What do you do if you get caught?

One for you street photographers: Do you say anything if you've

obviously been caught in the act of taking someone's photo, or do you

pretend nothing's happened and saunter off? Or do you have another

tactic?<div></div>

Matt, you make it sound like what street photographers do is illicit and then ask them for their response, so perhaps this is a lame troll? I'm not a street photographer, so I can only answer from a subject's perspective. If you have any class at all, you will by word or gesture ask my permission before you take my picture. I will respond by word or gesture, that no you may not. Then you will put the camera down and politely walk away. Otherwise, I would suggest that you run ;>)

First off, I don't sneak around. Anymore. It was a hard habit to break as a new street

photographer because I was afraid of the confrontion. Then I realized that most of the fear

and confrontation was coming from sneaking around. Now, when I take someone's photo

and they notice I smile, and say or mouth, "Thanks." If they indicate that they'd like me to

bugger off, I'll stop taking pictures of them.

 

Don't be a sneak and you won't worry about getting "caught."

If you are honest and be open with your intention of photographing someone, you won't get caught. My experience as a street shooter is that most sneak-around-get-go frames are worthless so I stopped doing that a long ago. I even go so far to tell myself that, if no one is looking into the frame, I am not going to click my shutter.

That question crossed my mind yesterday. I was at the Horton Center in San Diego (a mall)<p>My 6 year old wanted to do a number two so I go to the bathroom with him. He goes to the stall and takes his time while I stand outside the stall, M6 hanging around my neck, leaning against a wall, my eyesin the direction of pisoars. So I'm standing there, reluctantly watching as others shake the last drops off thinking whether they think I'm some kind of perverted bathroom photographer. I tilt the camera lens down to hint that I am not there taking pictures and try to stare at my sneakers as much as I can. <p>About half way through my sons business a guy comes in wit a mall stroller shaped like car, carrying a 3 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. He proceeds to pee and the two kids in the stroller observe his butt and butts of two other peeing patrons. I thought it would make an interesting shot but did not have the guts or decency to pull the trigger. I was also thinking what I would do in case I got caught in the act. I would de-facto become a perverted bathroom photographer ;-)Signing off from San Diego airport on my way back to Maine.

<i>If you have any class at all, you will by word or gesture ask my permission before you

take my picture</i>

<p>

aaah, yes sir! the rules of street photography...

<p>

I think there's a distinct possibility that the use of words <i>class</i> and <i>street

photograpy</i> in the same sentence may fall under the category of just plain bad

English :)

Did the stuffed animal get mad at you?

Matt,

 

When I first started street photography, I felt just like I think you are feeling now. I would try to inconspicuously blend in to the situation then just at the right moment try to get them when they would least notice me, try to get a good photo out of it. I got a few good ones but they didn't seem to be bold enough and were often cluttered with too many foreground elements (because I was shooting with a 35mm lens).

 

After I got my first job as a paid photojournalist and I had to come up with real results, I became much more purpose-driven and street shooting became much more comfortable. Now I am very sensitive about it, but I take my shots discreetly but very deliberately, being easily noticed by the subject. I shoot first and ask questions later. You can't get back a shot that you didn't take, but you can decide to not use a shot that you did take.

 

If a subject really makes it obvious that they don't want to be photographed, then I move on (unless they are the sole subject of what I am out to shoot of course). This was a big problem in Ukraine, where just about everyone is scared to death of anything that isn't absolutely everyday normal. I might have earned the same reactions by carrying around a hand grenade or a Kalashnikov.

 

Anyway, the moral of the story is have a purpose for your photos and go shoot them like you have this purpose. People will notice, and it will make things a lot easier on you. If you have no purpose, or your purpose is bad, this will also be apparent to your subjects.

"If you have any class at all, you will by word or gesture ask my

permission before you take my picture. I will respond by word or

gesture, that no you may not. Then you will put the camera down

and politely walk away. Otherwise, I would suggest that you run."

 

This is lunacy on the wing. If you are in public, a photographer

may take your picture without any regard for your feelings on the

matter. Should you be unable to control your feelings and

express yourself physically, that's called asault, and it will rightly

earn you a trip to jail.

This thread has the potential to be very informative and helpful to many of us. I beg of you, please do not turn it into a shoving match.

"Asking permission, ... by word/gesture to get my permission!"

 

Hmmmm....I'd love to see a street shooter down on East Hastings Street in Vancouver

(Home to some of Canada's most "down and outs") do this. The only thing you'd get is

either MUGGED for your camera, or BEATEN up!

