Stranger With A Camera

It all started because I wanted to take a photo … this photo of an old bell:

Blogging is one of my hobbies, and photography is another. I enjoy taking photos, and I’ve recently started posting some of them online. I like a photo to be art-worthy if I can make it so; not just an ordinary snapshot but a photo that is pretty, or one that might have meaning to someone who sees it. That’s the goal, at least. I thought the old bell mounted on a post in front of a tree would make a good picture. So I took the shot. As luck would have it, the time of day was late and there wasn’t enough light to bring out the colors, so a couple days later, after a busy morning going here and there, I decided to walk across the park and take another photo in better light. And I did. I walked across the park and up to the sidewalk across the street from the bell, and I shot another photo. There were several kids playing on the sidewalk nearby. I didn’t pay much attention to them; after all, it’s a public park with a playground, so kids are there all the time.

As I turned to leave, I saw a young woman approaching from down the block, walking very fast. She was carrying something, which turned out to be a Chihauhua. The trees in the park were in bloom, so I thought I would try my luck at getting some good photos of the blossoms. As I was walking away, the woman got close enough that I could hear her talking. She was saying something to the children about the dangers of letting strangers talk to them, or take pictures of them … I was catching every fourth word so it wasn’t clear exactly what she was saying, but it was clear that she was talking about me and it was clear that it wasn’t nice. So I thought, maybe I can show her and the kids that because someone is a stranger, that doesn’t automatically mean they are dangerous.

So I went back and in my friendliest voice I said, “Hi. What’s your dog’s name?” The woman said, “Peanut.”

She wanted to know why I was taking pictures of the kids. I said, “I didn’t take pictures of the kids, I took a picture of that old bell.” And I pointed across the street.

She wanted to know why I was taking pictures, and I told her that I like to take pictures, and I asked her if she had heard of Flickr. She said she had. I told her that I like to take pictures and put them online for people to enjoy.

I asked, “Can I take a picture of Peanut?”

The woman seemed to think about it and then said, “Okay.”

I sat down on a little brick wall and the woman put her dog beside me on the wall so I could take a picture. But every time she let go of the dog, it tried to scramble away and she had to grab it again. After several attempts, it was obvious the dog was too excited to sit still, and I said, “This isn’t going to work. Maybe you could hold the dog and I’ll take a picture that way.”

The woman said “No. First you take pictures of children, now you want to take pictures of women.” She went on, more to herself than me, I think.

My own opinion is that it would have made a good photo, but I could see she was in no mood to be friendly or listen to my explanations, so I got up to leave. She had some parting words for me, in which she expressed that she was uncomfortable with me having a camera and demanded that I put the camera away when I was in her presence. She said she was going to get her husband. My parting words were, “You’re paranoid.”

Neither of us came away looking our best. I’m sure she was worried about her kids (I’m assuming they were her kids) and didn’t understand what I was doing there, and she probably was assuming the worst, whatever that might have been.

Now, the fact of the matter is, it’s as legal to carry a camera as a bottle of soda or a backpack or a Chihuahua. And if you and I are both in a public park or  street, I can legally take your picture and you can legally take my picture. That’s the law. 

What I do with your picture is a different matter. If I sell your picture or otherwise make money off it, without your permission, you may be entitled to compensation. In America, people are still allowed to take pictures in the park.

I walked around the park and took more photos of buds blossoming on trees. The entire time I was taking photos in the park, I could hear her ranting about me taking pictures. Finally I left the park and walked across the street to another house with flowers in hanging baskets in the yard. I started to take pictures of those, but realized they were silk flowers.

I walked on up the street. I passed the house where she stood in the backyard with several other adults, and I could still hear her ranting about me taking pictures. The very next day, I was notified that a neighborhood watch meeting was being called. Coincidence?

It’s too bad her world is one where a man with a camera represents a greater threat than a man carrying a gun on his hip. But that’s her world. It’s not my world, not yet, so when her world met my world, there was a collision. To her, I was a threat. To me, I’m a citizen in the park taking pictures of an old bell and pretty blossoms and minding my own business.

If you’d like to see some of my pictures, you can find them here. (Click on the first photo, top left, to see it full size. Then click the arrow to go to the next picture.) If you think a photo is inappropriate, be sure to leave a comment.