point.? They were re-assuring but continually asked? ?Are you sure you want to press charges?? This man could lose his job.?? ?This could go to court.? ?There could be a lot of press.? I decided to press charges, as I was frightened, my human rights and my rights as a photographer had been infringed.? I pointed out my concerns about this happening to the residents of Menie who just want to be left in peace.? What if this man treated 88 year old Molly Forbes in this way?

Menie resident David Milne says:

??The day that Alicia and Andrew were threatened by the security at Menie will stay with me for a long time. It was a new security company the last one having just been fired by the Trump Organisation and to see just how shaken and scared Alicia was shocked me. She had always dealt with these situations politely but assertively, this was clearly an extreme incident. ?I had seen this type of behaviour so often, not so much against myself as I think they knew better but against other visitors to the site that I become immune to it, it no longer bothered me and to see others so clearly shaken and scared made me realise just how much effect it had on innocent people who had never been exposed to this level of aggression or ignorance and I felt responsible for my friends being exposed to this, I still do?

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The bullying and harassment needs to stop.? That same weekend:

• Fin Munro was stopped and questioned by the same security guard on Friday 1 June
• The new councillor for the Formartine area was stopped, questioned, harassed and asked for ID by the same security guard on Sunday 3 June

Outcome:

The security guard in question has been given a ?formal Police Warning? and no longer works for the Trump organisation.

Since this incident I have been followed at least ten times by Trump security.? I have always been on public land or on the of the Menie residents land whilst being followed.? ?I ?ve been chased along the beach and was most recently followed on Sunday 14 October.

A letter from Grampian Police.? 8 June 2012

Paul Holleran, National Organiser for NUJ Scotland states

?Anyone watching the documentary ?You?ve Been Trumped? can?t fail to be shocked at the way these two journalists were treated. The NUJ exists to defend journalists and stand up for journalism and this is a classic case on our own doorstep. We will not stand idly by and accept threats and intimidation as ways of silencing our members, who are simply doing their job in holding people in power to account.?

Links:

?Menie: a portrait of a North East Community in conflict

http://www.aliciabruce.co.uk/projects/menie-a-portrait-of-a-north-east-community-in-conflict/

Menie: Before Trump International Golf Links Scotland

http://www.aliciabruce.co.uk/projects/menie-posts/

Scottish Parliament Exhibition

http://www.aliciabruce.co.uk/news/the-scottish-parliament-exhibition/

The Times

?Aberdeen Gothic: opponents of Trump pitch in with fork? Mike Wade

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article2875915.ece

National Galleries of Scotland

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/B/26386/artist_name/Alicia%20Bruce/record_id/22534

STV News

Feature about ?Menie: a portrait of a North East community in conflict?

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BBC ?In Pictures? ?Two Photographers Focus on Menie

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-18832738

Axis: Artist of the Month

http://www.axisweb.org/atSelection.aspx?SELECTIONID=170303

David Milne?s Website:

http://www.menielinks.com/

Artist David McCue has included a comprehensive list of links:

http://www.davidmccue.co.uk/

I?m a photographer not a terrorist

http://photographernotaterrorist.org/bust-card/

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Related posts:

1. BJP report new public photography guidelines for security guards.
2. New year, new camera?
3. Your next camera..

Source: http://duckrabbit.info/blog/2012/11/not-the-usual-highland-welcome-im-going-to-smash-your-camera/

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