My camera makes people nervous

[molested_cow]

I've been to many parts of the world with my camera and have had little problem with taking photos of people at work or randomly, in public places of course. However, I still can't find a way to make people in my country(Taiwan) feel comfortable with me taking photos of them. There are many interesting and unique culture and lifestyles here which I really want to capture, but people tend to get nervous with photographers taking photos. They are mostly paranoid of potential journalists trying to dig some scandal news or under cover inspectors from the government(many of them being stall owners). So how do you deal with it?

I'm sure if I look like a tourist they won't be so suspicious, but the problem is, I simply don't look like a tourist!

 

[Digital Matt]

Talk to them. You have to communicate.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Paranoia knows no limits. There are groups and classes in every culture that expect a photograph to somehow come back to haunt them. I saw two old men sitting on a bench at walmart here in the states. I asked if i could make their picture the said no. Then kept a close eye on me until I was gone.

I once did some insurance photography talk about paranoid.

 

[Orgnoi1]

Want to see nervous? Try shooting with the 500L prime... everyone takes a WIDE berth...LOL

 

[molested_cow]

Want to see nervous? Try shooting with the 500L prime... everyone takes a WIDE berth...LOL

Haha, the sun shade on my 300mm zoom gives people a false impression!

 

[markc]

You could try shooting with a Koni-Omega Rapid. It's a big camera, and the film advance on that acts and sounds similar to the slide being thrown on a semi-automatic pistol. Okay, I'm no help. The best I can do is echo Matt.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I did some work for a police department in the seventies, They used the koni. The reason I was told, was that it could double as a club if necessary.

 

[Alex_B]

Want to see nervous? Try shooting with the 500L prime... everyone takes a WIDE berth...LOL

well, but if you are not up for close up THAT lens allows you to hide between those piles of rubbish and stay unnoticed while shooting

 

[theRossatron]

I'm sure if I look like a tourist they won't be so suspicious, but the problem is, I simply don't look like a tourist!

Get yourself some hawaiian shirts, some shorts and a baseball cap and your sorted!

 

[rmh159]

While I agree with Matt I can understand why that'd be hard for some people (myself included). Maybe go out with a friend or two or maybe another photographer. Safety in numbers!!

 

[Digital Matt]

Oh, it's definitely hard to do, no doubt, but you'll never get the pictures otherwise. It's just a hurdle you have to get past.

 

[BloodMaple]

Yeah I agree with Matt. The worst they can say is no, and who cares anyway because they probably don't know you. Or then again, you could hide behind a tree and snap the shots you want.

 

[txshutterbug]

The best thing is to spend some time, visit with people and then ask if you can photograph them. I've only had one person refuse my request! Good luck.

 

[Jeremy Z]

Get yourself some hawaiian shirts, some shorts and a baseball cap and your sorted!

This is the way, IMO.

But with a 300 mm lens, you shouldn't even have to let them know you're photographing them.

If you'd rather be more honest & straightforward, tell them why you'd like to photograph them, THEN ask permission. Then, if they say no, it will be no big deal, because you will have already sniped them from afar with your 300 mm lens. :mrgreen:

 

[LaFoto]

Well, not in order to give you any advice here, M_cow, but to share some experience I have made, let me tell you that I found it is more the people in the country (here) that shy away from anything being photographed, whether it be themselves OR only just their farms (some farms in the way the buildings are arranged, or details of farm houses make some wonderful subjects, mind) than people in the cities.

I seem to be much more inconspicuous, even with the 300mm lens with sun shade, when in Hamburg or Bremen or (most of all!) Berlin, than right round where I live. HERE is where people approach me and ask either "Can I help you ... somehow?" or "What IS it you are doing here?"

The worst fright I ever got was when the first to "ask" was a calf-sized dog with a face that was only mouth and few anything else before the owner came and inquired. Once I had explained to the owner that the architecture and patterns of that farm house there was nice, and didn't she see it, and that I was making a private collection of farms and sheds and stables and farm building windows and doors and all that, she asked back "Just for yourself, in private then?", and when I said yes, it was ok.

But the suspicion in the country :roll: ! And not only with PEOPLE photography. NO!