street response?

doughowk said:

As reported in the Seattle Times the student/photographer was racially profiled. So maybe the people reporting no problem with taking pictures in US happen to be white. Just a thought.

Click to expand...

Last time I checked i was still glow in the dark white. In fact i make most white folks look like they have a super tan. I seem to have had just a problem or two while taking pictures.

Being a G---Damned yankee

THe darnest thing that ever happened to me was an elderly lady near Carnesville, Ga. (just off I-85) accussed me of being on her property though I was clearly on State Highway property. She accussed me of being a "G---Damn Yankee (though I live only 25 miles from Carnesville, Ga.). Nevertheless, she showed me a pistol that she had in her Apron like dress. And gave me to the count of 10 to get moving. I did of course, w/out talking back. I believe she would have killed me if I had not left THEN. I called Sheriffs Office when I got near a phone and filed a complaint. This was before cell phones of course.. The response from Sheriff's office was "you did the right thing buddy, she probably would have shot you. She is crazy!"
Damn those Yankees!! They still are not welcome near Carnesville by a lot of people (lol)

Does anyone remember the late GARRY WINDERGRANDE: it is said he looked odd shooting from hip and eyes with a Leica-almost anywhere. Yet he is my idol as a street shooter. He had 4000 rolls of film that was never developed for a long time after his death in 1984. A great photographer. Check him out on internet or at large bookstores.
Chuck Freeman

GARRY WINDERGRANDE


Chuck,

Garry's name is spelled Winogrand. I believe he taught at the University of Texas at Austin for a spell.

lee\c

All Right for a Yankee

On a flight from Atalanta to my home in NYC a few years back, I sat next to a young woman who (after deciding that I was all right, for a Yankee) went on at length about how Yankees were still out to destroy the south and how every young child in the north was indoctrinated with some song about Sherman Burning Atlanta (don't recall the exact title, but I'd never heard of it in Boston or Minneapolis when I was growing). She talked about how to get rid of the Yankees that were invading the suburbs of Atlanta and forcing out the good southern folks. I asked why she was going to New York. For her work, she said. Where did she work? In the editorial office of PSYCHOLOGY TODAY.

KB
(Who of course wants to plug photopermit.org on this thread, as long as I'm here)

bjorke said:

Where did she work? In the editorial office of PSYCHOLOGY TODAY.

Click to expand...

I remember back in the late 70's they published an issue with a black and white cover. An interesting nude sitting on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. Lighting could have been better, but quite a nice composition. Darn thing is that although I read it cover to cover (yes I was the one), I could not find any article relating to the cover picture lol

Here is a recent one. While working the Speed G. in a local park, a digital-guy approached (to see what ever I was seeing, I'm sure) stating, "Wow! That's an old camera!" I replied, "Its pretty old all right and she has hot flashes. The problem is that they are contagious."

Snapper said:

Hehe - very timely - there's an ad just starting to be shown on UK TV for the new Canon 300D/D*g*tal Rebel, where a crowd of hundreds in New York all stand back out of the way in awe as a young photographer takes a street snap with his smart, new d*g*tal camera. This is why we are getting the wrong reaction on the street - we don't have the right gear!

Click to expand...

I agree. I see tons of people in the street shooting whatever they see with g-damn digital p&s or even CAMCORDERS, fer chrissake, and they never get a single comment. When I take a quick pic of a crappy hippie beads stand in a public area with my Praktica, I get the "you could as permission!" remontrance. Sheesh. People are concerned about photography only when you're not a tourist. Otherwise I suppose it's odd for them to think that you might be interested by something else than the stupid statues in the town square.

We here on the frozen tundra of Minnesota must be immune to the “Fascist” thing. I have yet to get any thing worse then “Did you take a picture of me?”. A lot of people will ask what I’m taking a picture of…, for…, who….

There was the one time that a group of maybe 300 Iraq war protestors all turned to look at me at once.

I was working on a project shooting the rallies and protests at our state capitol building. I would run around recording the event. At this particular protest a speaker got up and was complaining how Bush does this and Bush does that. All of a sudden she says “And I have it on good authority that the FBI is among us now spying taking our picture for a list. Be aware if your friends start going missing”. They will come and get us for speaking out against Bush and his cronies.” I had my Mamiya 645 which I have to say stuck out like a sore thumb. I can’t tell you the feeling when people turned to look at me in the few seconds she paused for effect. I smiled, shrugged my shoulders and took a picture, Fortunately they went back to chanting and singing.

Randy

I want to see THAT picture!

Rlibersky said:

We here on the frozen tundra of Minnesota must be immune to the “Fascist” thing. I have yet to get any thing worse then “Did you take a picture of me?”. A lot of people will ask what I’m taking a picture of…, for…, who….
Randy

Click to expand...

Another example of "Minnesota Nice", fer sure you betcha!

