street photography + harassment...

[Calzone]

Part of the fun of shooting street is anything can happen. In Queens Plaza someone thought my camera was a gun from across the street and backed away from me. Also in a remote industrial area in Queens Plaza I was mistaken for a cop by a truck driver who had called 911; he thought my light meter hanging from my neck was a badgeholder, but numerous times I get approached and asked if I'm a working pro.

Once on East 116th Street with JSRocket (John) this tough looking guy wearing a black leather vest singles out John and I and yells to us, "You two, come over here."

John and I were just kinda walking along and were not actively photographing, but when we walked over the next question was, "What are you guys doing here?"

John being a rather big white guy with a shaved head that kinda stood out in El Barrio, and me being a skinny Chinese guy with a ponytail didn't really fit in even though I had just moved into the neiborhood.

Anyways we ended up getting to know this nieborhood vigilante and his friend. The neiborhood protector allegidly was in prison for 17 years, but he told a story of breaking up robbery with his bare hands, and saving someone on the subway who was having a stroke.

The most memorable background is that our friend was also a bounty hunter and allegidly he took down 17 men by running up to them and yelling, "You're the ******* who Fxxxed my wife" and taking them down using mixed martial arts.

BTW John helped diffuse any tension when he was asked if he was a cop. John's response was, "Just because I'm a white guy doesn't mean that I'm a cop." We all laughed hard. Later I got asked if I was wearing a wire, and I pulled up my shirt to show them I was not bugged. Seems like we stood out as being suspicous.

Cal

 

[Teuthida]

Use an iPhone. Nobody thinks youre taking pictures. Just think toure fiddling with your phone like every other person on the street. Problem solved.

 

[paulfish4570]

i'm glad i mostly photograph things instead of people ... 🙂

 

[jsolanzo]

This is the problem I don't want to happen. Which is why I rarely do street stuff. Maybe I'll start doing more street...

 

[EdwardKaraa]

John being a rather big white guy with a shaved head

That's a surprise! I always thought he looks like his avatar 🙂

 

[jsrockit]

That's a surprise! I always thought he looks like his avatar 🙂

Nah, that's just some Fujifilm executive. 😀

 

[Calzone]

That's a surprise! I always thought he looks like his avatar 🙂

Accually I look more like John's avatar. LOL.

In real life John's a kinda big guy though. Funny thing is that he likes small cameras, rarely shoots with a hood, and loves tiny lenses. Go figure.

Meanwhile although I'm 5' 10" I only weigh 155 pounds and I shoot big cameras that John calls monsters like a Nikon F3 with motordrive. Both my Leicas feature TA rapidgrips and TA Rapidwiders BTW.

Cal

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Nah, that's just some Fujifilm executive. 😀

I kind of suspected something like that 😀

It does make you look friendly though LOL

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Accually I look more like John's avatar. LOL.

In real life John's a kinda big guy though. Funny thing is that he likes small cameras, rarely shoots with a hood, and loves tiny lenses. Go figure.

Meanwhile although I'm 5' 10" I only weigh 155 pounds and I shoot big cameras that John calls monsters like a Nikon F3 with motordrive. Both my Leicas feature TA rapidgrips and TA Rapidwiders BTW.

Cal

Cal, you aren't exactly a small guy 🙂 I'm 5'7" and weight exactly like you 😉

I used to like big cameras too but small cameras have their charm. I can't imagine myself with a Canon 1Ds now that I experienced RFs.

 

[tjh]

i'm glad i mostly photograph things instead of people ... 🙂

I've been asked to stop taking pictures of things!

Tom

 

[Calzone]

I've been asked to stop taking pictures of things!

Tom

That's funny, but actually I got stopped by NYC police last September 11th because I was in a remote area of Queens that was kinda uninhabited carrying a Rolleiflex under the Long Island Expressway.

Was momentarily detained, but was first berated by a police sargent in front of a van load of his men before being released. Indirectly was being called an idiot, when the sargent repeated several times, "What were you thinking?"

I had told the sargent that I on purpose stayed out of Madhattan so the police could better do their job. I repeated several times, "I mean no harm," but he kept on belittling me.

Initially I was asked what I'm doing with a camera in such a remote area and my response was, "I'm trying to capture and photograph the sense of lonelyness and the surrounding abandonement with my camera." :angel:

Anyways thanks for the laugh.

