Photo Hassle

I was going to leave this and not post about it but I think it’s important that people are aware of the negative attitude towards photographers as they go about their daily business of travelling around making photographs and artwork.

Last Saturday was a busy period in the town centre of Shrewsbury, a large retor music festival was happening in the park (the Quarry Park), more live music was available around the town and there is also Shrewsbury Arts Trail with many works in different spaces around the town centre. It’s a busy time with lots of people around and because of the retro 80’s and 90’s festival there were many people dressed up. Dressed in white t shirts with CHOOSE LIFE on, or FRANKIE SAY RELAX or neon skirts and leg warmers, leopard print jackets and leggings, coloured wigs and even some wigs fashioned as mullets. Basically, there are a lot of people around to take photos of, all out to have fun and enjoy their day.

Refreshing

I’d been walking around for a while and found a new pub had opened up called “The Lantern’s Protection” so stepped out of the 30 degree celsius heat and sat down with a pint of Guinness Zero, an alcohol free pint of the black stuff. Sat on a tall stool in the window I found it a good vantage point to pick off members of the public walking past and even one or two people looking in through the new window of this replacement for a boring old shop.

Nearly half way down my drink and a couple had sat behind me, the male was about 10 inches from me and his partner was around 3 feet away. She was not a quiet person. I heard her say very loudly to her partner, “He’s taking pictures of young women out of the window” and after a bit of confusion on his part she explained that, “watch, he’ll do it again in a minute”.

Clearly I should have left it well alone, and I did for a while, until the chuntering got too much. I politely turned around to address her and told here that “i don’t appreciate the insinuation that I’m some sort of pervert, I’m taking photogaphs of people walkign past the window and there is nothing wrong with me doing this”

Well, she all of a sudden got even louder and started having a rant in true Karen style, we had a short discussion about how there is nothing wrong with making photographs of people in the street, but she did not want to listen so I chose to not “poke the bear” any further. I carried on with my drink and my camera, aware that all of the time she’d switched her ire to her husband/partner/friend/supervisor and callign him all sorts for not standing up for her and having her back. I bet he is sick to the back teeth of putting up with her self made dramas. She was threatenting to never come out with him again as he was useless conpany and no good for anything, real character building stuff. I sat there and didn’t react.

She’d got more worked up and started asking her partner, loudly, “have you forgot what I do for a living?”, obviously aiming this at me to warn me that she is qualified to know about the damage that taking pictures can do. I did not react, apart from a little internalised chuckle at the agression she was levelling my way.

Help arrives, No thanks

A guy I’ve never met before and probably never will again walked the three feet from the bar over to me and started saying that “you can take pictures of anyone in the street if you want, there’s no law against it, I’ve seen auditors and other people on youtube etc.” I thanked him for his concern and said not to worry about it letting him know that it was all good and I knew what was waht and I was just calming stuff down. He sounded like he wanted a row with this Karen character but I kept him away from it and it died down again.

The only time I spoke to her after that when she was explaining about people’s right to privacy in the street and that “if someone took my picture in the street I’d run over and punch them in the f***ing face”.

I slowly turned around so as to not make them jump, raised my hand as if asking teacher to go to the toilet and said ” do you want me to correct you or shut up”, I’ll bet you can guess what she selected. ” I don’t want to hear anything else out of your mouth, actually I’m going to take a picture of you too”, when I agreed to her taking a picture and smiling in readiness she shouted “why would I want a f***ing picture of you on my phone”. Then I left it well alone.

After finishing my drink trying to ignore the stream of unintelligent drivel that emerged from her face, I left the bar and as I walked past the window of the pub where she was sitting I contemplated raising my camera for a shot of her. I chose to be the bigger person and not rile her up again, as I feared there would be a Karen-shaped hole in the window.

Rematch

So imagine my joy when I revisited the pub today, six days later with my wife for a drink whist on a few errands in town after a good bike ride. We walked in and sat down and I had a quick scan in case there was trouble brewing but no, all clear.

Until, about three minutes later when in came a woman and partner to sit on a table in the bar. I was almost positive it was them but chose to ignore it for the most part. My camera was resting on the table as I’d been practicing street photography earlier. They must have realised who I was as they started talking about the incident last week and talking about me. I chose not to rise to it and cause a fuss, there really was no point. I took a shot of the pair of them at the bar with my camera and phone for the purposes of this post, but didn’t hold the camera up to their faces as that would have been very antagonstic.

In terms of being mature about it, I’d almost aced it. Until my wife and I had finished our drinks and were heading off to the next chore, when I picked up our glasses of the table and walked to the bar. Placing them gently on the bar, I said to the barman, “Thanks very much, what a lovely peaceful drink it had been”. I turned and left.

As I walked past the window I looked in and caught the husband’s eye as he was staring out at me with a look on his face to say “why did you do that, she’s gonna go off again now” Heh heh. I know I shouldn’t have but it was too easy.

Serious

The serious point of this is that misunderstanding by non-photographers can cause photographers issues as they go about their business. Suggesting that a photographer has nefarious aims might lead to an assault or worse. Trying to assert rights that don’t exist by using bullying tactics is not something I would put up these days. In the past I would have buckled and scurried out of the place like I had been doing something wrong, but I don’t like bullies and as I get older, my tolerance for bullies and scammers wears thinner and thinner.

If someone noticed I was taking photos of passers by and asked why, I’d explain that I’m a photographer, practicing street photography for an artistic collection and even my studies for a degree. In fact this has happened several times in the past, with security guards outside the BBC in London, in front of the George Orwell statue telling me that I’m not allowed to take photos there. Even police in some areas have asked me a lot of questions and general members of the public have also enquired what I’m up to. It looks weird, sure, standing on the street making images of people who are interesting or situations that are interesting and humorous etc.

I’ve had good chats with people about what I do and why, and even had some people express wonder that they hadn’t noticed something in the vicinity themselves. I think back to the time in the winter when taking photos of light rays in fog passing through a tree creating a shadow fest, and the guy who was drunk or high at 2am said it was beautiful. I think it’s helping people to see their own surroundings to be as beautiful as life itself truly is.

If a person asked me to not take their photo, I might respect it most of the time. If it was a police officer stamping on someone, I’d probably carry on photographing. If it is someone doing something interesting then I’d probably carry on, but if it was someone with a real reason, I’d be tempted to work with them. If someone says that they’d punch me in the f***ing face if I took their picture I’d probably avoid it but might have already captured the situation already.

The rights of photographers are standard across the UK and without wanting to sound like an auditor too much, you’ll note this isn’t on my youtube channel for monetisation, it is important to note that “there is no expectation of privacy in a public place”. i.e. if you are in public, then you can be photographed, even if you are in a private area, a photographer can still make a photo, as long as they are stood in a public area. People do not like to hear this as it is often counter intuitive to what they believe. How many cameras had caught this person on their way into town and to this point, dozens I’d wager.

The person in this post, was not interested in discussing the matter, only shouting abuse and negativity at me, without listening to common sense, reason or logic. I’ve got no time for people like this, but do have time if people want a chat about the subject in a controlled and polite manner. I certainly object to being labelled as a pervert because I’m a photographer, and if I heard another photographer being treated in this way I’d stand up and help them too.

What would you do in this situation? Argue, discuss, or walk away?