Sometimes, It's Better to Seek Permission

I used to love the adage that it's sometimes easier to beg forgiveness than to seek permission.

There are many things that I've done in life where I thought there were risks in performing them. If they worked out, great: if not, I hoped I'd be forgiven.

Many years ago, I wrote about how a friend and I ran into each other while trying to photograph the same thing. We were looking to get night shots of a historic Ottawa building that was lit up with Christmas lights, only the premises was surrounded by an iron gate and fencing.

When a car exited the grounds through the open gate, my friend and I snuck in and found a spot where we could capture better images. But we had to wait for someone else to open the gate before we could get out again.

From a legal standpoint, we were trespassing. But considering our intentions, I don't think anyone would have ever pressed charges if we got caught.

We would have begged forgiveness.

For a couple of weeks, I've been thinking of going out to take more night shots. I really haven't taken many photos this year and I've turned into a bit of a hermit, preferring to stay indoors. My only outings this year have been to karaoke nights and a couple of social evenings with friends.

With Hallowe'en approaching, I thought about taking some photos of decorated houses in the neighbourhood, but I've really lost my interest in this holiday. I prefer to hide in the darkened back of the house whilst DW distributes candy to the visiting Trick-or-Treaters.

I wanted to capture something dark and spooky, though, and what's more spooky than a cemetery at night?

I thought of driving to Beechwood Cemetery, which has lots of large, Gothic-type structures. They offer haunted walks, but they happen during daylight hours and I'm interested in capturing scenes at night. Checking their Web site, I learned that they're open to the public from sunrise to sunset, except if you ask for permission.

I felt that a large and important cemetery like Beechwood probably doesn't offer permission to nobodies like me so I looked elsewhere. There are lots of cemeteries across Ottawa but either none offer what I'm looking for or they're closed up at night.

And then, I remembered that there's a cemetery not far from home, in the village of Fallowfield. I've been there before and have taken photos during the day or photos of the related church, at night. I thought I could sneak there some night, as there are no fences or gates to keep visitors from going on the grounds, but I thought that with today's climate, some churches might be worried about vandals and have security cameras or even security guards.

On a whim, I consulted ChatGPT to see if there were rules against going into cemeteries at night, and it replied that from a legal standpoint, you're trespassing if you're on the grounds between sunset and sunrise. It echoed Beechwood's policy, where you need to get permission to be on the grounds at night.

I asked about the cemetery in Fallowfield, as it didn't specify hours on its site. I learned that without authorization, I would be, indeed, trespassing.

But then, ChatGPT offered to write a polite letter to this specific church to gain permission, and I thought, why not? I mean, I'm a writer and can put one together myself, but this might just be faster. I could see what it produced and clean it up, if necessary.

Well, the AI tool actually drafted a perfect request, with no editing necessary. It was direct and to the point, stressing that I would be respectful and capture images that were tasteful.

I copied the text and pasted it into an e-mail message that I sent to the office administrator for the church.

The next day, I received a response. I was thanked for my thoughtful and respectful message, and was told that I could, indeed, visit the cemetery, but with only two guidelines that I had to follow: I could only go on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening; I also couldn't stay beyond 10:00. The administrator asked me to provide the date and time that I planned to visit.

I told the office administrator that I would follow these guidelines and that I would be there on Wednesday, from about 8:30. I would stay no more than an hour. I also added that if they'd like, I could send them a copy of my best photo from the shoot but I received no further response.

As promised, I went to St. Patrick Parish on Wednesday at the specified time. I stayed about a half an hour. Here's my best shot.

Now, full disclaimer. I added the ground fog. I wanted to enhance the mood.

Even though they didn't reply to my response message, I sent them a copy anyway. Sometimes, it's better to seek permission than to face unwanted consequences.

Happy Friday!