If you have children and don't want them photographed...

Read the following scenario and then choose your most likely response from the poll options

You have taken your kids to a public place, such as a park, a beach, a public pool, a festival, etc., to enjoy the weekend. The venue is not densely crowded, and there are a few people, including myself, taking photographs. I am alone and am unobtrusively photographing other people at the venue, as well as some non-human subjects. You then see me turn my mirrorless camera toward you and your kids and take a few photos from 10-15 feet away. As I turn to my next subject, you approach me and ask me politely to please not photograph you or your kids, and I just as politely inform you that this is a public place and I will take pictures at my own discretion. A few minutes later, I take a few more photos of you and your kids. How do you respond?

Put the ski masks on the heads of your kids.

(-)

I'd politely call you an entitled and disrespectful prick. Other than that, maybe leave or move to another spot? Maybe take photos of you and post them in a thread called "Photographers who give us a bad name," maybe post them to Tumblr?

Going out of your way to antagonize other people who politely asked you to stop is pretty gross.

Since I know that it is your constitutional right to take photos in public, I would politely ask (should be in the poll) you to not photograph my children.

areichow said:

areichow wrote:

I'd politely call you an entitled and disrespectful prick. Other than that, maybe leave or move to another spot? Maybe take photos of you and post them in a thread called "Photographers who give us a bad name," maybe post them to Tumblr?

Going out of your way to antagonize other people who politely asked you to stop is pretty gross.

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Except that I wasn't going out of my way, I was going to take those pictures regardless of what you told me, and I made that clear with my initial response. You're certainly free to take as many pictures of me as you like. My personal opinion is that resorting to profanity, personal attacks, and "getting even" reflects infinitely more poorly on photographers than my non confrontational, unobtrusive behavior in the scenario.

Mirrorless Crusader said:

Mirrorless Crusader wrote:

Read the following scenario and then choose your most likely response from the poll options

You have taken your kids to a public place, such as a park, a beach, a public pool, a festival, etc., to enjoy the weekend. The venue is not densely crowded, and there are a few people, including myself, taking photographs. I am alone and am unobtrusively photographing other people at the venue, as well as some non-human subjects. You then see me turn my mirrorless camera toward you and your kids and take a few photos from 10-15 feet away. As I turn to my next subject, you approach me and ask me politely to please not photograph you or your kids, and I just as politely inform you that this is a public place and I will take pictures at my own discretion. A few minutes later, I take a few more photos of you and your kids. How do you respond?

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I'm something of a crusader myself, but I don't understand why you'd continue to admittedly photograph someone who has politely asked you not to photograph them.

I mean, if you tell me you weren't really doing it and they just thought you were, then I'd understand. Or if they were rude and demanding to you, then it's different.

But they politely asked you to and you purposely (operative word here) photograph them again. It doesn't really make sense. You're just trying to be a jerk here. If it were just in their general direction, it would be different.

Sorry, I'm not playing along with this.

I am not a parent, but in my capacity as photographer and editor of our Branch 29 Amateur Radio Newsletter in New Zealand, I regularly experience this situation.

1) For the first time last year, the organisers of Jamboree On The Air made stickers available to kids whose parents did not want them photographed. So, each time I took a photo of a group, I also asked, did they mind being photographed. The understanding was that the photos would be used for the scout promotion only. This meant, I did not use the photos in our amateur radio newsletter, and I also did not use them in my galleries.

2) Our president asked that a photo taken during a mid-winter lunch showing him and his granddaughter should be edited. So I cropped her out of the photo.

When I was a youngster, the problem of adults taking an extraordinary interest in children was known ('Don't talk to strangers'), but it was not treated as a universal problem affecting each and everyone, man, woman and child.

Now, abuse of minors is known to be conducted by office holders who were assumed to have both inclination and training to avoid such incidences.

Therefore, my attitude is, even in public places I do not take photos of people unknown to me. With videos of our Morris performances I limit myself to quick pans across our audience. I do take videos of our participation dance 'Shepherds' Hay'. Usually in those, the parents are right beside the kids. So far I have not had any complaints about my Morris videos on YouTube showing those participation dances.

