What are some odd interactions you've had while out with your camera?

[loccdor]

I'll start, a car pulled up when I was walking down the sidewalk with medium format gear in a rough neighborhood. A young guy got out, appeared to be a pimp, mentioned being interested in having "photos taken of his girls", there was a scantily clad and dolled up young woman in the passenger seat. I told him I'm not a professional and just shot for fun.

Surely many people here have been out taking photos long enough to have odd stuff occur, what are your experiences?

 

[Ivo Stunga]

Shooting slow film for slides and Infrared requires tripod. So on my photowalks around my current residence I get constantly mistaken to be a surveyor and people start to inquire about pending improvements like I'm an official or something

 

[jeffreyg]

Many years ago in Ulm, Germany we stopped to pick up something from a shop for a friend. In front of the shop was what appeared to be a rough looking group on motorcyclists. I wasn't sure if I should put my camera bag in the trunk which they would see me do or carry it in to the shop which they would also see. I elected to take it with me and one approached me. As it turned out a couple had just gotten married and they wanted me to take photographs of their reception on the street. I obliged and we all had some good laughs One of them gave me his address to send the pictures to, they rode off and we went on our way. I did mail him prints but never heard back.

On another trip this time to Portugal also a number of years ago we were to stay at a small inn at a very small fishing village that only had two streets. After settling in we went to see the beach. After crossing the sand dunes there was a site that was going to be a terrific photo opportunity. The fishermen and their families were pulling in their net with oxen and sorting out their catch, the boat was unusual and powered by oars. We don't speak Portuguese but my wife speaks Spanish and French so some how we were able to communicate. Some of the women took their small children home to change to nicer clothes and came back with a portable radio. We ended up having a five hour party dancing and just being with some wonderful people. I also got one to write his name and address for me. When I got home I made a lot of 8x10 prints and got someone at the U of M to translate a note for me so I could send them the thirty or more prints. I never heard back but it was a rewarding experience and the highlight of the trip.

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[logan2z]

I was out taking landscape photographs a few years ago and spotted an interesting tree in the middle of an open field surrounded by a fence. I set up my camera outside the fence at the side of the public road. Just as I was doing that, someone drove up in a pickup truck and started to question what I was doing. She said her father owned the property. I told her I was just taking a photo of the tree in the field. Did I mention that the property was completely empty, no house or anything that might be considered 'private'? She reluctantly drove away and left me to it, but I could tell she thought I wasn't being truthful. I wouldn't be surprised if she called the police, but I was done before anyone showed up.

 

[flowerpunk]

When I first started out in photography. I live on the north side of Chicago in a not too nice neighborhood. The local kids hung out on the steps of the brownstone house we had an apartment in.
They would drink wine , smoke pot and rob people, it’s how they survived. I would take photos of them and we built a relationship during that time.
One thing I could say is as bad as they were, we had a good relationship and they would make sure no one would steal from us. They would come in our apartment and shoot the bull.
It was a mutual respect we had for each other.

I don’t think I would feel comfortable nowadays in that same situation.

 

[xkaes]

My weirdest was the little old lady at the Goosenecks overlook in Utah who refused to believe me -- that I WASN'T Ansel Adams!

 

[loccdor]

I was out taking landscape photographs a few years ago and spotted an interesting tree in the middle of an open field surrounded by a fence. I set up my camera outside the fence at the side of the public road. Just as I was doing that, someone drove up in a pickup truck and started to question what I was doing. She said her father owned the property. I told her I was just taking a photo of the tree in the field. Did I mention that the property was completely empty, no house or anything that might be considered 'private'? She reluctantly drove away and left me to it, but I could tell she thought I wasn't being truthful. I wouldn't be surprised if she called the police, but I was done before anyone showed up.

Oh yeah. I forgot that I got the police called on me once in similar circumstances. I was photographing an old abandoned gas station from the road, setting up for a minute or two, then a police car pulled up into its lot and just sat there watching me. I ended up just getting on my bicycle and leaving.

Now I tend to not do photography by busy roads unless I know I can do it discreetly. It only takes one person to be a jerk out of the hundreds that are passing you to ruin your day.

 

[loccdor]

Portugal

That's a charming story and I hope I'm lucky enough to experience similar in the future. I had some moments like that in Greece but I wasn't doing photography at the time.

 

[koraks]

Shooting slow film for slides and Infrared requires tripod. So on my photowalks around my current residence I get constantly mistaken to be a surveyor and people start to inquire about pending improvements like I'm an official or something

Yeah, I get that too, sometimes. Questions like "are you working for the municipality/government etc." Uh...no, if I was, I'd be doing the sensible thing and just using a phone to snap some shots.

But no 'odd' interactions as such. Mostly just positive experiences; people showing interest in what I do, exchanging niceties (or concerns) about the landscape, weather etc., When shooting LF, the same three comments virtually always pop up at some point: (1) "Wow, that must be an old camera" (out with a 2010s Intrepid), (2) "I assume that camera takes glass plates?" and (after telling them, no, I shoot film) (3) "I didn't know they even made film anymore." ("yes, lots, but 35mm color was hard to get for a while because supply didn't keep up with demand.")

