How to take photos of Area 51

Use a camera with a decent lense:






How to get out if you are approached by Cammo Dudes:

While criminal prosecution for violating laws prohibiting photography of Groom Lake is unlikely given recent history, unless trespass is involved, it is interesting to speculate on possible legal defenses. Prior to the United States Air Force's acknowledgement in connection with then-pending environmental litigation of the existence of an Air Force "operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada," one such defense would have been the absurdity of photographing something that does not exist.

Not to despair, though, other possible defenses (in decreasing order of plausibility) remain. The best defense is that the United States government has waived its privilege to enforce applicable laws by permitting the wide distribution of images of Groom Lake through fora as varied and subversive as the New York Times Magazine, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, the Travel Channel, Popular Science, web sites too numerous to list, and through the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Another defense would be that photography of secret bases from the distances involved generally does not reveal information greater than the mere existence of such facilities and that laws regarding photography of such facilities were not intended to prohibit photography disclosing something as obvious as their mere existence but rather to prevent the revelation of intimate details thereof.

Another defense would be that one has an interest in the land which a particular facility occupies, as the land is owned by the public, and that given the distances involved it is not possible to photograph said land without the particular facility inadvertently being photographed.

Yet another defense would be that the United States government has done such a fine job of maintaining the secrecy of the existence of a given facility that one had no idea that anything other than a beautiful desert landscape would appear in the suspect photograph and that if, on the other hand, the government had in fact failed miserably at maintaining secrecy, the photograph is irrelevant.

Fortunately for visitors to the area and unfortunately for legal voyeurs, to my knowledge (I welcome information to the contrary) there has never been a prosecution for violation of the laws prohibiting photography of Groom Lake. For that reason concerns about the possible legal ramifications of photographing Groom Lake likely are moot unless one has photographed the base from within the restricted area or while flying in the continuously restricted airspace surrounding the base. However, one must understand that all photographs of Groom Lake, even those offered for public sale by the USGS and published in the New York Times Magazine, are at least arguably in technical violation of applicable laws.

Is this your website or did you steal this from here and not give it credit?

www.desertsecrets.com...

if it was actually his website im pretty sur he wudve posted a link to it to generate traffic

All the photos are from Steve Hauser

I am sure the cammo dudes would easily spot you with a camera that size. Certainly not much of a cover.

[edit on 21/7/05 by GodAtum]