Out with a camera and often get heckled

mee · 01-17-2015, 02:39 PM

Anyone else experience this? I'm out with my camera (K-5II with 18-135 WR), walking down the sidewalk not pointing the camera at anyone with my back turned to traffic, and I get people driving down the road on same side who yell stuff at me from their passing cars. Plus honking horns.. It seems to happen nearly every time I'm out with my camera in public - be it city or more rural locations.

Last spring, I was taking photos of flower blooms in a small, rural park without many visitors and some lady in a pickup truck started screaming and yelling stuff about how I shouldn't be taking photos here as she sped off.

Mostly the people just say 'hey take a picture' or yell 'HEY!@#!!@#' though. Not in a friendly way but mostly to try to scare me it seems. The guy in the diesel pickup today with the train airhorns succeeded.

I have anxiety about loud noises and being out in public so it's not helping haha.

What is with people? I surely don't look menacing and actually go out of my way not to photograph people. Yet I get harassed so often out there. It makes me appreciate my first photo passion, landscapes, even more.

**gofour3** · 01-17-2015, 02:43 PM

Originally posted by mee

Anyone else experience this? I'm out with my camera (K-5II with 18-135 WR), walking down the sidewalk not pointing the camera at anyone with my back turned to traffic, and I get people driving down the road on same side who yell stuff at me from their passing cars. Plus honking horns.. It seems to happen nearly every time I'm out with my camera in public - be it city or more rural locations.

Last spring, I was taking photos of flower blooms in a small, rural park without many visitors and some lady in a pickup truck started screaming and yelling stuff about how I shouldn't be taking photos here as she sped off.

Mostly the people just say 'hey take a picture' or yell 'HEY!@#!!@#' though. Not in a friendly way but mostly to try to scare me it seems. The guy in the diesel pickup today with the train airhorns succeeded.

I have anxiety about loud noises and being out in public so it's not helping haha.

What is with people? I surely don't look menacing and actually go out of my way not to photograph people. Yet I get harassed so often out there. It makes me appreciate my first photo passion, landscapes, even more.

That's not good, where do you live? No issues here in Vancouver, I mostly just get smiles when out with one of my Pentax film cameras.

Phil.

**wtlwdwgn** · 01-17-2015, 02:45 PM

Maybe it's time to move to a nicer town.

Seriously, I haven't had that happen at least not yet. Yikes!

r0ckstarr · 01-17-2015, 02:51 PM

One time I had the viewfinder up to my eye and was in the process of taking a picture. Some guy nearby called out "Your lens cap is on!". Clearly, I knew he was wrong and just ignored him.

At car shows, I get a lot of people asking me if I work for a magazine, or what magazine will their car be in.

VisualDarkness · 01-17-2015, 02:51 PM - **1 Like**

Never once have i faced what you are facing. Sometimes (mostly when drunk) some react and say something to me like "Are you from a newspaper?" and I just answer friendly and they walk away happy.
The one problem I face is when shooting with my Voigtländer Bergheil is that, while being friendly, people tend to distract my shooting when coming over to look at my camera and it makes me mess something up in the procedure. But the camera is like a magnet for interesting conversation and "nice camera" shouts and the stories I get to hear makes it worth the messed up pics.

Here in Sweden people tend to not say anything at all to strangers instead.

mee · 01-17-2015, 02:54 PM

I'm in Tennessee. There can be strange folks. This one guy in the passenger side today yelled 'BOW' or something like it reallly loudly as he passed by me... then he got caught in traffic and I ended up passing him on the sidewalk.. so he started yelling 'hey take a picture, mane. take a picture. take a picture etc etc etc' so I took his picture. Then thought.. if he was crazy enough to do all of that he is probably crazy enough to stop and attack. So I think, in the future, I will just smile friendly and wave or something.

Docrwm · 01-17-2015, 02:59 PM - **1 Like**

Never had that problem. It helps being 6'3" and "big boned" I guess.