I did do a small portrait project last year which involved lots of in-depth talk about people's identity/life story/challenges. I'd wager to say the participants were mostly "neuro-divergent", so the chats were always interesting/fascinating. There was truly never a dull moment in there.

So far I have not gotten shot at, bitten by guard dogs, yelled at, threatened with prosecution or execution, etc. Whenever photographing someone's property, I try to find the owner and ask their permission even if I technically don't need it. That probably helps.

The 'worst' experience in recent years was a couple in an old, run-down Mercedes stopping while I was photographing (camera-testing) a fence that was more run-down than their Merc. They were clearly suspicious and had trouble believing I didn't have some ulterior motive and my only interest was really the (mildly) interesting pattern of the peeling paint. I didn't care much about their mockery, but I refused to turn around when the guy tried to get my attention by whistling at me. I don't care how he beckons his dog, but I'm no dog, so I only turned around when he got the idea of actually saying something. They evidently thought I was the weird one, but I beg to differ.

 

[MattKing]

Many years ago in Ulm, Germany we stopped to pick up something from a shop for a friend. In front of the shop was what appeared to be a rough looking group on motorcyclists. I wasn't sure if I should put my camera bag in the trunk which they would see me do or carry it in to the shop which they would also see. I elected to take it with me and one approached me. As it turned out a couple had just gotten married and they wanted me to take photographs of their reception on the street. I obliged and we all had some good laughs One of them gave me his address to send the pictures to, they rode off and we went on our way. I did mail him prints but never heard back.

Similar to one of my experiences that I've mentioned in the past. I was in a park famous for wedding pictures and I had a Mamiya C330 with me. I was approached by a freshly married couple who had been no-showed by the photographer they had arranged. So I took some wedding photos for them and got them to them later.

 

[juan]

I tend to attract rather hostile police, even in natural areas. They can't seem to believe someone would use a LF camera to photograph trees, swamps, and marshes.

 

[guangong]

My wife and I were eating in an oden restaurant near Tokyo University about 20+ years ago. She placed her M5 on the counter. After we finished eating, the gentleman sitting next to us followed us out the door and invited us to go back for drinks, etc. Turns out he was a Leica nut. Thus began a wild conversation. He didn’t know much English, my spoken Japanese would best be called baby talk but written Chinese a little better. My wife Cantonese.The three of us communicated writing Chinese characters in the air and palms of our hands with a sprinkle of English and Japanese. We “talked” and drank for almost an hour about Leicas. A lot of fun. While in Taiwan in 1980s, not infrequently some individuals would approach and ask my wife if she wanted to sell her M5.

 

[Ryeman]

I was up on the North York Moors one day taking a photograph of an ancient standing stone, with a 5x4 camera. I had just got everything set up when a hiker came down the path. He seemed fascinated by my large camera with its bellows and brass fittings, mounted on a tripod, and clearly didn't know what to make of it. Finally, he said, "Are you doing aerial photography mate?" He seemed quite serious, so I said "Yes. But I'm doing it off the ground". "Cool" he said , and walked off down the path.....

 

[pbromaghin]

Oh, boy.

One of our assignments for the introductory darkroom class I took last fall was street photography. The instructor is a pro street photographer. He has never been threatened with arrest in 20 years of it. I don't like street photography. I don't understand street photography. I'm terrible at street photography. I was threatened the very first day!

Fortunately, I have enjoyed watching 1st Amendment audit videos on Youtube and was well equipped to deal with the Karen who declared I had no right to photograph her without her permission, had to delete my photos (film?), and if I didn't she would smash my camera. She then dialed 911 to have the cops arrest me and then delete them. She called them 3 times because they were taking too long. At first, I was civil and very matter of fact about the legalities of public photography in the U.S., but when she started lying to the dispatcher I started my best Gunnery Sargeant Hartman impression and went into full Sarcastic-Foulmouthed-Insult Mode. Being aware that the police in our town have been trained in how to handle photographers, I wasn't worried in the least, and when the officer did arrive he educated her on Freedom of the Press, exactly as I expected.

Back in 2017 or so, the Colorado Springs Police Dept (just 40 miles down the road) had to pay a 1st Amendment auditor $40k and produce a training video explaining the 1st Amendment and the Freedom of Speech provisions of the Colorado State Constitution. Many Colorado police departments have shown this video to their officers.

 

[Willy T]

My weirdest was the little old lady at the Goosenecks overlook in Utah who refused to believe me -- that I WASN'T Ansel Adams!

Great story - Ansel is as Ansel does

 

[logan2z]

She called them 3 times because they were taking too long.

Is there a reason you didn't just tell her 'have a nice day' and leave? You had no obligation to hang around.

