IF You've Seen One Mountain, You've Seen Them All

Professional photographers protest effort to restrict photography at Mt. Denali:

Denali National Park has introduced a new Road plan. This plan regulates access along the road within the park. Historically, professional photographers could apply for a road pass and be put into a lottery for a pass that would give them access to the Park in a private vehicle for a certain period of days. Some of these photographers were part of a Pro Photographers focus group that met on teleconference with park officials to help the park understand the position and needs of professional photographers. It has been reported to me by several photographers on those calls that at least one park official stated that they saw no need for photography within the park as there were enough pictures of the park to be used for any needs. Also the park has denied any business permits for photography workshops within the park for several years.

The new rules are an attempt by the tour operators to maximize their business.  They operate the buses that take tourists around the Park;  no private vehicles are allowed on the park roads.  I'm a bit conflicted here.  The tour operators take the greatest number of people to see a public resource. If letting one professional photographer in means that 10 "regular" citizens (who might be amateur photographers, like me) get to see the park, that seems like a good thing to me.  It's sad that a resource is in such demand that they have to restrict it that much, but I fail to see why professional photographers should count as a protected class.  Now, if they want to pay what the market will bear for such access, well then, maybe...

An old picture I took from a tourist bus at Mt. Denali, many years ago, because I was not an accredited professional photographer.  This was a film camera, and the 3 X 5 print was scanned at home: