Jerk with a telephoto

Come on guys and gals - it is not that complicated: Shooting unaware people is fine and hip if you use a Leica with a 35 or 28. If you use a Canikon with a long tele (or any other camera for that matter) it is very,very wrong indeed ;)
 
konicaman said:
Come on guys and gals - it is not that complicated: Shooting unaware people is fine and hip if you use a Leica with a 35 or 28. If you use a Canikon with a long tele (or any other camera for that matter) it is very,very wrong indeed ;)
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You've said it in a nutshell. Bravo.
 
konicaman said:
Come on guys and gals - it is not that complicated: Shooting unaware people is fine and hip if you use a Leica with a 35 or 28. If you use a Canikon with a long tele (or any other camera for that matter) it is very,very wrong indeed ;)
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Yes its just not cool:rolleyes:
 
Telephoto and even mid telephoto lenses on a SLR looks intimidating when you point it at someone, especially from a distance.

Once I came upon group of amateurs on their day out and one of them pointed a telephoto lens at my direction as i was standing to cross the intersection, I was the only person there, I felt a little 'challenged' that's all, and the guy sensed my displeasure even from that distance and pointed the lens the other way.

But the guy was a wimp and had he simply smiled in a friendly way and made it obvious that he was photographing me, I'd have not felt any challenge.

As I have said before, the problem is always with the photographer.
 
Now vote who is more jerk - jerk with telephoto or jerk with a superwide?

Also, specify if jerks with manual focus fixed focal length lenses stand out of jerks with AF zooms?
 
Photo_Smith said:
JS my nan managed it. We bought her a 110 camera, she looked into the lens and pointed the VF at the subject–I'd say that was the wrong way to photograph :)
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... my grandma once came back from a holiday in Bournemouth with 24 photos of her ear ... and when we explained she had been looking through the wrong end of the VF commented "ah, yes, they did appear to be a long way off at the time"
 
Next time I am out with my telephoto lens minding my own business taking a few wildlife pics and someone walks right up to me scaring my subject away and demanding to know what I am doing I shall recall this thread and know it is me who is being the jerk.
 
I hate 'street photography' - why do I want pictures of strangers going about their daily business? Sometimes there will be one or two interesting shots buy 99% of the time it's photos of people carrying shopping or on mobiles.
 
Next time I am out with my telephoto lens minding my own business taking a few wildlife pics and someone walks right up to me scaring my subject away and demanding to know what I am doing I shall recall this thread and know it is me who is being the jerk.
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I only ever had this happen once, when I was photographing roof lines in a conservation area, for a project. However, that was one very disturbed person and I couldn't really feel anything except pity, once I'd calmed down.

I rather think that 99% of people who accost photographers do so because they feel powerless. They think the photographer is an easy target to vent their spleen on. The other 1%, I imagine, are like my chap. Just rather sad, ill people who a caring society would protect from themselves.

Just my two old pennies' worth.
 
williams473 said:
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.
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hmm

I remember a big expert in my country, writting photo essay in biggest newspaper here, about street photography

He said ... use FF DSLR with super zoom lens, range from wide to 200-300 mm... also bring tripod ...

well... actually he is a respected model photographer but he is a celebrity photog.. so everyone mostly in my country are following his advice....


secondly ... this week , i have some discussion with some senior famous photog.. (doing model , still life product , wedding .. by Medium format and DSLR)..
they are protesting about me, the newbie who love street photography (public domain, non setup non directed, tell fraction stories about culture)...
that I must always take consent letter of approvan and letter of release

for every object I took on street, I must respect them, by asking each of them consent

just in case , 1 day , i will get famous and exhibited, have lots of money as street photograher, while all the street object get zero money

they said ... you must be fair like we are fair to our models


well they are the GURUS... so as a hobbyist , I just keep silent...


Sincerely
William
 
Very interesting points, all. I know it's a sign of a real "street shooter" if you use a 20-28mm lens, but having been on the receiving end numerous times - I live in Portland where every other person carries a camera - I wish poeple understood courtesy. I know it's great to get a "real" shot & all, but about the 3rd time someone steps in my face shooting, I do wish they had a longer lens. I don't often shoot on the street, but when I do it's almost always with an 85mm lens. I'm a big guy so it's not that I'm afraid of people, but how you can talk about "your rights" & be surprised when someone objects when you're standing on someone's shoetips baffles me.
 
Maybe a Closet Street Photographer?

Maybe a Closet Street Photographer?

Interesting conversations from the past and from today. I have played a bit with street photography but I typically don't feel it is my cup of tea. However, I have caught pictures of others while photographing something entirely different. I take a lot of pictures while attending my grandchildren's sports events. Though the intent is primarily to take pictures of the kids, there are always opportunities to grab shots of other people doing interesting things on the sidelines. A lot of those shots are being taken with telephoto lenses.
 
I was once in a hospital ER waiting room with my wife and sister in law who was ill when a gentleman with a Leica SLR sat down across from us. As we sat there I noticed him hip shooting us from about 10 feet away. Initially I thought what could be interesting about us then I realized the red coat my sister in law was wearing probably caught his eye. We played a game of cat and mouse with me catching him snapping then looking away when I would look him in the eye, I must say he was determined. I only wish I had my camera and I would have given him a dose of his own medicine. As I think about it now the location was very inappropriate and it's a wonder he didn't get thrown out, unless he was there "working". Later when I mentioned it to my wife she had no idea all that was going on. I guess I caught it because I'm aware of those tactics and it's rare to see someone using a Leica SLR in such a situation. He never said a word and eventually got up and left the area.
 
The line between photographer and stalker is drawn at 85mm :p

Below 21 you have a different type of problem all together (see post 155).
 
I suppose you could classify a paparrazi as a "street photographer," since that's where they often ply their trade, and they're know to use long-lensed DSLRs.

~Joe
 
You shouldn't give a flying f-ck.

Personally, I would be fascinated that someone found me interesting enough to train a 300mm lens on me.

You are already being recorded - every move you make, every breath you take, to quote the old song.

Randy
 
swoop said:
oh, this reminds me of something. I was once walking somewhere near West 4th with a girl and I saw these two guys with the huge white lenses hiding behind trees. I was looking in the direction they were shooting in and didn't see anything and I thought it was really weird. I was figuring maybe they were spying out some celebrity. But apparently they were just snapping pics of people across the street. Weird.
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ah yes, West 4th's very own grassy knoll.
 
i don't ask to take pictures of people. some probably consider that creepy. perhaps. but it really doesn't phase me. i don't have anything to hide in terms of just wanting to pull a great scene from the mundane, even if it comes out with someone's face in it.

to the OP:

it's okay to get a little flustered. you have every right to express how you feel. for me, i'm used to it. i even have fun with it when i know i'm being shot photographically. perhaps that may change if something were to happen soon, but for the most part in the past, i simply have no control over what a person chooses to shoot. and so far (knock on wood) they have not been a bother to me.

my girlfriend and i are both photographers (pictured in avatar) and she and i were walking the streets in k-town 32nd street. i spotted someone shooting on a NEX-7 with zoom lens. i said to my girlfriend 'hey look, he has a Sony NEX' as we were passing by him. he was shooting the crowd of passers-by. when we got in his field of view, my gf flips her head right at the lens and starts smiling. you could hear (even on a busy street) that guy went into full auto burst. he must've gotten 20 shots with her.

it's those times of just knowing, and still enjoying it that make it enjoyable for the both of us. i personally like it when i see someone on the street shooting. it makes me feel a certain bond with that photographer. now if he/she turns out to be a creep, that's not up to me to know at that time. i try to give people the benefit of the doubt about it.
 
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