 

There are a LOT of situations where you don't even raise the camera to your eye in order

to get the shot due to risk of life and limb. Sometimes, you don't even make eye contact!

Use hyperfocal distance focusing and be as subtle as you can to frame the shot. No, this

isn't about doing anything illicit! It's about getting the shot and getting out of there with

all body parts intact.

 

When I get caught...I either make like I'm shooting something behind the person or I smile!

At NO time is it worth getting into a scrap over!

 

Good luck.... keep shooting!

Jay's response is correct--IF you have common human decency and respect other people's rights as much as you wish they would respect your rights.

 

I'm not a "street" photographer. I do enjoy taking candid pictures of other people in public places at times. But it's not a matter of "getting caught" in the act because I'm not trying to hide anything. Virtually everyone ignores me or overlooks me these days when I do this so I don't get many negative reactions. When someone does indicate they don't want me to take their picture, I nod and move on. As William Eggleston said in an interview I read recently, "There's always another picture."

 

Incidentally, I've been reading about Paul Strand lately. In his early years in the 1910's, he did a series of street photos with a prism lens. This allowed him to make photographs of people without them being aware he was doing so. The most famous of this series is "Blind Woman, New York, 1916". My question is, why did he need to use stealth equipment to make a picture of a blind woman?

"when I get caught I buy my wife a 8 carat diamond ring" K. Bryant

As I recall, the blind woman in the Strand picture was not blind - at least, that is the impression the picture always gave me.

I smile then depending on their gesture/expression, I either

move on, keep shooting or chat with them.

I think the mere threat, if expressed by Jay to the photog is assault. What he further proposes ("you better run") would be battery. In all fairness to Jay I think he's mostly kidding. If street photogs stopped the action to ask permission many of the finest shots in photography would never have been taken.<BR><BR>

This question assumes a pic is already in the can when the photog gets busted. I make it a point to treat people with respect. It's not manners. I have respect for them. If they indicate no photo I smile and nod, thank them and move on. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Just be honest.

". . .respect other peoples rights. . ."

 

That's the rub. The law, at least in the U.S. does no acknowledge a right not to be photographed in public and therefore there is no need to respect some psuedo-right that doesn't really exist. Its all about your perspective. You may feel despite a persons falsly based assumptions and expectations that it is their problem. Or you may yourself feel that you are invading a person's privacy when taking a photo and thus they should be a willing participator. If you feel you should ask, then ask. If not, and someone objects, than deal with it. Just be clear that what we are talking about is nothing more than your own set of values, perceptions and assumptions as well as a subject's, and your projection of what their response may or may not be. The issue is not one of "rights". (unless your stalking:)

In the case of the original questioner's question, If his subject in that photo dared to complain, I'd make him go round and round until his stuffing flew out!

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Couldn't resist. I don't try to sneak around but I try not to cause any attention to myself either. Often I walk around like anyone else but try to hide the camera at my side. On many occasions I will be talking to people as I take their photo.

H.C.

 

Omigawd! East Hastings street in Vancouver is about the only street

I have ever been afraid to walk on! And it is surrounded by some

of the most photogenic areas in Vancouver!

 

I kept my camera under my coat there.

 

Jerry

I always pack my Combat Commander with 3 extra mags.

This is exactly why I photograph old grain silos. I don't want to get into a confrontation. However, if you ask first it isn't the same photograph.

 

I got a picture of a clown at an event the other day and I don't think she ever knew I took the picture because she had here attention on a child.

 

However, I felt like a clown was fair game.

I've lived within a block of the *worst* section East Hastings for the last 11 years. It's weird, but it's not dangerous, really. Annoying, irritating, frustrating, maddening, but not dangerous for straights. There are all kinds of straight people going about their business, street nurses, social workers, people who work in the hotels, etc., etc., no one bothers them.

Question: if you're shooting a 35mm camera with a 15mm lens, there's not always a practical reason to bring the camera to your face to get a shot. So I tend to hold the camera out somewhat from my body, or even at my side when the shutter is released. Does that make me a sneaky photographer when shooting people on the street in this way? Maybe it does if I'm looking the other way while I'm taking a shot. Anyway, I just do it. Sometimes it's not always a "nice" thing to do to take a shot without asking, but I do it anyway. A street photographer sometimes is like a hungry bear in the wild. That the bear eats the moose or the baby moose doesn't particularly make him a "nice" animal, but it is natural for him to do it.