Cal

 

[randolph45]

I was taking a short cut from where I was staying through an open field into the village when I came across some sheep of a variety I'd never seen being tended by an old woman.I raised my camera to photograph the sheep and not the woman and at that moment she raised her walking stick at me at let out a verbal assault in Serbian which I don't understand .I let the camera rest on the neck strap and raised my hands in surrender and walked away.First time I've ever been confronted like that.

 

[Calzone]

Cal, you aren't exactly a small guy 🙂 I'm 5'7" and weight exactly like you 😉

Accually only recently did I put an inch on my cheast by doing mucho push-ups, but in the past I have been often mistaken for a lanky girl from behind because I have narrow shoulders, especially when I wear my hair down.

Its kinda funny catching these guys driving by slow quickly turn their heads real fast when they see my arrogant chin beard and moustache, after they thought I had a really cute butt. LOL.

Anyways since I bought Leicas the extra upper body strength sends out a pretty strong message. Now I don't get mistaken for a girl anymore.

Cal

 

[tstermitz]

I have a different perspective on eye contact. This is culturally specific.

I know in latin cultures, everybody is always checking each other out. Open the door to a restaurant or subway car and everyone looks up, gives a slight nod (or not), and goes back to their business. It is a way of saying "I'm here; everything's cool". In the US (white?) people may glance at a stranger, but it is more furtive, almost like "I don't want to connect." Or weirdly guilty.

In addition, the comfortable distance is different for different cultures. I walk by a crowd of mexican construction workers. There is a certain distance, closer than my culture, where you catch their eye, give a nod, and you always get nods back. It's got to be really strange for someone from Latin America in the US: what a cold, aloof, unaware culture.

 

[Calzone]

I was taking a short cut from where I was staying through an open field into the village when I came across some sheep of a variety I'd never seen being tended by an old woman.I raised my camera to photograph the sheep and not the woman and at that moment she raised her walking stick at me at let out a verbal assault in Serbian which I don't understand .I let the camera rest on the neck strap and raised my hands in surrender and walked away.First time I've ever been confronted like that.

Been shooting a lot in the South Bronx, never alone. We really avoid confrontation by not shooting people. When someone is going to walk into my shot I point my camera down and respectfully wait for them to pass.

Because in these areas we stand out as outsiders who don't belong, there have been many-many times where strangers approach us in very friendly manners, giving us insights to the area, telling stories, or even asking us to take their pictures.

We also get lots of odd looks though because people wonder WTF are we doing.

Cal

 

[jsrockit]

In real life John's a kinda big guy though. Funny thing is that he likes small cameras, rarely shoots with a hood, and loves tiny lenses. Go figure.

Yes, I'm 6' 11" tall, 400lbs, and only use minox cameras... 😀 Ok, maybe not.

 

[Calzone]

Yes, I'm 6' 11" tall, 400lbs, and only use minox cameras... 😀 Ok, maybe not.

John and I make fun of each other and ourselves all the time. Mostly we laugh a lot, but mostly at ourselves. LOL.

Cal

 

[kdemas]

The biggest a-holes I run into are some of the older musicians in the subway. Raise a camera and you hear "no no no, not until you pay". Got that this morning and the funny thing is I always give these guys a little dough, not this tool.

 

[chanyung]

Act like a foreigner that doesn't speak English and say a phrase in a different langauge that seems to work.

 

[goamules]

I have a different perspective on eye contact. This is culturally specific.

I know in latin cultures, everybody is always checking each other out. Open the door to a restaurant or subway car and everyone looks up, gives a slight nod (or not), and goes back to their business. It is a way of saying "I'm here; everything's cool". In the US (white?) people may glance at a stranger, but it is more furtive, almost like "I don't want to connect." Or weirdly guilty.

In addition, the comfortable distance is different for different cultures. I walk by a crowd of mexican construction workers. There is a certain distance, closer than my culture, where you catch their eye, give a nod, and you always get nods back. It's got to be really strange for someone from Latin America in the US: what a cold, aloof, unaware culture.

Try walking around getting everyone's eye in south Tucson, Phoenix, Albuquerque, or come to think of it, with locals in Hawaii. Heaven forbid in Juarez or somewhere close to the border. Good way to get in a fight, or shot at, as many of my friends learned when we were younger. Western culture doesn't stare someone down in the US, France, or the UK because it's polite not to. Neither is it in Japan. In other words, you give people some space and let them have some privacy. The latin culture is based on machismo, and that involves sizing everyone up. Among men that is. The women in these cultures are even more coy than anglo women, and no matter how hard you try, you're not going to catch their eye walking down the street. What you take as friendly eye contact and a nod might just be a check that you aren't going to open fire or be fired upon right then. A truce.