I had similar experience in Montreal, Canada. I was photographing a parking structure and included a man standing in front of it for scale. He noticed me and when I took the camera away from my eye, I waved to him, thinking I was making a friendly gesture.
He then ran over to me and grabbed my shirt, wanting to know what I was doing - not very friendly on his part. I explained to him that I was a tourist photographing the beauty of his city, was mostly interested in the building he was in front of and may have included him in the frame, but he wasn't the main point of the picture.
He wanted to see my driver's license, which I showed him, but that wouldn't have helped if I were a resident The knowledge that I was, in fact, a tourist seemed to defuse him, but needless to say the whole situation shook me up - literally.
Now if I find myself in a similar situation, instead of waving (unfortunately), I'll try looking a little further up the building, as I take the camera away from my eye.
But sometimes confrontations shoudn't be avoided. The link below is to a view of another person on a beach who didn't want a picture taken. The situation was less traumatic, though, and everyone had a laugh, especially the subject.
Some people get angry after you 'shoot' them..........
in Portraits & Fashion
Posted
I had similar experience in Montreal, Canada. I was photographing a parking structure and included a man standing in front of it for scale. He noticed me and when I took the camera away from my eye, I waved to him, thinking I was making a friendly gesture.
He then ran over to me and grabbed my shirt, wanting to know what I was doing - not very friendly on his part. I explained to him that I was a tourist photographing the beauty of his city, was mostly interested in the building he was in front of and may have included him in the frame, but he wasn't the main point of the picture.
He wanted to see my driver's license, which I showed him, but that wouldn't have helped if I were a resident The knowledge that I was, in fact, a tourist seemed to defuse him, but needless to say the whole situation shook me up - literally.
Now if I find myself in a similar situation, instead of waving (unfortunately), I'll try looking a little further up the building, as I take the camera away from my eye.
But sometimes confrontations shoudn't be avoided. The link below is to a view of another person on a beach who didn't want a picture taken. The situation was less traumatic, though, and everyone had a laugh, especially the subject.
http://www.photo.net/photo/809616