When Things Go Wrong

<p>Last night was supposed to be an uneventful night. I would go shoot a few old buildings down by the railroad depot, as well as perhaps get a shot down the tracks while I was at it. I was using a fast camera and lens, no tripod, ISO 12,800. I wanted to see what I could get hand-held. I wasn't getting much that was very good, though, and so I thought that I would drive around to find another scene to shoot.</p>

<p>Suddenly, as I pulled to a stop at a red light, there appeared to be something happening that I immediately put together in my mind as a family reunion to welcome a solder returning from abroad, perhaps Afghanistan. Having missed a shot like that before, without another thought I reached for my camera and started shooting. The light changed after I had taken eleven shots. For reasons that will be obvious, I left the scene when the light turned green and never looked back.</p>

<p>I will post them all at first without commentary. Please feel free to offer your own observations.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p><div></div>

<p>Second shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Third shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Fourth shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Fifth shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Sixth shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Seventh shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Eighth shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Ninth shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Tenth shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Eleventh--and final--shot.</p><div></div>

<p>After the eleventh shot, I looked up and saw that the light had changed. I set the camera down beside me, waved and smiled weakly, and drove off.</p>

<p>It is 3:30 a.m. as I write this. The cops have not yet shown up at my door. The incident is over.</p>

<p>I think. <em> I hope.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

Whatever happens, it could have been worse.<em><br /></em></p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

<p>Looked like a good time to put on a cat-who-ate-the-canary grin, stick out a paw, and offer to take a photo of the whole group together and send 'em a copy of the photo. The kid was grinning and giving a thumbs up - that's the cue I'd go with.</p>

<p>Yeah, easier said than done when you're not in the right frame of mind. But sometimes just BS'ing your way through works out okay.</p>

<p>It is hard to know how to read the faces. The man (especially on the full-sized files) appears concerned. By the sixth shot, he looks downright thoughtful. I see no anger there, no malice. He seems to have the demeanor and determination of a first responder, perhaps a bit apprehensive, but determined to face the situation, whatever it might be.</p>

<p>The kid looks as if he might be thinking, "Hot dog! Dad is going to whup somebody's tail."</p>

<p>Then the kid seems to pull up, as if mom might have just yelled out, "Tommy! Stop! Come back here. Let your daddy handle this."</p>

<p>Who knows?</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

<p>Thanks, Lex. There was also the small problem of what to do, now that the light had turned green and I was alpha for take-off.</p>

<p>I also really could not see faces very well through the viewfinder. I imagined the worst.</p>

<p>The woman at right seemed totally unconcerned throughout it all, but the young woman in the white top near the center looked quite concerned in two frames--hard to tell that here, at this size.</p>

<p>I hope that I did not unsettle anyone too much. I was just trying to take advantage of what looked like might be a good photo op. In the future, I might want to be careful about drive-by shooting in the dark. In fact, I'm pretty darned sure of it.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

<p>It's hard to read situations like that. Takes practice, and I lose some of my spidey sense for candid photo situations when I go weeks without prowling around for photos. For me, at least, the more often I do it, the more comfortable I feel and the more positively folks respond to me.</p>

<p>Again, hindsight, 20/20, woulda-coulda-shoulda, blah-blah-blah, but... maybe a good approach would have been to casually stroll up first, say you were just passing, noticed what looked like a reunion, and ask if they'd like to get a group photo. After breaking the ice and getting a group photo, maybe see if they're okay with hanging around a few minutes and taking some unposed candids too. Offer to send 'em copies, of course.</p>

<p>But, again, it's easier said than done unless you're in the groove and have the right frame of mind. Takes me awhile to get into that groove again when I'm out of practice.</p>

<p>Here is a 100% crop from the tenth shot. Further to the right in the same frame, the little boy really would be giving the thumbs up, but none of this was seen by me through the viewfinder at the time.</p>

<p>Suddenly I was the center of attention, and through the viewfinder the situation did not look good.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p><div></div>

<p>Finally, here is a 100% crop from the last frame. Here one sees more concern and puzzlement, I believe.</p>

<p>At least there is no abject fear visible here, although the young woman in white seems a bit beyond being merely puzzled.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p><div></div>

<p>Lannie, I can understand how it'd appear suspicious to military folks when you pull up and start rattling off pictures with a fancy camera, presumably with a physically big lens, from the driver side. I don't think anyone will be pleased with that kind of experience. </p>

<p>It brings to mind all those discussions we've had about a photographer's rights, but to me, at least in the situation you've described, it's really an intrusion into others' privacy for no apparent purpose other than a desire to do it for self-rationalized reasons. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>I don't think anyone will be pleased with that kind of experience.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Michael, when I first started shooting, I really thought that I would not be noticed. By the time I figured out that the man was coming toward me, it was a bit too late to rethink that.</p>

<p>The lens was a 28-70mm f/2.8, not a long lens, at least--and really not all that fat.</p>

