Worst confrontation while shooting in public?

[pjaye]

Scott wears what looks like a swat vest, black pants and swat boots. He looks rather intimidating. So no confrontations, just a lot of people hiding their alcohol/pot when they see us because they think he's a cop. I've had a few wonder who I am that I have my own swat guy.

 

[pjaye]

Ah, forgot this one, I was taking a picture of a tree in gorgeous fall colors. I was on the side of the road. A guy came screaming at me that I was taking pictures of his property. It was quite obvious I was shooting the tree and no where near his house.

 

[limr]

I must be really unassuming or non-threatening, or maybe I'm only taking pictures of timid people when I'm shooting street photography. Not even Minnie accosted me:

She squeaked something in Japanese that might have been really badass, but that was the extent of it. She just walked away when I wouldn't give her money.

Once, I was walking around the Vanderbilt Mansion upstate and some guy asked me about my Mamiya C330. He was nice, despite the, "Why bother with film anymore?" business, but really, the only time someone talks to me is when they want to ask about my camera.

 

[robbins.photo]

I was just curious what the worst interaction you've had with either a subject or just a random bystander. It doesn't have to be while you were shooting 'street photography,' but just in general. Maybe you were shooting architecture and someone confronted you etc....

I'm asking because I have recently begun shooting kinda-sorta street photography (mostly on the beach though so not sure that counts), and I photographed a solitary street musician playing the guitar. I know it's bad etiquette to do a hit and run photo, but I didn't want to lose the moment, so I shot the photo first, and then I was gonna give him some money for his performance and the photo.

Unfortunately, before I even brought the camera down he quipped "You don't have any manners, do ya?" I didn't really feel like engaging him because I'm not good at managing unexpected conflict like that, so I just shrugged and quickly walked off. Probably not the best choice but....

That's uber-tame compared to what some people have been through, however.

What's your best worst story?

Well let me say that the vast majority of the experiences I've had with people since I started carrying my camera around on a regular basis have been overwhelmingly positive. I've met some really great people and had a lot of really fun and interesting interactions.

Every once in a really great while though, lol.. well, you meet a real winner. As most of you have probably figured out by now I spend a lot of time shooting at my local zoo, which happens to be downtown. There's an area of downtown Omaha near the zoo called the "Old Market", it's got a lot of bars, restaurants, it's a lot of very old and stylish buildings and quite the tourist attraction in it's own right. Needless to say it attracts a lot of street photographers thanks to the rather eclectic group of people who gather there on a regular basis.

Well I'm not street photographer, but I will often shoot at the zoo in the morning and then head over to the old market for something to eat, then head back to the zoo after lunch. There is one pizza place in particular that I really enjoy, a place called Zio's.

So one afternoon I head over to the old market - on this particular day I hadn't brought the bag and a lot of my other gear with me, I was travelling "light", just the camera, shoulder strap and the 70-200 mm mounted. Well I'm not leaving my camera in the vehicle, not a chance. So I find a place to park (about a block and a half from the pizza place, which for downtown on a weekend is pretty darn close), I throw the camera over my shoulder with the big telephoto lens and start heading for one of my favorite pizza places.

I walk by this guy who's standing out front of a business about 2 doors up from Zio's, and he stops me and demands to know what I'm doing. Ok, well I really didn't care for his tone, and I really really didn't care for the fact that he reached out and grabbed my arm as I was walking past. Not a big fan of being grabbed like that.

Before I could respond he starts telling me that I'm not allowed to have a camera here, that he manages the business were standing in front of and that if see's me taking any pictures at all he'll sue me, have me thrown in jail, waterboarded.. ad infinitum. Then he demands to know my name, wants to see my license, etc.

I laughed at him. Being an incurable smartass, I simply couldn't help but mess with the guy, so I laughed first and said, "Mister, what the hell are you going on about? I'm not out taking pictures, I don't even own a camera. I'm a plumber. I'm got a call from Zio's up the street. I'm on my way over there to fix the plumbing."

