"Blind" Photography

[thebasedsloth]

Was strolling around a mall while waiting for my friend to finish a job interview and decided to take some pictures of people! Unfortunately the mall had security guards all over who would have loved to yell at me and ban me from the mall for taking pictures with my 'professional' camera.
So I popped my wide angle on and discreetly shot all these from the waist, Hence the title "blind photography".

_DSC4460.jpg by TheBasedSloth, on Flickr


_DSC4462.jpg by TheBasedSloth, on Flickr


_DSC4457.jpg by TheBasedSloth, on Flickr

None of the images are really breathtaking or masterpieces, I just thought the idea was interesting and that I should share it.
Anyone ever done anything like this? Thoughts?

 

[Woodsman]

I have done it too. A few years ago I was monitoring a retail account and spent a couple of weeks in the mall waiting for a reported failure to occur. When I got tired of reading and was coffee'd out I sometimes would sit on a mall bench with my P&S pocket cam and shoot blind as people went by. I came to the conclusion people can sense this though. If I did not have the camera noone would even notice me. If the camera was on my lap or at my side, I would often get a look before snapping a picture. I was never challenged though and it was fun. None of the photos were any good, it was just done as a pass the time exercise. I got a lot of wall and floor shots .


It did made me think though on where the fine line for security is. On one hand security and mall management frown on photography in todays increased security environment but on the other hand, being in a tourist area, people with cell phone and pocket cams are always taking pictures in the mall during tourist season. It must drive security mad trying to decide when to step in and when not to.

BTW, I really like the one of the two girls walking up the ramp.

 

[thebasedsloth]

Well if it were a cell phone I was using I wouldn't have done it from the hip! It was because I was using my d7000 with my monstrous tammy 10-24 on it. It's not a professional setup by any means but it definitely looks a little more than 'touristy', And the fact I was taking pictures of random people and not my family standing in front of a fountain made it look a little more suspicious.