Originally posted by JHfwp The award is awesome. Congrats on that and, more importantly, congrats on doing a "truly "good" deed.
My point was that this woman obviously felt her privacy had been violated by you taking her picture. Sharing the photo, and then commenting on it, I'm guessing would be seen as an even bigger violation of her privacy.
I don't think you needed to post the photo to tell the story here. And frankly, knowing she was uncomfortable, I would have deleted it out of courtesy. Doing so probably would have saved you quite a bit of trouble.
Thanks, the award is one of several I have acquired over the years. I never asked for that level of recognition, in fact I would have preferred in each case to have been left out of the news and pomp. I was uncomfortable with the notoriety, and the public recounting of the events. However I was not asked if I wanted to be involved in the events celebrating my actions, the news articles, my picture in the paper, etc. etc. Much as that girl in my photo was not asked. Nor does it matter. It did not matter when my face and story was plastered in published accounts, and it does not matter in this case.
I have been involved in many situations where I stepped up, took care of matters, and then walked away, without ever being recognized, or required by the public to engage in award ceremonies, television and newspaper accounts, etc.
I understand that people here do NOT know me, and express doubt about my intentions, motives and behavior. I accept that. But with my own understanding of myself, my attitude, is, yeah, whatever.
Deleting that photo, hmm. I wonder if you would be so sanguine about the philosophy you express, if you were confronted by someone demanding that you delete photos from your camera?
Let's assume that I did delete those photos, and I made certain that the girl knew I had deleted those. Would you agree that she now has some privilege of inspecting ALL of the photos on my camera, to be certain that I had not managed to sneak in other photos, before she was aware that I did take her picture? If I then refused to show her ALL my photos, would that increase or decrease the "trouble" that I encountered?
If I had deleted the photos, and she was not aware that I had, how would that have decreased my troubles??
If I had agreed to delete my photos of her, would that not have supported her mistaken belief that I have no right to take pictures of people and places in a public setting? Would not that have supported her mistaken suspicion that I was some kind of stalker creep, rather than merely a mundane guy minding my own business, taking pictures in a legal manner?
After some thought, I considered that perhaps I should have offered to let her see the pictures I had taken. Of not only her, but the scenics and other pics I had taken that day.
But after considering her attitude and demeanor, I am convinced that she would have become physical, and try to take my camera, to delete those herself, or to damage my camera. I can see that turning into a violent confrontation, rather than a misunderstanding about legality.