First, that doesn’t make any sense.
Second, why would there be more overlap than any other group?
It’s a “rush to judgment” because Corkboard doesn’t know that while you’re taking pictures you are wearing credentials with your picture on them around your neck in plain sight? Perhaps if you had mentioned that minor fact instead of making it sound like the parents were hassling someone who they would have no way of knowing was a professional photographer you wouldn’t have sounded like such a douchebag.
If it makes you uncomfortable, I’d approach it from the uniform angle, not the photographer angle. Playing sports is an activity that’s going to get photographed. It’s inherently public, and parent and pervert aren’t mutually exclusive categories. There’s nothing that needs to be accomplished in a typical high school gym that can’t be accomplished in more modest shorts. And maybe it’s worth the school rethinking some norms in this age of omnipresent digital photography and the internet. Apparently male high school students can actually play volleyball in these bjnsports: Fountain Valley High School Mens Volleyball I’m all for giving H.S. girls a break from the sexualized/body image treadmill and just letting them focus on their sport. If your daughter is so serious about volleyball that the extra bit of wind resistence becomes a make it or break it issue for college or the Olympics, you can revisit the topic.
Because they’re self-selected. Why would you expect they’d be ‘average’?
Put another way, what line of work would you look for, if you got your jollies from pubescent camel-toe?
You lumped in pervs with “legitimate photographer[s].” Are you saying that the former is a subset of the latter? Because the former seems a bit less than legit to me.
One that netted me enough money for a monthly ISP, I’d imagine.
Or how about, say an usher at a Major League Baseball stadium? Should we start “wondering” about the old man standing at the aisle giving kids high-fives as they leave? Or hell, maybe an MA in a pediatric clinic. They even get undressed for you there!
Seriously, there are pervs out there. But don’t pretend that you know who they are without having a shred of evidence. Photography is a noble art, and its artists catch enough flak from paranoid individuals and governments without people assuming they’re pedophiles as well.
“not mutually exclusive” now equals “lumping together” and "witch-hunt’??? wow.
my only point was: a photographer’s credential is not a guarantee of purity (which seems to me was being implied)
a minor point in the scheme of things
Yes. That is exactly what that phrase means.
Implying that someone is guilty of something without any evidence whatsoever and then rallying a bunch of people to start wondering the same thing is indeed a witch hunt.
Personally, I don’t think a photo credential is either. Nor do I think being a supermarket bagger, hot dog vendor, dental assistant, or volleyball coach are guarantees of purity. So why is the guy taking pictures in the stands subject to such scrutiny?
I’m not posting this in the SDMB tradition of argument or sharpening the mind or anything like that. It’s a very real concern for many men that people think we’re pervs for no reason whatsoever… one that has been discussed many times on the board. And there’s still a vague but prevailing attitude that a person with a camera is Up To No Good. I’m a man with a camera, so much so that my friend’s 10 second sketch of me notes as much. And my friends have thanked me many times for taking snapshots of their lives and parties and random days at the park. I’ve been specifically asked to a baby shower this weekend for this reason. I also think I’ve taken some quite beautiful photos of the world around me. I’ve taken pictures of housefires and car crashes. Yet every second I’m with a camera I have to be ultra-aware that I’m not pissing off some hair-trigger cop or paranoid parent or some putz who’s still scared of the terrists. I can honestly think of quite a few legitimate, innocent reasons to shoot a girls’ volleyball game. But I wouldn’t. Not because I’m doing anything wrong, but because so many would assume I am.
I’m not claiming that my comfort or my photography is more important than the safety of one’s child (or anyone else). But a child faces countless dangers every day of varying credibility. You can keep him or her in box their whole life, or you can weigh the dangers and parent accordingly. I know photographers are one of the groups it’s acceptable to still be afraid of, but I’d ask that if you view the presence of a simple, everyday. common, versatile tool, used to create art and documentation as a threat, step back and think about it before you consider accusing people of some of the most heinous thoughts and/or actions a human is capable of.
I remember reading a thread somewhere (maybe here) years ago about so-called non-nude and candid websites that featured underage girls. The upshot was that the sites were legal because the girls were clothed and in public.
I think the OP’s concerns are valid, maybe not so much the danger of predators but more likely men taking pics to be used in collections on websites featuring pics of girls in tight and/or revealing dress. Try googling candid and volleyball together and the results might surprise you. There is a market and an industry just for that sort of material. And from what I just saw, a substantial amount of the pics are taken in high school gymnasiums.