Henry

when you print this out and give it to a real parent in the real world.
FYI. This lunchbox is NOT the real world.

Mirrorless Crusader said:

Mirrorless Crusader wrote:

Mirrorless Crusader said:

areichow wrote:

I'd politely call you an entitled and disrespectful prick. Other than that, maybe leave or move to another spot? Maybe take photos of you and post them in a thread called "Photographers who give us a bad name," maybe post them to Tumblr?

Going out of your way to antagonize other people who politely asked you to stop is pretty gross.

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Except that I wasn't going out of my way, I was going to take those pictures regardless of what you told me, and I made that clear with my initial response. You're certainly free to take as many pictures of me as you like. My personal opinion is that resorting to profanity, personal attacks, and "getting even" reflects infinitely more poorly on photographers than my non confrontational, unobtrusive behavior in the scenario.

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You're free to your personal opinion, but what privileges it above that of everyone else's? Unless you have zero respect for everyone else on this planet, continuing to take photos after being asked politely to stop is rude. The tone argument doesn't refute this.

It's irrelevant whether or not you would have continued to do so if someone hadn't asked. Since the letter of the law without regard to the desires of other people seems to be the utmost, I can't imagine why you'd have any issues with anyone declaring their opinions about you in public spaces.

I would take out my point & shoot and photograph you. Then I would alert the other parents, show them your picture, and warn them that there is a stranger who persists in taking children's photographs despite being asked not to. I have a right to photograph you too. No amount of talk from you would convince me that your interest in my child is normal.

Sorry, strangers photographing kids sets off a parent's alarms. Even at 15-20 feet, it's too close. You want to photograph kids? Shoot your own family.

The sicko who kidnaped Jaycee Lee Dugard and imprisoned her for 18 years would go to go to children's playgrounds and have his wife supposedly video him singing & playing guitar, while she was actually capturing videos of little girls playing, shown here in this ABC News video beginning at 2:36:


If you want to risk being mistaken for a creep, don't complain for bringing the problem upon yourself.

Beach Bum said:

Beach Bum wrote:

Beach Bum said:

Mirrorless Crusader wrote:

Read the following scenario and then choose your most likely response from the poll options

You have taken your kids to a public place, such as a park, a beach, a public pool, a festival, etc., to enjoy the weekend. The venue is not densely crowded, and there are a few people, including myself, taking photographs. I am alone and am unobtrusively photographing other people at the venue, as well as some non-human subjects. You then see me turn my mirrorless camera toward you and your kids and take a few photos from 10-15 feet away. As I turn to my next subject, you approach me and ask me politely to please not photograph you or your kids, and I just as politely inform you that this is a public place and I will take pictures at my own discretion. A few minutes later, I take a few more photos of you and your kids. How do you respond?

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I'm something of a crusader myself, but I don't understand why you'd continue to admittedly photograph someone who has politely asked you not to photograph them.

I mean, if you tell me you weren't really doing it and they just thought you were, then I'd understand. Or if they were rude and demanding to you, then it's different.

But they politely asked you to and you purposely (operative word here) photograph them again. It doesn't really make sense. You're just trying to be a jerk here. If it were just in their general direction, it would be different.

Sorry, I'm not playing along with this.

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The issue here is if there's anything or anyone else of interest that they happen to be near. If they just happen to be near something or someone else that you want to photography, then their request that you stop photographing the area (of which they may be in the background) may be unreasonable.

But if there's nothing else of interest besides the family and you're purposely continuing to photograph them despite their protests, then you're in the fault.

My issue is with people who demand that you stop photographing anywhere near them (when they might be in the background of something of interest). And some of these people have no hesitation putting their hands on you or your camera. Sometimes I get beligerent people who demand I stop photographing them when my camera wasn't anywhere near them.

But I don't specifically photograph (i.e. making them my primary focus) someone who's politely asked me not to. If they happen to be in the background, it's a different matter that I can't control.

