Dangers of photography

15 October

Yesterday was fun-ish; I finally managed to get out on me scooter for a few hours. First place I went to was Waterstones for the new Peter James novel. Released yesterday The House On Cold Hill is shaping up to just as good as all his others. I also bought another book for half price; We have Always Lived in the Castle, is a Shirley Jackson novel that Penguin have re-realised in their Penguin Classics series. The assistant recommended it so I hope I enjoy that one too.

Next stop was Iceland, then on to the 99p store, WH Smiths, Poundland and finally the Willy White for a pint of diet coke. Yesterday was market day and I used to love going down there and taking loads of photos of people enjoying their days shopping. The words ‘I used to’ are they key here. Yesterday I didn’t take even one. The reason is that I just didn’t feel at all comfortable doing so yesterday. Normally I don’t have any problems with it, but on a Facebook group I was part of (I left it the other day), I posted 10 such shots from the market this last year. And one of the other users made quite plain that she angry and upset over it and began making snide comments on every comment I posted after that. I can’t be arsed with such people these days so I left the group. But the effect is still there, hence no photos.

There are far too many people like that all over the country, and all over the country I have pointed my lens at people. Yet this is the first time I have been challenged in such a nasty manor. There is far too much suspicion of people with cameras these; note, I said cameras, not camera-phones, they seem to be accepted. But anyone with a real camera, especially a DSLR are likely to be challenged.

Security staff are the most likely to complain and that has happened once, but was quickly sorted out. The fear of paedos is another issue people worry about. While in Smiths yesterday I bought a copy of Computeractive for the first time in few months. In their news pages they mention that Paedos are again at it and are stealing kid’s photos off Facebook and hiding their twisted photos within a mass of kid’s photos. They use different group names, like Kids Playing on the Beach, Kids in a Park … So again the finger will be pointed at DSLR users over this one.

What keeps getting forgotten is smart phone/camera phone use. There are now so many people taking photos of all sorts of subjects with their devices, can you think of a better way to hide your activities if you are up to no good? I certainly can’t. Whether a person is a paedo or terrorist you would hidden by all those around you doing exactly the same. Of course there are times where you are not allowed to take photos, with any device. Privately owned property and police/government buildings and so are just a few of them. But even so, if you are on public roads or land, you may take photos of them, but maybe A little common sense needs to be applied here and there.

Are there any subjects which are off limits to me and my lens? Yes, there are. I can’t stand the need of some people to photography crash scenes and victims. Perhaps it’s the possibility of earning money from them that makes them do that. Kids of course, especially if they are by themselves. Any place of object that might be military sensitive; but there again I am an ex-solider so I would be expected to respect such subjects. And there is one thing I don’t do, and that is making degrading comments on my titles/photo comments. That way I keep myself clear of any legal measures being taken against me.

One of the comments being made in that group was about asking permission to take photos when they include people. Sounds great eh? But can you see it ever happening … no. me neither. Today’s photo … 

Taken of the pier and beach at Cleethorpes shows the impossibility of doing that. That idea is to get a snap of an instant in time, and that is what happened with this shot.

Today’s funny …

Well, Your Honor, I really didn't mean to get into a fight with the driver of the car I ran into the other day. I was rear-ended, which caused me to rear-end the car in front of me. The driver, whom you can see is a dwarf, approached aggressively after the accident yelling, "I am NOT happy."

I decided that I would try to lighten things up and answered, "OK, I can see that, but then which one are you?" That's when the fight started.