Etiquette for photographing strangers

[guitar guy]

Which is funny considering how prevalent cameras are nowadays.

Haha. I know right? Any idiot with a cell phone is willing to take a picture of themselves but someone tries to take a photo of them, they get weirded out. Can kinda understand why though. I don't like getting my pic taken either, lol.

If I see someone with a nice camera and all the trimmings I assume them to be professional and would cause me much less concern than if some guy were taking pics of my kids with his cellphone. And that would concern me.

 

[aprhockey]

I'm pretty shy about taking pictures of people too. Especially small kids. I just feel too creepy.
I do like to take pictures of strangers in one particular situation though. That is when I can get a nice silhouette photo of them. There are some great lookout spots where people love to go at sunset, so it makes for some nice shots. Of course, they usually have their back towards me and don't even notice. But I also feel better that nobody would be able to tell who it is if I were to post the pictures online.

 

[aprhockey]

There's a thread for pictures of strangers. In the general sense. Plenty of people who look like they know very well that their picture is being taken, but a good amount with some really great looks from the people who want to beat up the photographer (mainly Javier).

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photo-themes/169495-capture-stranger-street-style.html

 

[skieur]

I was hired....well volunteered to shoot an event in my neighboring town (a community day). I was shooting a dunk tank and as I'm moving on, this woman came up extremely irate demanding to know who I am. I said "I'm Chris, the photographer for the community day." She starts yelling at me saying the mother of her nephew didn't want her son's pictures taken and demanded to know what I was doing with them. Again, I explained I was there for the event, I'm allowed to shoot there, and the pictures are for towns use only. Told the event organizer what happened and he wanted to know who it was so he could throw her out, lol. I didn't delete it at first but because her nephew's pic came out so crappy, I deleted it anyway

I dunno. People either get weirded out and think you are some lunatic or they welcome getting their picture taken.

Perhaps, it should be politely but firmly pointed out, that taking photos of someone in a public place is NOT illegal, but harassing, yelling at, or obstructing anyone from doing an activity in a public place such as photography IS illegal, and could constitute assault, depending on the nature of the confrontation, even if the photographer was NOT touched or hit.

skieur