Ive had my Nikon D90 for just over a year now and must say it seems to bring me nothing but problems.In the last six months ive had 3 different people approach me (mad) asking why i am taking pictures of them when i was'ent.I had one guy at the beach shove a sign in my face which read NO FREE PHOTOS screaming and demanding money and just today i went to the local flee market which is on an old race track with camera in hand taking photos of the old race track when out of nowhere two security guys stop me and demanded to know why i was taking photos? i told them why not and left pissed off.They followed me out. I never thought photography would cause any problems but now i am getting paranoid to go out and losing interest very fast.Has anyone else ever experience stuff like this?Maybe its just in Los Angeles or is it world wide or do i just have one of those faces no one trusts ha ha,i would love to know if anyone else has had these kind of experiences,
My only experience like this was in Mariano's grocery store. Of all things, they came up as I was photographing vegetables to tell me it wasn't allowed. I laughed at the guy and the store manager as I thought they were kidding. They made a call (they told me, but I suspect they didn't bother) to their 'headquarters' to ask if they could make an exception and told me it was company policy. I could see people being concerned about photos taken without permission, but vegetables????
There are several threads on the legality of taking pics in public. I am going to address my answer more in the "signs of the times" and use the gun laws in my state to try to make this issue a little more simple. I think everyone is sensitive to their privacy. We hear about the gov (in the US at least) spying on us in the news. It bothers us and angers - some of us a lot. So, when someone sees someone taking pics of "them", they automatically sense "no good" or "invasion of privacy". Similar feelings in the corporate arena. Companies are as paranoid of spying as people are. It isn't illegal, but it is a very emotional issue for some people and companies. More so now than at some other times since it is in the news.
I know you are more concerned about the emotions of yourself and the people who are aggressive toward you. But it may be beneficial to read the thread(s) concerning legality of taking pics in public places.
Regarding true legality and I will use gun laws as a comparison (may sound crazy, but I think people perceive guns in a similar way to cameras - a threat). Public places are different from privately owned places. It is legal to carry a gun in my state in any public place other than a building with a courtroom or a K12 school. BUT! even though you are not breaking a law by carrying in a privately owned place, they do have the right to order you to leave. (As I understand the law, they cannot take your camera nor force deletion of pics already taken). The law you would then be breaking is trespassing, not illegal carrying (or picture taking). If you leave when asked, nothing bad happens.
Times have changed since I could take pictures of anyone , anything and no one cared. I used to shoot for a newspaper and would take pictures of children at parks for our front page. Now days a man taking pictures of children at a school or park brings out the police. That is why I am so leery to take stranger pictures anymore. One must "tread" softly and ask permission to take people pictures and if confronted, just smile and walk away to avoid a confrontation. Just my two cents.
Yep sure have. I have had a number of incidents that have left me intimidated and upset. One guy followed me around town and demanded see my shots and have me delete them in front of him, even though he was not in the shots. Another incident occurred two weeks ago - I recieved an email telling my I am not to take and upload photos from my 15yr old son's sporting events (3rd grade mens hockey) without his sporting club first approving which shots could be authorised. (what a load of crock). My advice is be polite, be considerate and ask first if it's not in a public place, or if it involves children. And lastly, have a giggle that people are stupid enough to think that a decent camera means you must be criminal/child molester or terrorist. Photography is an enjoyable activity and never ever should you pass on such a healthy activity because others are suspicious. Go out and have fun.
I still take pics of who, what and where I want as long as I'm in public. Having said that, I rarely do street photography, but I have taken, and posted online, photos of people just going about their daily lives IN PUBLIC. I've never been questioned/stopped by the police, but I have had a run in with an obnoxious security guard. I showed him this - http://www.photographsdonotbend.co.uk/images/stop%20and%20search%20bust%20card.png - offered to call the police for him (as he didn't have any rights to search me or delete my photos) and funnily enough he backed down and told me to carry on doing whatever I wanted!
It could just be that you've encountered a rare pocket of crazy. I haven't had any problems, but there was a story in the paper here maybe a year or so ago about the police harassing some guy who was taking pictures of some of the buildings uptown. They were just sure that it was terrorist related. Perhaps I just get away with things because sad to say I'm a rather small blond woman and just do not appear dangerous. I'm pretty sure that the real reason that guy was harassed about the buildings was that he was Pakistani.
I also thought that a real terrorist would be more subtle and use a cell phone camera.