I guess that took him by surprise because he just stood there while I walked on and headed into Zio's. So I sit down, order, get my food, eat - basically had a nice time. I pay my check and leave, and sure enough as I'm headed back up the street the crazy business manager is standing there with a police officer, as I approach I hear him saying "That's him, that's the guy"

So I stop and have a conversation with the officer, who tells me that the store manager wants to swear out a complaint against me. I had to laugh. I told him, yup.. you got me dead to rights officer. Impersonating a plumber.

The cop gives me a goofy look, and I explain basically the entire encounter. He asks me if I took any pictures of the store, the manager, etc. I told him that I hadn't, and though I wasn't trying to be a smart aleck even if I had there would be nothing illegal about it and not a thing in the world the owner could do about it. But I hadn't and had no intention of doing so, I was just here to get some lunch and heading back to the zoo. I also explained to the officer that he might want to caution the manager about grabbing people - that not everyone would react to having their arm grabbed as calmly as I did and that it was a recipe for some real trouble.

So the cop sends me on my way and talks some more with the crazy guy as I head up the street. So anyway, I thought about it for a few days and thought I'd call the store in question and just see about talking to the owner if I could because really the whole incident was just so surreal that I figured the owner would probably like to know what was going on and how their manager was behaving.

Turns out the guy had no connection to the store, whatsoever - I described him to the owner and the owner assured me that nobody like that worked there at all - rotfl. Turns out he was just some nutball standing out on the street hassling anybody with a camera when they walked by.

 

[weepete]

The only confrontation I have had so far was when I was out on a shoot with my daughter (who was around 10 at the time) in our local village. She had her camera and I had mine and after each taking some shots of a local factory that was being demolished we had a wander into an industrial estate where I noticed a tree that had a cool back lit leaf that I thought might make a good macro example. So we shot a few frames barely registering the lad outside smoking. After a few mins this lass runs out demanding to know why I'm taking photos of her BMW that was parked in the background. It appeared the lad on the fag break ran inside and told the lass I was photographing her car (from the angle it might have appeared that the car was the subject as we were using it for a black background) I just made a quick decision an apologised while explaining it was not her car we were interested in but the leaf on the tree and the lighting. So I just hit the review button and showed her the last few shots where she promptly went a shade of red and apologised and quickly dissapered.

 

[LaFoto]

I'm not sure it was my WORST confrontation with someone who I wanted to photograph in public, but it left me feeling quite bad about myself, I must admit, for my reaction was in no way as detached and sophisticated as I usually hope my reactions to confrontation to be (I often fail at reacting appropriately when challenged somehow...). I was visiting a place to which everyone had to pay an admittance and there was a glass blowing artist performing his craft in public, for everyone to observe. I brought up my camera with the words "Oh, wonderful, so I guess it's your turn now" (maybe not the wisest of words?). He looked at me and asked: "So I take it, that this is your way of asking if you may take my photo?" (Gulp!) I kept smiling bravely, saying: "Oh, well, ok, yes, I suppose so..." (fighting that deep blush developing in my face). He kept on explaining: "I'm OK with it, but you ought to ask first, not everyone of my colleagues is happy with having their photo taken while they are at work". I was silly enough to still reply: "But you're working out here in PUBLIC..." and he interrupted and said: "This is not quite true..." (probably thinking that we paid admittance to visit some private grounds where he - in my view still PUBLICLY - shows his craft) - I left it at that. I'm still doubtful about my rights, but also feel I could have done better asking in a friendlier manner. This little confrontation has haunted me ever since.

 

[Raj_55555]

I laughed at him. Being an incurable smartass, I simply couldn't help but mess with the guy, so I laughed first and said, "Mister, what the hell are you going on about? I'm not out taking pictures, I don't even own a camera. I'm a plumber. I'm got a call from Zio's up the street. I'm on my way over there to fix the plumbing."

This was the coolest story, heroic even!! Now I know what I need to say next time I'm confronted

 

[spacefuzz]

You'd be surprised how far a hardhat and high-vis vest will get you.

You know what works even better these days? A fully body hazmat suit and respirator. While doing inspections for asbestos I had people literally running from me. It was hilarious. If you ever need to get into some ones office, just show up like that (a clipboard also helps).