<p>In addition, they were all further away than they appear in these pictures. I have cropped the eleven sequential shots and blown them up so that faces might be seen.</p>

<p>I certainly would not have started taking the pictures had I thought I was going to alarm anyone. Once the man saw me (which I really did not expect) and started moving toward me, then and only then did the others notice me. He was originally standing in the back, and I did not see him.</p>

<p>The kid's "thumbs up" is a bit of a puzzle. Lex thinks that it was a good sign. I could not see it, in any case, not through the viewfinder. I am more inclined to interpret it as "Get 'im, Dad!"</p>

<p>The man marched inexorably toward my car. That is all that I saw through the viewfinder, for all practical purposes.</p>

<p>Who knows?</p>

<p>As for "self-rationalized reasons," you have suddenly adopted a very strongly moralistic, judgmental, and self-righteous tone. That surprises me.</p>

<p>The camera was set to single shot, not continuous shooting, for what that is worth. There was no "machine-gun" effect on the D3s, no excessive noise. Indeed, at the distance I was shooting, I doubt that they heard the shutter at all on the busy street.</p>

<p>In any case, I was on a dark side street. They were on Main St., where there is little expectation of privacy.</p>

<p>In any case, I have titled the thread "When Things Go Wrong" because the outcome was not at all what I expected. When things go wrong, that seems to be the way it typically is. It is not necessary to judge motives simply because we do not always size up a surprise photo op correctly.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

From the title, I was expecting something far more dramatic. Someone saw you taking photographs and began to approach you. I've had people approach and ask me about what I'm doing lots of times, though it's typically from a close distance and I don't have a metal and glass shell around me. I think it's business as usual when photographing strangers.

Actually, after looking at you shots (especially the last couple) it would appear that the young Soldier was probably home

from Initial Training and out showing off her uniform. The clues for me: no obvious rank or other insignia, and more

importantly, no Shoulder Sleeve Insignia on the left shoulder. Anyone who had completed training and gone to

permanent duty station would have one.

 

Even though people have gotten used to seeing the camouflage uniforms over the last ten years, it's kind of bad form to

wear them out and about like that. It's supposed to be a utility or "work" uniform, not what you wear out to the restaurant.

Obvious exceptions for lunch during the work day, etc.

 

Just this retired NCOs .02 on the situation.

<p>Lannie, he was almost certainly coming to have a word with you, and not knowing these people who knows how an interaction might have turned out had the red light stayed longer. The man marching toward you doesn't look pleased and the kid's thumb's-up might have been a result of previous conversation among themselves before you pulled up. </p>

<p>The experience seems to have affected you as I'm sure the group of people. There was no harm done, but I'd be curious about what you would have done had the man asked you to delete the pictures in an unfriendly manner. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>I'd be curious about what you would have done had the man asked you to delete the pictures in an unfriendly manner.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Michael, in this case, I would have deleted them, simply to avoid conflict. In addition, they have no real value apart from whatever value there might (or might not be) in discussing this and similar situations.</p>

<p>Mike Dixon is right about the lack of drama after all the build-up. Still, it was all enough to unsettle me, and I presume that the others were a bit unsettled as well. Before I saw the photos on the monitor at home, I had inferred that some macho type has been prepared to create a potentially dangerous confrontation. After looking at his face up close, I am more inclined to see real concern--but one never knows for sure. Three years ago, a businessman assaulted me for taking pictures of his building without permission. It was quite unexpected, to say the least. No druggies or homeless people have ever assaulted me in all of my nocturnal shooting--and I do a good bit of it. So far, it has been about white males, probably "upstanding members of the community."</p>

<p>In the immediate case, what I think that I should have done in retrospect, given that I did turn right and pass right in front of them, was to find a place to park and to explain myself to them. Even there, however, I simply had no idea what kind of situation I might be walking into.</p>

<p>If you will notice, the young soldier is not the only one wearing camo. This is North Carolina, big time gun country. I can defend driving off and avoiding any further confrontation.</p>

<p>I waved what I thought was a friendly wave just before driving off. The bad call was trying the shoot in the first place. it had not been many months since I saw a tearful reunion between a father and son on a major thoroughfare in this same town (busier than Main Street). The mother had apparently set it up. I really regretted not getting that one. It would have been very poignant. That did affect my decision to quickly pick up the camera and start shooting.</p>

<p>I read too much--and too little--into the situation pictured here when I pulled up to the light and suddenly saw the family out there on the sidewalk. What on earth was going on? I still do not know exactly.</p>

<p>It was largely a non-event, but small miscues can sometimes blow up into horrible situations. Things went wrong here, but no catastrophe occurred.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

<p>I'm glad you posted this, Lannie. It gives amateurs and casual shooters something to think about and draw their own conclusions. I enjoy viewing street photos but the potential down side as a shooter just isn't worth it for me to participate, but I do appreciate the effort and sharing of those who do. </p>