I've had very few problems when doing street photography... Ironically a guy complained about me taking photos on the subway a couple weeks back - one of the few times I wasn't taking photos of people! The employee he complained to was stuck - he knew quite well that I had every right to be taking photos... His quiet point to me was to be aware that some people may get upset and I need to be careful for my own safety... Which I have no argument about... I've never had anyone approach me directly... Other then to ask me to take their photo or send them copies of photos I took of them (no problem there!)... I have had people turn away or walk so as to avoid my camera - again, I've no issue with that... Mostly I've had people apologize for walking into a shot (;D)... And once I was taking photos at the square where there were tons of cops for security... I realized a cop was standing over me and thought I was in for it... But it turns out he was merely waiting until I'd taken my shot before walking by as he didn't want to photobomb me :)
@aurorajane I know, right? I got questioned once at the grocery store when I was using the dslr to document a day in my life (kids were with me and the employee said it was fine if the pics were of them)... But no one blinked when I was taking phone shots of hair gel to show my kid so he cld tell me which one he wanted...
I used to go to an empty lot that had a group of burrowing owls nesting. I was always respectful and even spoke to the owner of the land to make sure it was ok... but there was this older lady who lived on the street and every time I showed up so would she. She would yell and argue with me. It got so bad one time I started yelling back and told her something like, "if you worried less about others maybe you would not need that piece of tape on the wrinkles between your eyes." She never yelled at me again.
It is only a crime to take bad photos, but on the other hand even though it is not against the law to take photos of people sometimes others this is an invasion of their privacy. That is why small cameras can be better for these purposes that large SLRs which can make your intention seem obvious
@taffy Groceries are private property, so they can have policies. Their business is such a multibillion industry, marketing secrets (ha), are closely guarded. lol
BTW......do you have a facebook page so we can connect? That way we might be able to meet up when you are in Chicago.
my partner and i had been stopped by the police twice in the last three months. one was late at night when we came from the marina. it turned out the policeman picked on us because the license plate of our van was peeling off; must've been a slow night for the cops. that cost partner 250 in fees and new plates. three weeks later, he drove me to an industrial lot facing the highway and there were beautiful clouds. cop car swung and waited for us to leave before putting on his lights and stopping us. his point was that we were on a private property on a sunday and that there were quite a few break ins around there. he even asked for my ID, went to his car and came back, friendlier this time and even told me, i hope you have a polarizer on that camera!
the first time i had a hard time was at a big building in downtown. the security guard asked me to stop taking photographs. i told him he's kidding, because the building had a photo contest going, how was i supposed to submit an entry if i can't photograph the building? he said he didn't know there was a contest and asked me to delete the photographs. i told him in a quiet but firm way that there was no way i was going to delete my photographs. my camera is my personal property and unless he has a search warrant there was just no way. i urged him to call his supervisor (turned out he was the supervisor tee-hee!) so i told him you can call the police, which would be a waste of our time because one, there's a photo contest and too bad you didn't know about it because the building's marketing sent me an e-mail, and even the police cannot ask me to delete my photos without the pertinent warrant and to do that they would have to arrest me. it's a good thing i can act like i know what i'm saying, he let me go and i filed a complaint to the marketing and building security the next day.
@aurorajane I agree with you - the majority of people are carrying a camera with them nowadays in the form of a phone or tablet - I see people snapping away all the time with their phones or iPads - an image is an image regardless of how it was captured - at least with a camera you can see what the person is doing - they are not pretending they are doing anything else
I once got annoyed at a tour company that showed up to a sacred Aboriginal site in Australia and told their bus load of tourists that it was okay to take photos despite the large signs saying no photography in this region due to cultural sensitivities. And the tourists even took photos of the No Photos sign!
Here yesterday I was chilling with some locals up in the mountains, just hanging with my DSLR and taking a few sneaky shots but each time i lifted the DSLR up, it would catch someones attention and a few frowned so I stopped and a few smiled and nodded, so I took their shot. A lady sat down next to me and asked if I was from a Tourist Magazine maybe a taking some shots to promote PNG. I said no, and that it was just a hobby and she said Big Flash Camera for just a hobby. I said i wanted to get great shots and that I used to have a point and shoot which failed me, so I upgraded. I mean she was okay, but her line of questioning was unusual for this part of the world.
I recently met someone on a training course, and she invited myself and another person to her home. Once there I asked if I could photograph in her garden. She agreed and I took one shot only. Then I asked if I could photograph her and the other person, which she agreed to. Then I handed the camera to her and asked to take a picture of myself and the other person. So far so good.
