I'm new to photography, only been doing it about 6 months, question for everyone: Is it fairly common for municipalities to ban tripods and cameras from being used on top of public parking garages(talking in the USA here)? I've been photographing my mid-sized city for a few months now, and as none of the taller buildings have public viewing decks, about the only way to get a higher perspective is to shoot from on top of parking decks. I had a nice composition last night about 20 minutes before sunset, a sunset that I knew would be gorgeous (it ended up being a gorgeous pink/blue/purple mix), and right after I got set up and was ready to wait a security guard pulled up and said that cameras and tripods aren't allowed to be used on top of public parking garages to prevent potential spying through windows (I live in the southeast, for regional reference). He also told me that in order to do photography from on top of a parking garage you have to go to city hall and get a day-pass before hand. Of course that makes it harder to spontaneously grab your camera if/when it looks like a good sunset is coming because you'd have to get the pass a day or so before hand. I certainly didn't argue and immediately packed up and left, I just want to know if this is a common thing that I didn't know about due to being a no0b and if it is something to consider when visiting other cities. It was just frustrating because if I had another 20 minutes or so I coulda gotten a potentially good shot of the skyline with a local rooftop bar packed with people with an awesome sunset and there aren't many areas in town to get a higher perspective.