--
JJ of Winona: the MinneSnowta tropics.

When I took a photography course the instructor insisted I use a 35mm camera for the first month. Since I hadn't played with a 35mm or a zoom lens for years I decided to practice by following the action at an adult league soft ball game. There wasn't any film in the camera. Later that night (my first in town) I was sitting alone quaffing beer in a pub. Two guys at the other end of the pub kept looking over at me...shoulders hunched and leaning in to each other...talking quietly...their eyes slits of concentrated rage focused in my direction.

Luckily, a local fellow was also taking the course who recognised me and what was unfolding, went to investigate. It turned out that one of the guys was having an affair with a lady on his soft ball team and thought his wife had hired me as a private investigator to take photographs of him and his lady friend. I probably would have had the $hit kicked out of me that night if my new found buddy wasn't there!!!

Another time, I decided to take photographs on Terrace Mountain, in Terrace, BC (which is a laughable name for this 1000' bump because it's surrounded by 3000' to 5000' mountains) after a 1' snowfall. Several hours later I came down and bought a coffee at a gas station and was confronted by four pi$$ed off surly guys who accused me of doing a bunch of B&E's in the area, and that they had seen me checking out their house so I could break into it later. I used all the available "shucks guys no way see all this camera gear I was probably looking at a composition of some branches and didn't even see your house behind them " excuses at my disposal.

The RCMP officer who tracked me down later went through my gear and decided I was of no risk.

What makes me really laugh is that after my coffee I went back into the bush to take more photographs, and there were the poor RCMP officers tracks in the snow following my meanderings....on trail...off trail...*WAY OFF* trail...back on trail...back track...crawl through the thicket to see that tree...I'm a rock climber and that bluff seems do-able even with all this gear, there has to be a GREAT vantage point up there...

Murray

I was in a rustic park trying to take picture of a footbridge that crosses a stream. I have my view camera all set up, shutter closed, darkslide pulled when some people walk across the bridge. A bunch of picnic-ers in tube tops and jeans with kids and dogs in tow would have killed the old-timey mood of the shot, but no problem, in a moment they would be over the bridge. I suppose that a guy with a view camera on a tripod must have been interesting to them because they all stopped on the bridge and leaned on the railing to watch the old fashioned photographer and refused to move until something happened. After a while, I raised my hand to signal them to please move along so that I could expose my film. They all started waving back at me with great enthusiasm. Finally I just sat down on a bench and ignored them until they lost interest and wandered along. I went back under the darkcloth to recheck everything and upon emerging, Yipes! I was startled by an asian couple standing right next to me side by side, smiling. "We were wondering if we could see your picture". "Sure" and let them go under the cloth to look at the ground glass.
Eventually, I actually got the shot.

You see why I prefer even a honking big 35mm?

To Hell with anti photography celebrities and beauracrats who hate us. I will shoot as long as I can and live.
Thanks for all.

When I am out photographing, almost always with my camera on a Majestic 2051 tripod, I am occassionally asked who I am taking photos for or why I am taking photos. I tell them, for me, because I want to. My body english does not invite much further in the way of conversation. When I used to go out taking photos with my RZ and compendium I would get asked which channel (TV) I was with.

One summer day (3) years ago I was using the RZ on the tripod ourside of a public swimming pool. A lifeguard inside the fence area asked me what gave me the right to take the photos. I told him the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. I also told him if he were concerned to call 911 and discuss it with the police. He was also informed that if he did not like the way the constitution was written he should take it up with his Senator and Congressman. I finished taking my photos without further ado and left.

i tend to answer whatever questions they have and not be belligerent/confrontational. i'll let them look under the dark cloth. if i am going to be in a place that i think i'll have trouble for whatever reason, i'll call the police ahead of time and tell them who i am and ask them to keep an eye on me when they make their rounds. they are happy to do that, and sometimes they even stop, look under the darkcloth and run interference for me AND keep people from bothering me. once in a while i don't bother with the formalities ( with a lf or any camera ) and no one really cares one way or another, unless they are a rent-a-cop, they they *have* to care and give you trouble ...

i often did work at a navy base a few years ago. i had to go through a rigorous clearance proceedure - have all my equipment serial numbers logged in, have polaroids ok'd by people before i could process film &C ( and then go back to the base, process my film and have it all ok'd too ) ... even though i had a "camera badge" i was asked every 10seconds by passersby who i was and what i was doing, until a policeman interested in photography chatted with me. he stayed with me the whole day, and over the years made it a point to be my "escort" and run interference. its was a win win situation ...

it seems that people have taken it upon themselves to be interested in things that seem out of the ordinary, i'm not sure where most folks are from, but people set up with a tripod and a big camera seems out of the ordinary. i know i make it a point to ask questions if i see someone with a camera in my neighborhood photographing my house ... but if i see them anywhere else, i don't bother cause i know what it is like to be pestered by "interested" people