# Photographing strangers out in public **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564 "2014-03-25T23:45:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/121 "2014-03-29T02:41:54Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > I don’t see a problem with taking general shots of an area or of people that are putting on a public performance. Singers or whatnot. What I take issue with is targeting a specific person without their consent. It’s made even worse when you put it on public display, again without their consent. Legal, sure. Rude, absolutely. I agree with this completely. As I’ve said before, there’s a chasmic gulf between “no expectation of privacy” and “reasonable expection you might end up having your pic taken for who knows what reason and end up on the internet for half the planet to see”. It is unreasonable to say to people “lol don’t go out in public if you don’t want your pic taken”, because it’s simply impossible to go about your business without going out in public, unless you’re Howard Hughes. In Ye Olden Days of photography with portable cameras, photos were taken on film and had to be developed into prints from the negative. Once taken, a non-news photograph would likely end up in someone’s photo album or maybe end up as a print in a temporary exhibition at a local art gallery and that would be it, generally. However, in the modern era of digital photos and instant uploads to the internet and social networks, the potential is there for thousands - or even millions - of people to see a photograph. Which is great for the photographer, who can say a million people saw the photo they took - but less good for the shy or privacy-conscious person who has no say in having their pic being seen by a million people and may genuinely be upset by it. I, for example, do not like having my photo taken as a general rule because (among other things) I don’t like the way I look in pics. I just don’t think I’m photogenic, and I say that as a photographer. I would be genuinely distressed if someone took my pic without my permission and stuck it in their online art exhibition (for example), and I would think the photographer who did that was an astronomical asshole. It’s one thing if someone’s taking a crowd shot and I’m in that crowd and could even be identified if you looked - that’s part and parcel of “being in public”. But a shot specifically of me in that crowd, especially if I’m doing something unflattering like sneezing or something? Not cool at all. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/122 "2014-03-29T02:44:16Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > It’s different. He was ignorant. I am not. Pros have to put up with it, but I won’t. There is a strict etiquette for people watching tennis that goes along with the etiquette for playing tennis. So he’s doing something legal and proper and you tell him to fuck off and chase him away, but when the shoe is on the other foot, it’s “Tough luck it’s legal and I’ll do what I like?” ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/123 "2014-03-29T02:49:47Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > So he’s doing something legal and proper and you tell him to fuck off and chase him away, but when the shoe is on the other foot, it’s “Tough luck it’s legal and I’ll do what I like?” He was disturbing my _tennis_, and that was the problem. It was not the fact that he was taking photos. I should have clarified this. I told him to stop and he would not. Then I yelled and chased him away, physically confronting his sorry ass with my Wilson Kramer. I happened to have seen him before and knew that he (like most photographers) was a jerk. [http://www.80s-tennis.com/pages/kramer-pro-staff-matched-pair.html](http://www.80s-tennis.com/pages/kramer-pro-staff-matched-pair.html) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/124 "2014-03-29T02:55:32Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > He was disturbing my _tennis_, and that was the problem. It was not the fact that he was taking photos. I told him to stop and he would not. Then I yelled and chased him away, physically confronting his sorry ass with my Wilson Kramer. I happened to have seen him before and knew that he (like most photographers) was a jerk. So why is it OK for you to disturb someone in public by taking their photo - an act which can cause distress to people - but it’s not OK for a newspaper photographer to disturb you whilst playing tennis? And when you say “told him to stop”, did you just tell him not to take pics, or did you go over and say “Mate, I’m trying to play an important match here and having you taking pics is really distracting and putting me off my game. Would you mind putting the camera away for a few minutes and getting some pics in the next set?” ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/125 "2014-03-29T03:00:24Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > So why is it OK for you to disturb someone in public by taking their photo - an act which can cause distress to people - but it’s not OK for a newspaper photographer to disturb you whilst playing tennis? > > And when you say “told him to stop”, did you just tell him not to take pics, or did you go over and say “Mate, I’m trying to play an important match here and having you taking pics is really distracting and putting me off my game. Would you mind putting the camera away for a few minutes and getting some pics in the next set?” No, I already knew him vaguely and didn’t like him. I don’t like most photographers because most photographers are assholes (I am the sole exception, LOL). This just gave me the excuse I had been waiting for to cuss him out, and I did! And he did not just take a quick one, he stood there for quite some time snapping away until I chased his sorry ass away. I should have called the newspaper and cussed them out too. