Jerk with a telephoto

[williams473]

So I'm coming back from having some great Chinese food with 2 of my coworkers on our lunch break. We're walking along 5th avenue which is one of the main drags through Oakland in Pittsburgh. It's a very crowded sidewalk, and yet I notice a guy across 5th avenue on the opposite walk with an SLR and some kind of telephoto lens on it - like a 300 or bigger - really long lens. As I turn my head to look at him full on, he whips the lens up towards a building, and pretends he wasn't shooting me. I sort of smirk and keep walking, then quickly look back at him. He's got it pointed at us again! And again, he does the (whoops - no I was shooting the sky!) move.

I have to say, I felt violated. I know it's legal. But honestly, I am very seriously considering dropping the street game as a result of this experience. Or at least, working with a little more consent first. But grabbing closeups at long range with a telephoto - that's just freakin' wrong. It sort of goes against the code of street photography, you know? To be able to get into a sort of intimate proximity usually reserved for my wife with someone through a lens, to fix that image to do with what you please, but not have the stones to admit that's what your doing is just gutless. This guy was truly "taking" pictures.

But I swear, it was constructive for me - it really made me think about how many people I've made feel that way. I very well may miss out on some good photographs if I quit doing street work, but I think I'm just reaching a point in life where I'm starting to care a lot more about my subjects - how they feel about the image "we" are making. Am I overeacting? Maybe if he had been in my face with a 28 and I coulod have said "hey" I wouldn't have minded. Something about staring down the barrel of that long lens and knowing how tight he had us framed just torqued me off.

 

[oftheherd]

You just know a lot of members here are going to say you are over reacting. That since you have been doing it you shouldn't mind. But, now you know how the person of the other side of your camera may feel.

It is one of the reasons I am not big on "street" photography. I don't want to think I am so unusual in some way that someone would want to photograph me. Doubtless others feel the same way. Any idea why he was anxious to photograph you?

Granted my feelings are my own. Others may not feel that way. In fact many have said so. Good for them. I just happen not to think that way and wish to be respected for it.

 

[M. Valdemar]

I'll bet he stopped taking your photo when you put your pants back on.

So I'm coming back from having some great Chinese food with 2 of my coworkers on our lunch break. We're walking along 5th avenue which is one of the main drags through Oakland in Pittsburgh. It's a very crowded sidewalk, and yet I notice a guy across 5th avenue on the opposite walk with an SLR and some kind of telephoto lens on it - like a 300 or bigger - really long lens. As I turn my head to look at him full on, he whips the lens up towards a building, and pretends he wasn't shooting me. I sort of smirk and keep walking, then quickly look back at him. He's got it pointed at us again! And again, he does the (whoops - no I was shooting the sky!) move.

I have to say, I felt violated. I know it's legal. But honestly, I am very seriously considering dropping the street game as a result of this experience. Or at least, working with a little more consent first. But grabbing closeups at long range with a telephoto - that's just freakin' wrong. It sort of goes against the code of street photography, you know? To be able to get into a sort of intimate proximity usually reserved for my wife with someone through a lens, to fix that image to do with what you please, but not have the stones to admit that's what your doing is just gutless. This guy was truly "taking" pictures.

But I swear, it was constructive for me - it really made me think about how many people I've made feel that way. I very well may miss out on some good photographs if I quit doing street work, but I think I'm just reaching a point in life where I'm starting to care a lot more about my subjects - how they feel about the image "we" are making. Am I overeacting? Maybe if he had been in my face with a 28 and I coulod have said "hey" I wouldn't have minded. Something about staring down the barrel of that long lens and knowing how tight he had us framed just torqued me off.

 

[williams473]

I can completely respect your view - after all it's sort of what I realized all of a sudden. I mean I always knew what I was doing was intrusive, but it was something about the guy not acknowledging us that really irked me - which I have also done. In a way it violates the recipricol agreement between shooter and subject, you know?

I very well may joing your camp after all - it was just a sort of BANG epiphany for me, and I just had to sit down and post and see if anyone else had felt this way.

I don't why he was shooting us specifically - I think he grabbing shots or everyone walking by.

 

[feenej]

I was at the Storm the Bastille run last night in Milwaukee and some guy with a jumbo dSLR and zoom took my picture. No big deal.

I had actually shot two rolls of film with my little Minolta XG-1 and 45mm Rokkor pancake lens. I was taking a photo of some people at an outdoor bar from as close as I could get and some guy started yelling at me pretty good. I moved off and was glad he did not follow. I did also get a little bit of a negative reaction when I got in somebody's face later too. So, anyway, despite stuff like that I guess I'll keep at it myself, at least for now.

 

[pesphoto]

I'll bet he stopped taking your photo when you put your pants back on.

Valdemar, didnt you say you were going to be in Pittsburgh this week?
Fess up fella!!

 

[swoop]

There was a post like this maybe two weeks ago.

I know how you feel. I wonder if somewhere out there, there's a forum of people who are in photographs instead of ones that make photographs.

