Gender reveals and confetti bombs: Dispute flares over photography at Fort Worth park
Don Young first noticed the increased traffic to Tandy Hills Natural Area in 2015. A small number of professional photographers, seeking to take portraits amid the meadows and wildflowers, started bringing their clients to the 160-acre property in east Fort Worth, which has been owned by the city since 1960.
What began as a trickle of portrait photographers has turned into a flood, according to Young, who founded the Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area in 2004 because of his concerns that the prairie might be drilled for natural gas. Over the years, Young has documented pickup trucks driving through the property to unload couches and props, people launching smoke bombs for gender reveal pictures and visitors going off trail to get the perfect snapshot.
As Young picked up pieces of blue confetti left behind from a recent gender reveal party, he noted that a bird could easily mistake it for food. Tandy Hills, near East Lancaster Avenue in the Meadowbrook neighborhood, is home to more than 900 native plant species. It can take years for flattened grasses to recover, Young said.
“They have trampled wildflowers and trampled upon grasses to the point that it’s unattractive for subsequent visitors who want to come out here and find a pristine place,” Young said. “These photographers, they’re almost as bad as the frackers. There’s so many of them.”
Young’s confrontational approach and desire to ban professional photography except for areas near the trail entrance have earned him a poor reputation with the Dallas-Fort Worth photography community, said Alexandra Pitzer, owner of Funkytown Photo Co. in Fort Worth.
Pitzer has taken clients to Tandy Hills several times since starting her business in 2016 and recalled Young once telling her to stay on the trail before she had left the trail entrance. A photographer friend had two run-ins with Young and decided not to return to Tandy Hills because she didn’t feel safe and was embarrassed in front of clients, Pitzer said.
“The tone toward photographers has become more insulting and more aggressive,” Pitzer said. “There are so many photographers who I know personally who take pride in and responsibility for the land. Many of us will go out and clean up things that are not our trash or stuff that we’ve left behind. I just think it’s a sad, missed opportunity on his part to not partner with us on educating people.”
Young said he has lost his temper during conversations with photographers, and some have threatened to file charges against him.
“I’ll admit there are a few who obey the rules and stay on trail,” Young said. “But that number is pretty small. You have a lot of folks that just come out here and it’s like they own the place.”
His frustrations extend to the city’s parks and recreation department, which Young said has not done enough to maintain trails or enforce policies for photographers.
Sandra Youngblood, Fort Worth’s assistant parks director, said in an email that the department is revising its park reservation policy, which includes a section on photography and videography. Under that policy, all vendors, including photographers and fitness instructors, must have a valid reservation with appropriate fees paid through the city’s park reservation office.
At the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, photographers follow an established protocol to get a photography pass, Youngblood said, including a $75 fee for two hours of use. The policy also makes a distinction between general/special event photographers and commercial photographers, who are conducting shoots for businesses.
“In the other parks, we ask for compliance,” Youngblood said. “Regarding enforcement, people can call the police non-emergency number or politely ask them to cease. If it is rampant, parks could coordinate getting (code enforcement) out there to enforce as well.”
The city is working with Friends of Tandy Hills to restrict visitors from going off trails, Youngblood added, and her department expects all park users to “respect our natural resources and stay on marked trails.” Young meets with city officials at least twice a year to discuss Tandy Hills and plans to bring up the photography issues at a meeting later this month.
In the meantime, business owners in the Dallas-Fort Worth photography community have urged Young not to characterize all professional photographers as being harmful or insensitive to environmental concerns. Young and other Friends of Tandy Hills supporters have often sparred with photographers in the comments of Facebook posts depicting litter or props in the park.
Lindsey Rabon, a Keller-based photographer who focuses on senior portraits, has shot at Tandy Hills several times and said charging a photography permit fee or enforcing fines for people who do harm to the environment might help alleviate the issue. Clients are usually willing to pay the extra fee at places that are important to them, like the botanic garden, Rabon said.
“I think most people want to follow the rules but you can get somebody who is an Instagrammer or aspiring photographer and doesn’t always think about these rules,” Rabon said. “I can’t imagine why anyone would spew confetti all over a park and not think they have to clean that up. Apparently it happens at every park I shoot at, not just Tandy Hills.”
Most photographers agree with Young and are upset when they see people leaving trash or trampling on a natural space like Tandy Hills, said Destiny Malone, a family portrait photographer who lives in Prosper. Educational materials targeted toward photographers could help those who are new to the profession and learning about best practices, she said.
“It’s a sad situation all around because the two sides are on the same side, but they’re so angry at each other,” Malone said. “The same goal is: Please don’t ruin the prairie. Appreciate it, love it for what it is and leave no trace.”
For his part, Young does not think that increased education efforts or signage would lead to fewer people going off the trail to take pictures, pointing to the existing city signs informing visitors to stay on marked trails because the “meadow is a sensitive area.” He opposes any permitting process because, Young said, it would insinuate that people who paid the fee would be free to walk off trail or bring in props like confetti bombs.
While Fort Worth’s photography policy states that commercial photographers are responsible for any documented physical damages caused to the premises by its guests or representatives, Young would like to “put teeth” into city ordinances so that violators at Tandy Hills would face fines.
He is also considering setting up a “prairie watch group” where Tandy Hills supporters could watch for people breaking rules or lighting fireworks, a move that Pitzer said could lead to more tense exchanges between the friends group and photographers. Young’s goal, he said, is to educate the public and encourage them to visit, but to also respect the nature around them.
“We want to educate and let people know: This is a special place,” Young said. “You may not realize it. but this is an extremely unique ecosystem that you’re exploiting here for your photograph.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