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/126 "2014-03-29T03:02:47Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > Taking photos of people in public is not \*in itself \*wrong, impolite, or improper. If you disagree with that you are simply wrong. Thousands of such photos are taken every day. These girls \*asked \*me to take their photo! > > [https://www.flickr.com/photos/ornello/5884422621/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ornello/5884422621/) all of those people asked you to take their photo??? most of those looked candid. (unaware) [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/3644/3336500216_7305673923_z.jpg "Robert") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/robert165/) you can’t ask first for consent. you will never, ever, EVER get “real” people that way. it will always be posed and not authentic. what i do is: 1- try to never take an embarrassing photograph 2- always be willing to delete it if people are bothered by being photographed 2- always be willing to ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/127 "2014-03-29T03:04:18Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > all of those people asked you to take their photo??? most of those looked candid. (unaware) > > [Robert | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robert165/) > you can’t ask first for consent. you will never, ever, EVER get “real” people that way. it will always be posed and not authentic. what i do is: > > 1- try to never take an embarrassing photograph > 2- always be willing to delete it if people are bothered by being photographed > 2- always be willing to Thank you. That sounds like something reasonable as long as you’re getting the consent after. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/128 "2014-03-29T03:05:04Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > No, I already knew him vaguely and didn’t like him. I don’t like most photographers because most photographers are assholes. This just gave me the excuse I had been waiting for to cuss him out, and I did! But _you’re_ a photographer too, despite not calling yourself one. You can’t play the “No True Scotsman” card, especially when the newspaper photographer you chased away was basically doing exactly what you do - photographing people in a public place. Why is what you do “special” and acceptable, whilst he’s just a jerk by virtue of working for a newspaper or whatever reason you’ve developed for not liking him? > [@Antinor01](#): > > Thank you. That sounds like something reasonable as long as you’re getting the consent after. Consent afterwards is fine - and if people say no, show them as you are deleting the photo so they can see it’s gone. If someone took my photo in public and then asked my permission and I didn’t like the pic, I’d say no, I don’t want my photo used and if they showed me they were deleting it I’d have a lot of professional respect for them and could go about the rest of my day in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/129 "2014-03-29T03:06:27Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > all of those people asked you to take their photo??? most of those looked candid. (unaware) > > [Robert | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robert165/) > you can’t ask first for consent. you will never, ever, EVER get “real” people that way. it will always be posed and not authentic. what i do is: > > 1- try to never take an embarrassing photograph > 2- always be willing to delete it if people are bothered by being photographed > 2- always be willing to No, one of the three girls asked. I usually nod and gesture or something to show I mean no harm, smile a little. If they smile back I take a lot. If someone turns away I get the message. Again, I work with long lenses precisely so that I don’t bother people. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/130 "2014-03-29T03:09:50Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > But _you’re_ a photographer too, despite not calling yourself one. You can’t play the “No True Scotsman” card, especially when the newspaper photographer you chased away was basically doing exactly what you do - photographing people in a public place. I know better than to photograph people playing tennis in a match from a close position. Have you ever \*talked \*to a newspaper photographer? :smack: > [@](#): > > Why is what you do “special” and acceptable, whilst he’s just a jerk by virtue of working for a newspaper or whatever reason you’ve developed for not liking him? Somewhat, yes. My photos are of a higher calibre than most. Most people smile and acknowledge that I am harmless. You can see that in the photos. She looked right at me and kind of posed for me, but no words were exchanged: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/ornello/7450622546/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ornello/7450622546/) ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/131 "2014-03-29T03:11:12Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > No, one of the three girls asked. I usually nod and gesture or something to show I mean no harm, smile a little. If they smile back I take a lot. If someone turns away I get the message. Again, I work with long lenses precisely so that I don’t bother people. i was reffing to your other photos. most of which were very good. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/132 "2014-03-29T03:11:14Z")
> [@Melchior](#): > > I know better than to photograph people playing tennis in a match from a close position. Have you ever \*talked \*to a newspaper photographer? :smack: I _am_ a newspaper photographer, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564/133 "2014-03-29T20:33:45Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I _am_ a newspaper photographer, among other things. Well, I am glad about the other things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-strangers-out-in-public/684564.md?page=6)