A creepy guy approached to me.

[tecboy]

Last night, I had volunteering opportunity to photograph in the art school. There was one creepy guy, he was pretty big and asked me for my name. He asked me why am I shooting? What are the pictures for? Then, he told to me to make sure his picture is good, "You know what I mean."

Was he threatening me? If he didn't like to be photographed, then get out! His face is going to be in the newspapers or in the website, soon. What is he going to do about it?

 

[Golfcart]

Your in San Jose...I wouldn't think it being too odd or weird if this happened while I was in SJ.

In all seriousness, I think its fine. I wouldn't worry about it. Especially since you were there with a pass.

 

[robbins.photo]

San Jose? My guess is he was probably hitting on you rather than threatening you.. lol

 

[rexbobcat]

Yeah, I've gotten that "make sure you get my good side" bit before. There is no situation in which this (or any variation) utterance is not awkward.

Unless they explicitly say don't photograph me I wouldn't worry about it. There was this one guy at a Christmas party this year that was like "haha you'd better not take a picture of me" all jokingly and then I acted like I was going to snap one and he got deadpan serious "Dont. Take. A. Picture. Of. Me."

This was a company Christmas party mind you. Geez, calm down dude.

Some people freak out around cameras.

 

[kathyt]

Don't include him in the images or ask him what he meant by it. Simple as that.

 

[AlanKlein]

Kathy's right. It seems you were invading his privacy and he didn't like. That's his right. I assume he didn't give you the pass to photograph. Someone else did and he doesn't approve. Don't publish his photo or confront him. He has his rights too. Plus, he's bigger than you.

 

[kathyt]

Kathy's right. It seems you were invading his privacy and he didn't like. That's his right. I assume he didn't give you the pass to photograph. Someone else did and he doesn't approve. Don't publish his photo or confront him. He has his rights too. Plus, he's bigger than you.

Yep, and if he was just joking around have him sign a model release.

 

[tecboy]

Kathy's right. It seems you were invading his privacy and he didn't like. That's his right. I assume he didn't give you the pass to photograph. Someone else did and he doesn't approve. Don't publish his photo or confront him. He has his rights too. Plus, he's bigger than you.

Yep, and if he was just joking around have him sign a model release.

I wish I would have thought of that earlier, but I didn't. I was too busy shooting pictures. I was in downtown Palo Alto, and there is a city hall and a police station right across the street. I got the permission from the director of the school. Really, don't publish that photo?

 

[vintagesnaps]

I probably wouldn't use it, even though you had permission to be there taking photos. It may not be worth it, who knows what his problem was; most likely nothing to do with you. I'd just pick other photos and not bother with using his.

 

[tecboy]

Well, only a shot on the side of his face. This is the event held once a month, and only for the members. I may see him again. I have already submitted these photos to the volunteer coordinator. I guess, I have to contact the coordinator and tell to take it out. I wished I would talk to the guy, so I don't have problems later.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I suppose you could let them know you got a rather odd reaction from someone you photographed and got to thinking maybe that photo shouldn't be used. I usually find being straightforward works best, they may be just as glad if you point out that you got a less than positive comment from the guy, they may not want the bother of using an image of someone who acted iffy about being included.

 

[tecboy]

This is not the first time one of those kind of people approached me. I mentioned one of the previous threads a while back. A strange lady told me I should not photographed traffic because there were drivers inside. These people are not friendly. I usually just ignored them and do what I do.

 

[sashbar]

If we put aside "creepy" and "pretty big" part, which is purely emotional, what we have is a guy who asked a photographer about his work and asked him to do it properly.

 

[sm4him]

If we put aside "creepy" and "pretty big" part, which is purely emotional, what we have is a guy who asked a photographer about his work and asked him to do it properly.

^Exactly. I don't see anywhere that says the guy asked you to NOT take his picture. In fact, by saying to make sure it looked good, he was essentially giving his okay to photograph him. That argument might not hold up in court (or matter if it comes down between your face and his fist...) but still, he never said DON'T take pictures of him.

I was shooting pictures out on our bus platform for work once. It's fairly normal for several people to ask me what I'm taking photos for, if the photos are going to be in the newspaper, etc...but this one guy looks at me and says, "You can't take MY picture. I hadn't done nothing wrong. I'm a legal, law-abiding citizen, so don't take my picture..."

Oh yeah, I took HIS picture, as he was getting on a bus. Just in case the cops needed it to help ID him later. :lmao:
Nothing like an extremely loud proclamation of complete innocence to make me think you're not at all innocent.

 

[jaomul]

Get a 1d, much better in a self defense situation than your 70d

Seriously though- your skills as a photographer can be top class, but when photographing in public you will get people approaching you(all types of people). You may need to brush up on your people skills and that is not a shot at you. Knowing how to read a situation can make small out of an otherwise bigger situation. Also you need to confidence to ask for clarity with someone in a non-confrontational manner. These things take practice. I myself do not possess these skills to any great degree but you dont have to be able to run a marathon to know one has to be fit