Yes, the first para of my reply was to Zebra’s assertion that intuition was bullshit, which I took him to be saying that all intuition is bullshit. The rest of my post was to the question of the OP and qualified that intuition does need to be properly tuned. I thought that was clear from “That said, I’m not getting the outrage, here,” maybe not.
Ha! Okay, dude. If you think shorts and t-shirts are revealing, don’t ever look at a Speedo catalogue. Come on. It’s not like they’re wearing plunging-neckline push-up cleavage-laden bustiers, here.
Although I’ll tell ya, all this talk about shutter-speeds and lenses is making me drool… 
If you don’t want your kids to be seen in public, you can keep 'em at home or in a burqa. Really, you can’t control what others think, and stressing out over it will wreck you long before it does any damage to anyone else. Honestly, the whole Thought Police thing is creepier than a couple of photographers. As even sven said, keep your approach to knowing how to handle it when someone actually attempts to do something. Learn to recognize when “friendly” isn’t friendly. Learn to set clear boundaries and not back down when someone attempts to guilt you or otherwise weasel past them. Take a self-defense class.
(And Cervaise, you made me laugh out loud. Thank you. 
)
IOW, bury your head in the sand and pretend children aren’t being exploited in this manner. That’s some great advice there.
Here is a link to a site that features that kind of material. Check out the links or Google for yourself, it’s just a drop in the bucket.
:rolleyes:
Or, a more accurate interpretation, stop demonizing men and stop demonizing photographers. Just because the news makes it sound like anyone with a penis is just waiting to rape any available female doesn’t make it so.
:rolleyes:
It’s not about demonizing men or photographers. It’s about reality. These people are taking these pictures at some gyms, at some beaches, at some public pools. As a parent, I’d be really upset to find my child featured on one of those sites.
What’s your point? From looking at the front page of that site, all the pictures seem to be of well developed young women. I don’t see any that would qualify as “children” in the physical sense of the word. If you are going to make the argument that anyone who cannot be verified as being over the arbitrary legal age cannot and should not be viewed as an object of desire, than you have an equal obligation to ensure those young ladies are not gallavanting around in tiny bikinis.
I’m not a hysterical prude who wants to stop every man with a camera and demand an explanation for their activities.
I really don’t want to do any more googling on this subject, but a lot of what I saw wasn’t limited to “well developed young women.” There were also a lot of braces and flat chests. Blech, I wish I never opened this thread.
It goes on, it’s fucking creepy. What to do about it? I have no idea.
I once went to a nude beach and on the cliffs above there were several guys taking pictures with giant telephoto lenses. It’s depressing, but there you go.
If I was watching my daughter at a high school volleyball game and some guy seemed to be focused on her, taking pic after pic, yeah, I might have a problem with that.
Just don’t ask to see his credentials- he might be an irrational nutjob.
For what it’s worth, one of my girlfriend’s in college had a (nearly) flat chest and braces. The points to be made are as follows.
(most) Men like women. They like to look at pictures of women, espescially women in tiny or revealing outfits. This is normal.
The legitimate reasons for photographing a sporting event FAR outweigh the skeevey ones.
Assuming that your cameraman IS a perv, so what? the ladies are clothed, and unidentifiable.
Following that thought, if this is a highschool game, chances are that most of those ladies are also well out of the “little kid” stage of life physically, and otherwise. The skeeveyness level drops by about 100% then.
Since there is no way other than running around and demanding to see credentials and ID’s from anyone either taking pictures OR being photographed I suggest that People get over their puritanical foibles and move on with life. The actual pervs who are interested in children are few and far between. The rest are just looking at young women.
I don’t mean to offend but…Chances are high that someone, somewhere, is either whacking it to a pic of your daughter or has in the past. Or will in the near future. Some of it may be with your daughter’s complicity.
I say this to all parents. There isn’t much you can do, really, unless as others have said, you want to put her in a burkha. I understand wanting to protect her, but even sven had the best answer; make her happy, give her a good and loving home, teach her how to recognize ooginess, and how to defend herself should it become necessary.
Aren’t most pedophiles within the family anyway?
You, sir, are a judgemental ass.
Don’t forget all the boys she goes to school with.
OH and Anaamika, thanks for that photo.