Yes, I know about the legality of taking photos of what you want in public. But persisting in singling out someone's kids for repeated photographs after the parents have asked you to stop is downright creepy, not to mention obnoxiously rude, and at that point alarm bells start to ring.

In the scenario you mention I would cause you the maximum possible embarrassment by complaining loudly to the nearest policeman that you were harrassing my family: and I would equally loudly tell all the other parents with kids around that this creep had insisted on taking pics of my lids after I had asked him to stop. Then I'd sit back and watch the fun.

Have a nice day.

....do it again and you'll get a punch in the face.....followed by a flying lesson for your gear.

Treat others as you'd like to be treated. Troll someone in real life and expect a response. Legal or not, you be an ar$e if you behaved like that!

Mirrorless Crusader said:

Mirrorless Crusader wrote:

. . . As I turn to my next subject, you approach me and ask me politely to please not photograph you or your kids, and I just as politely inform you that this is a public place and I will take pictures at my own discretion. A few minutes later, I take a few more photos of you and your kids. How do you respond?

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Much as I enjoy taking pictures in parks and other public places, whatever the current law is, the behavior of the photographer you describe is enough to get me to support curtailing the right to take pictures in public. At the very least, when someone asks you not to take their picture, you should stop.

Mirrorless Crusader said:

Read the following scenario and then choose your most likely response from the poll options

You have taken your kids to a public place, such as a park, a beach, a public pool, a festival, etc., to enjoy the weekend. The venue is not densely crowded, and there are a few people, including myself, taking photographs. I am alone and am unobtrusively photographing other people at the venue, as well as some non-human subjects. You then see me turn my mirrorless camera toward you and your kids and take a few photos from 10-15 feet away. As I turn to my next subject, you approach me and ask me politely to please not photograph you or your kids, and I just as politely inform you that this is a public place and I will take pictures at my own discretion. A few minutes later, I take a few more photos of you and your kids. How do you respond?

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Photographing strangers is always touchy and challenging. You can a be discreet a la street photography. B be very open about what you are doing and try to read peoples body language and leave people alon that seem to want to be. C you can ask. Tell people you will send the photos to there email you will almoat always get a yes. D act like a massive tool

You chose D

In the future try some of the other approaches

areichow said:

areichow wrote:

areichow said:

Mirrorless Crusader wrote:

areichow said:

areichow wrote:

I'd politely call you an entitled and disrespectful prick. Other than that, maybe leave or move to another spot? Maybe take photos of you and post them in a thread called "Photographers who give us a bad name," maybe post them to Tumblr?

Going out of your way to antagonize other people who politely asked you to stop is pretty gross.

Click to expand...

Except that I wasn't going out of my way, I was going to take those pictures regardless of what you told me, and I made that clear with my initial response. You're certainly free to take as many pictures of me as you like. My personal opinion is that resorting to profanity, personal attacks, and "getting even" reflects infinitely more poorly on photographers than my non confrontational, unobtrusive behavior in the scenario.

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You're free to your personal opinion, but what privileges it above that of everyone else's?

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Nothing. You shared your opinion, so I shared mine in response. You can judge my opinion and I can judge yours. I will conduct myself in a way that is consistent with how I repute others, as do you, and if our standards are incompatible, then so be it.

areichow said:

Unless you have zero respect for everyone else on this planet, continuing to take photos after being asked politely to stop is rude. The tone argument doesn't refute this.

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It's not anybody else's place to tell me how to use my camera in a public venue. The premise of the scenario is that aside from using my camera, I am doing nothing else that could carry a reasonable expectation to bother someone. The lack of respect is in the presumption that you can claim privacy from me while you are situated in a public place.

areichow said:

It's irrelevant whether or not you would have continued to do so if someone hadn't asked.

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You made the point that I went out of my way to take pictures of you as a result of you asking me not to take them. The fact that I would have done it regardless of anything you said proves that that is not the case.

areichow said:

Since the letter of the law without regard to the desires of other people seems to be the utmost, I can't imagine why you'd have any issues with anyone declaring their opinions about you in public spaces.

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I don't. I just wouldn't do it.

