Photographing in public & feeling like an idiot

I remember shooting Punks in Bergen Norway. They got pretty agressive at first. Then I focused on a young Punk lady and congratulated her for her beautiful eyes. Almost immediatly did she ask for more pictures !
What happened next was that the bunch of tourists (like me) on that place took their P&S out and started taking pictures too.
A the end everybody had fun and the atmosphere got quite on the relax side.
 
To quote the Billy Joel song....

"I have been a fool for lesser things...."

Maybe it's just advancing age, but my give a hoot factor re: other people's opinion of what I'm doing is at an all time low.
 
My camera is my light saber. I never feel silly carrying it.

Anyway, when shooting in the streets it takes me a while to get into the groove but when I do, I notice nothing that is not interesting in a photographic way.
 
bmattock said:
I understand that people have this problem. For me, it just isn't a problem. I guess I'm just not built that way. I do whatever I feel like doing, and I presume that people ought to get out of my way and let me do it. As to what they think of what I'm doing, that's their business, but not mine. I just don't care what other people think of me or what I'm doing. But some of you knew that already. It's just that I'm the same online as I am in person. If I cared what people thought, I'd never leave my house. The only person whose opinion matters to me is me. Why would it be any different?
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Endearing qualities, all. Pretty much the same as I see it.

The only problem I see is that these qualities appear a bit harsher on the internet (or maybe less harsh), since they are not accompanied by facial expressions or body language.

However, on that score, if anyone doesn't like my internet presence, they are perfectly welcome to come over here and slap me!!
 
Regarding street "camera" nonsense.

Regarding street "camera" nonsense.

Occasionally my camera of the day is my Mamiya Universal Press and 50mm Lens, Or perhaps my Fuji G690bl. People look much more interesting when your whole face is covered by your camera.

I did see a gentleman walking down the street about two weeks ago with a tripod over shoulder and a Graflex Press 4X5 atop the tripod. Hurrah to him, and maybe, just maybe........ Hmmmm??

It might interest you to know that the bigger the camera the less sneaky (read guilty) I feel. But guilt doesn't run much through my psyche. (or is it psycho?)
 
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Benjamin said:
You are rather in the business of making others feel like idiots though Mr. Mattock.

I suppose it can only work to your advantage that you are bankrupt of the ablility to wind your neck in from the great skies on occassion, and perhaps consider that not everyone cares about what you have to say quite as much as you do.

Don't get me wrong Bill, I have read and appreciated your comments and posts often enough, though the way in which you often bully and belittle the opinions of others is often far harder to appreciate.

Perhaps not everyone is in the business of living the life of subjective FACT with which you seem so taken.
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That's valid criticism, thanks. And it's Mattocks, not Mattock, if you please. I speak plainly. I do not know how to change that or why I'd want to. I can accept that others see that as bullying behavior.
 
kuzano said:
People look much more interesting when your whole face is covered by your camera.
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They sure don't think you are an idiot. Maybe crazy, maybe professional, but not an idiot.

I like to think of shooting a press camera (4x5 for me) as performance art.

I did see a gentleman walking down the street about two weeks ago with a tripod over shoulder and a Graflex Press 4X5 atop the tripod. Hurrah to him, and maybe, just maybe........ Hmmmm??
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Indeed, yay him. Whoever he is.
 
I'm not surprised at the posters who feel like idiots.

The more surprising thing is how many of them actually realize it. Accurate self perception is rare these days.

If you speak to prison inmates, nobody is guilty. Nobody in a lunatic asylum is crazy.

Extrapolating from the above, one would expect that nobody posting on forums would be an idiot.

Maybe we have a good crop of highly aware savants here.
 
maddoc said:
I found a good method is to carry the camera with a neck-strap so that everybody can see easily it. Doing it all the time (I never leave my home without a camera around my neck) will let you forget at some point that you carry a camera and taking a photo will just be lifting it to the eye and taking the shot. It becomes second nature and you won`t worry about other people`s reaction to you taking a photo any more. Only important thing is to carry a camera every time and everywhere.
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That's good information. I agree and I try to practice not always the easiest thing to bring your camera with you everywhere. I have it around my neck every morning walking to the train, its small and it just blends in after a while and you'll get a bit more comfortable with your surroundings. I remember one summer I was carrying my Holga with me on the train 2 people within a day of each other were asking me questions about the camera etc. It really can be a good ice breaker, I don't mind talking with people who ask about the camera or what I maybe doing....
 
