If only some Penn's Landing guards realized this were so.

According to a couple of staffers I spoke with yesterday at the Independence Seaport Museum, tourists routinely complain about the $10 permit fee they say they've been told, by the guards, must be paid if they want to snap pics on Penn's Landing.

That includes everything from its landscaped gardens to its flattering view of Camden.

"They get upset," a staffer told me. "There were three of them in here the other day. They said they couldn't take pictures because they didn't have a permit."

Mind you, these weren't techies on some film-production team, monopolizing the promenade for M. Night Shyamalan's latest ghost story. Or an ad agency's brain trust orchestrating an elaborate photo shoot for Victoria's Secret.

These were tourists who, in all likelihood, had already braved the hot walk over I-95 and across Columbus Boulevard to get to the photogenic Moshulu. Or shelled out $15 on Penn's Landing parking for their chance to tour the visiting, equally impressive U.S.S. Carney.

Since when do we charge our tourists for taking pictures of the things we hope will draw them here in the first place?

We don't, said Laurie Curtin Heinerichs, marketing director of Penn's Landing Corp.

"Tourists can take photos without a permit," she told me yesterday. She said that, in the eight years she has worked at Penn's Landing, she has never heard of a $10 fee paid by tourist shutterbugs but would "absolutely" look into the allegation.

However, Heinerichs said, commercial photographers and film-makers doing work on Penn's Landing might need paperwork before they start clicking and rolling, depending on the size and scope of their job.

A large project - like a movie shoot - would probably require insurance and might incur fees for security and other services, which would be negotiated.

In some cases, she added, photography on Penn's Landing might be forbidden altogether - for example, during a concert, when an artist's contract forbids cameras in the audience.

"Each situation is different," Heinerichs told me. "We work to keep communication open."
 
Perhaps it was merely a miscommunication that caused a glitch last week for Lancaster videographer Bryan Bernas, who was on Penn's Landing to film a historic, small yacht named Elf.

Bernas has been helping its owner document the ship's meticulous restoration to its 1888 glory. Part of the rehab is being done in the boat shop of the Seaport Museum, which last week held a news conference to showcase the installation of the Elf's majestic new mast.

All went well for an hour, Bernas said, until a security guard told him he needed to purchase a $10 permit if he wanted to continue his work.

"She was rude and pushy," Bernas recalled yesterday. "She didn't explain why a permit was needed" for the Elf's owner to take photos of his own boat. "She just said it was a rule."

A Seaport Museum official intervened, calls were made and, eventually, Bernas said, he completed his shoot, sans permit.

Heinerichs called the matter a misunderstanding: the guard didn't know that a press event was occurring or that Bernas was there for a noncommercial reason. Otherwise, she said, the guard would have motored right past in her security golf cart.

Still, the mention of a $10 fee is darned weird, especially since it seems to have been mentioned elsewhere on Penn's Landing before, in different contexts.

I wasn't able to learn if such a fee was ever actually collected - or, if so, by whom. The tourists who complained to the Seaport Museum staffers said they simply put their cameras away when they were told about the need for a permit.

So maybe the only weird thing about this tale is how misinformed some Penn's Landing guards might be.

If so, they need some training, pronto.

I don't know about you, but if I were a tourist who thought I had to pay to take a picture of my kids standing in front of the historic site I'd traveled from afar to see, I'd be appalled.

And I'd tell all my friends, when I got back home, to stay out of Rip-Off City. *

E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/polaneczky