The next day she emailed me several times, rang me several times (I was out) and texted me. Having thought about it she was agitated about any picture getting on the internet. I had posted a photo of the garden on 365. She asked me to delete it, and all copies of all the photographs, which of course I did, because she was very obviously highly distressed.
So, my point would be that it might be legal to photograph in public places (her garden was not a public place but that's beside the point) but to my mind it is certainly not moral, if it causes this kind of suffering.
I have always felt uneasy about the small amount of street photography I have done, and I will be much more careful in future. I try to honour people's privacy, which they have a right to. To me it feels like when you take a picture of a stranger without their knowledge, you are 'stealing' something from them. You are using them for your own ends. Goodness knows, most people I have met will flinch at a camera, and hate having their picture taken. You don't know how the person you have 'captured' feels, so they must be given the benefit of the doubt.
I've been looked at a few times. Asked not to take a photo once and had a couple o minor run ins but that's it. I've climbed over no tresspass signs, ignored do not enter signs, been on private property, walked down a driveway to photograph flowers in the garden, climbed fences (got zapped by an electric fence) but I am mindful if I am taking photos of people that they are not aware I'm taking their photo (shoot from the hip) One day I'm going to get busted for sure and will have to come up with an on the spot excuse but until then.... Good luck and keep taking photos :)
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I know you are more concerned about the emotions of yourself and the people who are aggressive toward you. But it may be beneficial to read the thread(s) concerning legality of taking pics in public places.
Regarding true legality and I will use gun laws as a comparison (may sound crazy, but I think people perceive guns in a similar way to cameras - a threat). Public places are different from privately owned places. It is legal to carry a gun in my state in any public place other than a building with a courtroom or a K12 school. BUT! even though you are not breaking a law by carrying in a privately owned place, they do have the right to order you to leave. (As I understand the law, they cannot take your camera nor force deletion of pics already taken). The law you would then be breaking is trespassing, not illegal carrying (or picture taking). If you leave when asked, nothing bad happens.
I also thought that a real terrorist would be more subtle and use a cell phone camera.
https://www.facebook.com/TakingPhotographsIsNotACrime
BTW......do you have a facebook page so we can connect? That way we might be able to meet up when you are in Chicago.
the first time i had a hard time was at a big building in downtown. the security guard asked me to stop taking photographs. i told him he's kidding, because the building had a photo contest going, how was i supposed to submit an entry if i can't photograph the building? he said he didn't know there was a contest and asked me to delete the photographs. i told him in a quiet but firm way that there was no way i was going to delete my photographs. my camera is my personal property and unless he has a search warrant there was just no way. i urged him to call his supervisor (turned out he was the supervisor tee-hee!) so i told him you can call the police, which would be a waste of our time because one, there's a photo contest and too bad you didn't know about it because the building's marketing sent me an e-mail, and even the police cannot ask me to delete my photos without the pertinent warrant and to do that they would have to arrest me. it's a good thing i can act like i know what i'm saying, he let me go and i filed a complaint to the marketing and building security the next day.
Here yesterday I was chilling with some locals up in the mountains, just hanging with my DSLR and taking a few sneaky shots but each time i lifted the DSLR up, it would catch someones attention and a few frowned so I stopped and a few smiled and nodded, so I took their shot. A lady sat down next to me and asked if I was from a Tourist Magazine maybe a taking some shots to promote PNG. I said no, and that it was just a hobby and she said Big Flash Camera for just a hobby. I said i wanted to get great shots and that I used to have a point and shoot which failed me, so I upgraded. I mean she was okay, but her line of questioning was unusual for this part of the world.
http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/know-your-rights-photographers
The next day she emailed me several times, rang me several times (I was out) and texted me. Having thought about it she was agitated about any picture getting on the internet. I had posted a photo of the garden on 365. She asked me to delete it, and all copies of all the photographs, which of course I did, because she was very obviously highly distressed.
So, my point would be that it might be legal to photograph in public places (her garden was not a public place but that's beside the point) but to my mind it is certainly not moral, if it causes this kind of suffering.
I have always felt uneasy about the small amount of street photography I have done, and I will be much more careful in future. I try to honour people's privacy, which they have a right to. To me it feels like when you take a picture of a stranger without their knowledge, you are 'stealing' something from them. You are using them for your own ends. Goodness knows, most people I have met will flinch at a camera, and hate having their picture taken. You don't know how the person you have 'captured' feels, so they must be given the benefit of the doubt.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Taking-Photographs-is-not-a-crime-badge-camera-photography-interest-/231004538606