YES ALL THE TIME.

Well the idiot part is partially due to the fact I am oriental and I hate it when people think I'm a freaking tourist [I AM NOT MIND YOU].

But I always have a camera on me. Sometimes I think "stupid people, you stare but I get a fantastic photo".

:p
 
I kind of like being mistaken for a tourist... I live in Ottawa where at any given time between 25-90% of the down town crowd are tourists. It actually makes it MUCH easier to take pictures... all the market stall owners are usually more than happy to make a tourist feel welcome... and in Ottawa most people have learned to tune out the tourists reflexively so I can be pretty much invisible in the middle of a crowd.
 
Disaster_Area said:
I kind of like being mistaken for a tourist... I live in Ottawa where at any given time between 25-90% of the down town crowd are tourists. It actually makes it MUCH easier to take pictures... all the market stall owners are usually more than happy to make a tourist feel welcome... and in Ottawa most people have learned to tune out the tourists reflexively so I can be pretty much invisible in the middle of a crowd.
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I think Gang of Four said it best:

At home he feels like a tourist
At home he feels like a tourist
He fills his head with culture
He gives himself an ulcer
He fills his head with culture
He gives himself an ulcer
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I just get on with my life. Who is watching me, what do they think of me? I don't know. Should I know? I don't care. Should I care?
 
Lilserenity said:
...You just do your thing and ignore what people may or may not think. Who cares! You don't need to because whatever it is you're interested in you like it for some reason and you got no business in needing to explain that to anyone...
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Well said, Vicky. This business of feeling a bit self-conscious when out shooting pictures is much like the feeling most of us get when we dine alone in a restaurant. Eventually, you get used to it and just get on with eating, realizing that the only person remotely interested in your solitary status is the waiter, who figures he/she would get a bigger tip if more than one person was seated at your table. (Sometimes one of them will be in too much of a hurry to get me out of the restaurant, freeing up the table. If I think that's going on, I'm likely to order dessert, and then linger over coffee.)
 
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wgerrard said:
(Sometimes one of them will be in too much of a hurry to get me out of the restaurant, freeing up the table. If I think that's going on, I'm likely to order dessert, and then linger over coffee.)
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Well, you're just a barrel of laughs, aren't you? Maybe you should consider that this sort of behavior is one of many prime reasons you're eating by yourself all the time.
 
I generally don't care what people think... people sometimes think you are weird because you are photographing "nothing", but honestly, if you want to be into photography, especially on the streets, you are going to have to deal with looks and comments. Sometimes I get nice comments too (hey, nice Leica).

If you are photographing people on the street without their permission, then you are going to have to deal with comments and the occasional pissed off person... but I believe their reaction is warranted in that situation.

What pisses me off is when I get a dirty look or a comment from someone who thinks I photographed them when I didn't... I just tell not to flatter themselves and that the real subject (generally an inanimate object) I photographed was more interesting then their sorry ass. ;)

The other thing is that some people just don't understand photography or art in general. Most people think photography is either models, landscapes, or family snapshots.
 
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August Derleth said:
Well, you're just a barrel of laughs, aren't you? Maybe you should consider that this sort of behavior is one of many prime reasons you're eating by yourself all the time.
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I'm eating alone when I travel because I prefer to travel alone.

Frankly, I'm insulted when restaurant staff try to rush me through a meal or otherwise abuse me solely because I'm alone. I'm a paying customer who will leave a healthy tip, if they treat me like they treat every other customer. I am certainly not obligated to rush my meal just so they can make a few extra tips.

Otherwise, the gratuitous insults demean you.
 
You're not obligated, but it's mean and petty to hog a table for a long time out of spite or for some possibly misperceived sense of being "rushed".

You deprive the waiter of sorely needed income, and keep some other diners waiting for a table just to "teach them a lesson".

I find that to be sociopathic behavior.

You've already stated you linger over coffee and dessert just to eat up more time.

.
 
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