Deema said:

Deema wrote:

Since I know that it is your constitutional right to take photos in public, I would politely ask (should be in the poll) you to not photograph my children.

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That was part of the scenario, to which I replied that I can take photographs at my discretion in a public place. The poll was asking what you would do after asking me to stop and I was still taking pictures at my leisure.

Beach Bum said:

Beach Bum wrote:

Beach Bum said:

Mirrorless Crusader wrote:

Read the following scenario and then choose your most likely response from the poll options

You have taken your kids to a public place, such as a park, a beach, a public pool, a festival, etc., to enjoy the weekend. The venue is not densely crowded, and there are a few people, including myself, taking photographs. I am alone and am unobtrusively photographing other people at the venue, as well as some non-human subjects. You then see me turn my mirrorless camera toward you and your kids and take a few photos from 10-15 feet away. As I turn to my next subject, you approach me and ask me politely to please not photograph you or your kids, and I just as politely inform you that this is a public place and I will take pictures at my own discretion. A few minutes later, I take a few more photos of you and your kids. How do you respond?

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I'm something of a crusader myself, but I don't understand why you'd continue to admittedly photograph someone who has politely asked you not to photograph them.

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Because if they're a total stranger, it's not my concern what they think about being photographed. I'm already standing at a respectful distance, not focusing on them anymore than any of my other subjects, and doing nothing to provoke their attention. That should be enough.

Beach Bum said:

I mean, if you tell me you weren't really doing it and they just thought you were, then I'd understand. Or if they were rude and demanding to you, then it's different.

But they politely asked you to and you purposely (operative word here) photograph them again. It doesn't really make sense. You're just trying to be a jerk here. If it were just in their general direction, it would be different.

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If that part of the scenario was unclear, then I apologize. The premise is that I did not photograph them again JUST BECAUSE they asked me not to, and that I would have photographed them regardless of whether they had said anything to me. I'm not trying to be a jerk at all, I'm just taking their photograph as I normally would have. I tried to imply this by extending the timeline by "a few minutes" after the initial request, but I can see how you may have misinterpreted it to think that I photographed them just to be obstinate rather than because I just wanted to photograph them. Does that change your appraisal of the situation?

Beach Bum said:

Sorry, I'm not playing along with this.

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contadorfan said:

contadorfan wrote:

I would take out my point & shoot and photograph you. Then I would alert the other parents, show them your picture, and warn them that there is a stranger who persists in taking children's photographs despite being asked not to. I have a right to photograph you too. No amount of talk from you would convince me that your interest in my child is normal.

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Fair enough. You might get a few eye rolls from people who are just minding their own business like I am, though.

contadorfan said:

Sorry, strangers photographing kids sets off a parent's alarms. Even at 15-20 feet, it's too close. You want to photograph kids? Shoot your own family.

Click to expand...

contadorfan said:

The sicko who kidnaped Jaycee Lee Dugard and imprisoned her for 18 years would go to go to children's playgrounds and have his wife supposedly video him singing & playing guitar, while she was actually capturing videos of little girls playing, shown here in this ABC News video beginning at 2:36:

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The fact that one single child kidnapper engaged in this activity doesn't affect the ethical calculus for all the law-abiding citizens who wish to engage in it as well.

contadorfan said:

If you want to risk being mistaken for a creep, don't complain for bringing the problem upon yourself.

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How exactly is being mistaken for a creep by total strangers a problem for me? That's why I made this poll: to see exactly what any of you would do about it.

mike703 said:

mike703 wrote:

Yes, I know about the legality of taking photos of what you want in public. But persisting in singling out someone's kids for repeated photographs after the parents have asked you to stop is downright creepy, not to mention obnoxiously rude, and at that point alarm bells start to ring.

In the scenario you mention I would cause you the maximum possible embarrassment by complaining loudly to the nearest policeman that you were harrassing my family: and I would equally loudly tell all the other parents with kids around that this creep had insisted on taking pics of my lids after I had asked him to stop. Then I'd sit back and watch the fun.

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mike703 said:

Have a nice day.

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