I think I've caught a camera on me maybe 3 times. And it's easy to get over. Someone points it at you, snaps and then that's it. And you just keep on walking. And mostly it's harmless. I've done it myself a few times. If I'm caught, I smile and nod, maybe say hello. If I'm not, I keep walking along. But there are people that just go about it in this really skeazy way.

 

[oftheherd]

... but it was something about the guy not acknowledging us that really irked me - which I have also done.
...

Maybe that was it. In Korea I once had a young man tell me "Yankee go home." I wasn't overjoyed at it, but what really got me was the way he did it. He bowed his head, didn't look at me, and spoke softly so other Koreans around wouldn't hear him. That made me mad. He didn't even have the courage to face me and declare how he felt loudly enough for others to hear.

Otherwise it was almost funny to think I had been in the US Army for about 26 years, and in the far east over 12 years, and that was the first time I had been told Yankee go home. He must have been watching old US movies or something. 😀

 

[Al Patterson]

There was a post like this maybe two weeks ago.

I know how you feel. I wonder if somewhere out there, there's a forum of people who are in photographs instead of ones that make photographs.

I think I've caught a camera on me maybe 3 times. And it's easy to get over. Someone points it at you, snaps and then that's it. And you just keep on walking. And mostly it's harmless. I've done it myself a few times. If I'm caught, I smile and nod, maybe say hello. If I'm not, I keep walking along. But there are people that just go about it in this really skeazy way.

Every day at work, at the bank or while going through airports, I'm on camera, so I don't mind the odd street photographer taking my picture, although I'll state that I doubt I'm really interesting enough to photograph...

 

[williams473]

Haha - you know Valdemar's pants comment (this is a tangent) reminds me of the movie Batman, with Michael Keaton. Do you remember the scene when the reporter asks the photographer Vicky Vale if she will photograph him with his pants off? He says (as if bragging) "You're going to need a long lens!" As in, a telephoto to search for what might be down there? Always bothered me 🙂 Clearly the writer of the film didn't do his research on lenses...

I know I've been photographed before too - this time it just really did bother me. I guess as Herd stated - it was the way it was done. I think the photographer owes his or her subject the respect of at least an acknowledgement huh?

 

[pesphoto]

I think the photographer owes his or her subject the respect of at least an acknowledgement huh?

I dont really agree no. I often shoot this way.......doesnt mean I dont respect a subject. Just the opposite actually.

 

[williams473]

Al,

True, we are always pictured, but the act of photographing as he was, as WE do, has different intent. I don't equate being recorded by a camera, whether digital or film or video with being photographed for Photography's sake. I probably wouldn't have been irked at all if the guy was doing a government survey of Pittsburgh residents for some reason or another - but it had the look of a street shooter taking an image and being afraid to even admit he had done it. I've always considered myself a little geeky-looking - I can't imagine I scared the guy...

 

[back alley]

there's a code of street photography?

 

[feenej]

Aknowlege? Probably. Maybe. I don't always. Not usually. My friend's wife kept calling me a creep one time that she happend to be along and I was photographing. She sat me down, took me to school, and said that I need to introdcuce myself first, take the picture, then give the subject my card after. HAHAHAHA. Guess I'll just stick to being a creep.

 

[williams473]

Pes,

I understand, but the respect may be one-way. If I hadn't noticed the shooter, I wouldn't be angry of course, because I wouldn't have known the image was made. I guess I am questioing how ethical it is to "snipe" a subject at long range.

Don't get me wrong - I still plan to work on the street - but I think my days of grabbing shots are over. I would rather settle into a spot for a while and let people know what I intend to do before starting to work the area.

 

[williams473]

Back,

Yeah, I have a code. I'm not imposing it on anyone else, but I have a code of ethics for working in public that guides me when I work.

 

[pesphoto]

Pes,

I understand, but the respect may be one-way. If I hadn't noticed the shooter, I wouldn't be angry of course, because I wouldn't have known the image was made. I guess I am questioing how ethical it is to "snipe" a subject at long range.

Don't get me wrong - I still plan to work on the street - but I think my days of grabbing shots are over. I would rather settle into a spot for a while and let people know what I intend to do before starting to work the area.

Fair enough.......

 

[feenej]

On the other hand, I would never use a telephoto or big zoom. Yikes, somebody sees me scoping his girfriend with a tele, it's game over.

 

[back alley]

i have developed a mode of working on the street but i doubt i could call it a code of ethics.
i have no problem taking a shot of anyone in a public place. if they indicate their displeasure, i smile and move on as i have no great need to upset people in the persuit of a hobby. while i do not sneak...i may not act in an overt manner either.
if someone wants to shoot me on the street then more power to them.

 

[tbarker13]

I don't really see any difference between
1) sniping at long range without the person realizing it.
2) getting close and shooting with a wideangle without the person realizing it.

I see a lot of street photography that relies on the capturing images of people who don't know they are being photographed. If you think that's ok, then it doesn't seem to matter whether the capturing is done with a telephoto lens or a wideangle lens.

This is something I think I pretty much suck at. I'm horribly introverted and just find it tough to walk around a street shooting strangers. But I don't really have a problem with it. I was out flyfishing a couple months back. At one point, I looked behind me and realized that some other tourist had stopped by the bank and was photographing me. I thought it was kind of cool.