 

[Luckless]

I've had my share of odd comments about photography and random conversations. The usual and harmless stuff, and plenty of 'Is that a Hasselblad?' comments for the RB67 or C330... The RB67 at dusk seems like an easy enough mixup, and the C330 a little less so... Still confused how my Busch-Pressman got confused for one, but I'm sure the person had their reason.


Only REALLY odd one was this one lady in a park in Charlottetown who decided to harass me over photographing gulls on the waterfront, insisting I was standing there "peeping in people's windows"... Across the bay. 2-3km away. With a 70-200mm lens. On a rather old digital camera.

"Those windows aren't even large enough to cover a whole pixel with this setup..." didn't help, and neither did showing the collection of photos of birds on the camera.

I'm just happy I've yet to meet the likes of her when I'm out with the RB67 with the 500mm...

 

[Don_ih]

I was in an alley in Toronto, camera in hand, but had taken photos of nothing and some guy came up to me to say he didn't want to be in any photos. I said, "Yeah, I'm not taking pictures of you." "But really, I can't be in any photos." He repeated that a few times, following me. I was about to tell him to fly to ____ when he decided to go back to wherever he'd come from.

Another time, I was in a marshy area not far from where I live. My brother was driving his van and stayed in it. I got out to take a photo across some water. When I came back, a "Conservation Officer" was standing next to the van, hand on his holstered gun, interrogating my brother. When he saw me, he started to interrogate me. I considered myself lucky he didn't shoot me - he looked like he was interested in finding someone to shoot. He eventually left. He never did say what he thought we were doing.

 

[bjorke]

"Is that a Hasselblad?"

(ALWAYS answer: "yes")

 

[Don_ih]

"Is that a Hasselblad?"

(ALWAYS answer: "yes")

Unless it actually is a Hasselblad?

 

[pbromaghin]

Is there a reason you didn't just tell her 'have a nice day' and leave? You had no obligation to hang around.

You are right that legally I had no obligation, but once she called them, I DID have to stay, just to make sure they got my end of the story and not only her lie-filled version. Also, it was outside a local grocery store where I do almost all of my shopping and am known to several of the employees, and a manager with whom I have had several conversations was called out to deal with the situation. He hadn't spent 2 minutes thinking something like this might ever come up and seemed to take my lead when I explained to her that no, they can't take my camera nor my film, and since there were no signs forbidding photography (a legal requirement for kicking a photographer off a business property in CO) I couldn't be sited for trespassing unless I did not leave if they asked me to. It is rather ironic that when things like this happen it is often right under the watchful eye of the store's security cameras and people never take issue with them.

Edit to add: Sticking around is something else I learned from the audit videos. In this case it may not have been so important because I was a known local being confronted by a stranger - she didn't even know what store she was at - but they are almost always the out-of-towners being confronted by locals, and the police are vested in their community. They always stay until after the police leave, or until it looks like they never will come. It shows they aren't intimidated, affords more control over the situation, and does usually forces the police to straighten out the confronter's understanding of the law.

 

[logan2z]

You are right that legally I had no obligation, but once she called them, I DID have to stay, just to make sure they got my end of the story and not only her lie-filled version. Also, it was outside a local grocery store where I do almost all of my shopping and am known to several of the employees, and a manager with whom I have had several conversations was called out to deal with the situation. He hadn't spent 2 minutes thinking something like this might ever come up and seemed to take my lead when I explained to her that no, they can't take my camera nor my film, and since there were no signs forbidding photography (a legal requirement for kicking a photographer off a business property in CO) I couldn't be sited for trespassing unless I did not leave if they asked me to. It is rather ironic that when things like this happen it is often right under the watchful eye of the store's security cameras and people never take issue with them.

Edit to add: Sticking around is something else I learned from the audit videos. In this case it may not have been so important because I was a known local being confronted by a stranger - she didn't even know what store she was at - but they are almost always the out-of-towners being confronted by locals, and the police are vested in their community. They always stay until after the police leave, or until it looks like they never will come. It shows they aren't intimidated, affords more control over the situation, and does usually forces the police to straighten out the confronter's understanding of the law.

Fair enough. I would have left, if for no other reason than to let the confronter know she had no right to detain me. But choosing to stay sounds like it made sense in your particular situation.

 

[cliveh]

I was walking across the Charles bridge in Prague with my Leica 2 around my neck, when a German approached me and said he had exactly the same camera and wanted to chat about Leica cameras. We talked for a bit with him in broken English and me in broken German.

 

[mshchem]

I was out with my RZ have a left hand L grip. Security guard thought it was a TV camera

 

[loccdor]

I've had my share of odd comments about photography and random conversations. The usual and harmless stuff, and plenty of 'Is that a Hasselblad?' comments for the RB67 or C330... The RB67 at dusk seems like an easy enough mixup, and the C330 a little less so... Still confused how my Busch-Pressman got confused for one, but I'm sure the person had their reason.

Ahah... I got the "is that a Hasselblad" when I was carrying a Canon Elan 7E... people seem to just know the name and nothing else.