Lots of encounters with over zealous security guards and the TSA usually searches my bags with all the camera equipment. Having worked on military bases and at airports I'm used to dealing with peoples objections and continuing to work.

Sometimes the worst are other photographers....walking past a guy on my way to a trail head 30 minutes before sunrise he threatened to stab me if I stepped in front of his camera to get to the trail. He was of course standing in the parking lot blocking traffic.

 

[gsgary]

I got stopped by a policeman and told to stop I told him to go away and check his facts, if people have a go at me I just ignore them and walk away

 

[Fred Berg]

I got stopped by a policeman and told to stop I told him to go away and check his facts, if people have a go at me I just ignore them and walk away

I wish I had the nerve!

 

[gsgary]

I got stopped by a policeman and told to stop I told him to go away and check his facts, if people have a go at me I just ignore them and walk away

I wish I had the nerve!

I was doing nothing wrong, if they don't want photographing they shouldn't be in public if they are in pulic they are fair game

 

[sm4him]

Oh, I'd just about forgotten this one. It wasn't really a "confrontation" but I thought it was going to be.

There was a bald eagle nest just a few miles down the road from me, and I would go after work and try to get pictures. There was a field and then a steep hill that I assumed were public land, and then at the top of the hill, it was fenced off and it was someone's private farm. You could see where people had gone through the fence at the top in places, but I didn't go past the fence. I *did* however, often trek up the hill right to the edge of the fence, hoping to catch the eagles coming in from the west at sunset (which was the direction of the water).

So, I'm there one evening, it's really close to sunset, and I've already parked and gotten across the field to the edge of the wooded hill. I'm looking around to see if the eagles are around anywhere, and instead see a police car pull off the road next to my car. He gets out and heads my way.

UH-OH, I think. While I am almost positive this is public land (due to a conversation I'd had previously with a Wildlife Resource officer after I'd discovered the nest), I'm not 100% sure, and wondering if the owner has called the cops on me.

So I walk back towards the vehicles. We meet in about the middle of the field and he asks what I'm doing.
I gulp, and explain. I figure if I just tell him what I'm up to, perhaps he'll just explain that I need to leave and that'll be that.
After I tell him I'm just trying to get some pictures of the bald eagle, he says,

"Oh. Well, that's fine; you're not in trouble or anything; I just wondered. The reason I stopped is to see if you'd seen anyone wandering here in the last little bit."
I told him I'd only been there about 5 minutes. It turned out they'd taken a couple of people into custody nearby and some crazy, doped-up lady had managed to escape their grasp and was last seen heading toward the road I was on.

I assured him I'd contact them if I saw any crazy people wandering about and he left. And about two minutes later, so did I. Because I didn't really feel like being in the woods, on a steep hill, after sunset, if that crazy doped-up lady who'd already managed to elude the cops DID happen to come my way.

 

[Fred Berg]

I got stopped by a policeman and told to stop I told him to go away and check his facts, if people have a go at me I just ignore them and walk away

I wish I had the nerve!

I was doing nothing wrong, if they don't want photographing they shouldn't be in public if they are in pulic they are fair game

I agree. On hols in London this summer a couple of young chaps walked by as we were eating some sandwiches in St. James's Park and one of them took a quick shot of our daughter feeding pieces of hers to the pigeons. My wife asked me if he had just taken a photo - as if to ask if I was okay with that - and I said yeah, it's cool. A nice subject: parents eating their lunch whilst daughter feeds the needy!

 

[480sparky]

To avoid any issues I can see coming down the pike, I will try to remove the card from slot 2 without being noticed. So if the confronter demands I delete any images, I will most willingly do so to pacify them if necessary. Once they're satisfied they're gone, I just change to another two cards and keep on shooting. I still have the images on a card from slot 2.

If I can't get the card in slot 2 out, I can still delete the images. Then I change cards after the schmuck is happy and keep shooting. Then I do a recovery in post to get back the deleted images. It's absolutely astounding how many people think deleted images are forever gone. They leave thinking they've won the moral victory, I still have all my images, and we're both happy.

 

[The_Traveler]

This private security crossed the sidewalk to get to me and told me I couldn't shoot there.
And then realized that there were probably 1.3 cameras per person at this tea part demonstration.