MadMathMind · 01-17-2015, 03:08 PM

This has never happened to me. But I generally don't shoot many places where a few cameras wouldn't be expected (touristy areas, interesting locations in town, etc.). But even in those areas, I'd expect a comment or two when I pull out a big lens (monopod at the zoo, for example). Never a word. And I'm not 6'3" nor big boned nor large by any standard that doesn't involve comparing me to the people of impoverished nations.

VisualDarkness · 01-17-2015, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by Docrwm

Never had that problem. It helps being 6'3" and "big boned" I guess.

I'm a skinny 174cm 60kg guy and that isn't likely to be threatening to anybody!

Sandy Hancock · 01-17-2015, 03:33 PM - **1 Like**

Some people are just arseholes, and they become even moreso from the safety of their car.

We get the occasional tosser who thinks it's funny to yell out or honk as they drive past my archery club. One day, I would love the entire shooting line to turn around and aim at the offender....

I've never had this reaction while walking around with a camera though.

narual · 01-17-2015, 03:36 PM

Never run into anything like that, no. Usually the only comment I get is "are you with the paper?" or "nice camera" (which seems to depend solely on the size of the thing in my hand - I suspect if I took a crappy old thing, stuck a grip and a flash and a big telephoto lens on it I'd get the same comments -- when I'm using the camera with no flash, no grip, and a small prime lens, I almost never get any comments).

**Jacquot** · 01-17-2015, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by mee

I'm in Tennessee. There can be strange folks. This one guy in the passenger side today yelled 'BOW' or something like it reallly loudly as he passed by me... then he got caught in traffic and I ended up passing him on the sidewalk.. so he started yelling 'hey take a picture, mane. take a picture. take a picture etc etc etc' so I took his picture. Then thought.. if he was crazy enough to do all of that he is probably crazy enough to stop and attack. So I think, in the future, I will just smile friendly and wave or something.

Interesting, I'm from Nashville, and people take pictures there ALL the time. If you are in a rural area, there might be some residual attitudes that I certainly knew were strong a few decades ago. I haven't lived there for some time. Things have changed a very great deal since then. What is the context?

mee · 01-17-2015, 03:58 PM

Originally posted by Jacquot

Interesting, I'm from Nashville, and people take pictures there ALL the time. If you are in a rural area, there might be some residual attitudes that I certainly knew were strong a few decades ago. I haven't lived there for some time. Things have changed a very great deal since then. What is the context?

The context of the situation that causes people to yell things or honk? walking down the sidewalk not pointing the camera at anyone with my back turned to traffic was all of the events today... except the airhorns.. I had stopped with my back turned to traffic at the edge of an empty parking lot, photographing an abandoned building.

In all cases today my back was turned to them and they approached me.

The flowers in the park thing I was taking macroesque (really close up) photos of the flower blooms on some of the plants in the park on the edge of the parking lot. No person was in the images or at risk of being photographed.

Various beeps and honks at other places usually walking with or away from traffic a on sidewalk or 5-15 feet off of the sidewalk (further away from the road).

So, in all situations, there was no threat to the people acting like turkeys.

Actually, I had my tripod out once on the sidewalk near dusk, taking long exposures of traffic on a lightly used stretch of road in town and had a couple occurrences there. Only time I was really static and aimed at traffic.

Thankfully, Police have never ever bothered me. Even when I was camped out on the sidewalk with the tripod that time. They just drove by.

**gaweidert** · 01-17-2015, 04:55 PM

Jerks are everywhere. At my son's wedding the wedding party the photographer was taking photos outside the church. A car passed by with one of the occupants mooning the wedding party. I would have paid a lot of money to have had a paintball gun with me. One shot for each cheek and one dead center of mass.

promacjoe · 01-17-2015, 05:01 PM - **1 Like**

I've never had anything like that happen here. I live close to a major tourist town, and one thing that people around here don't want to do is mess with tourist. They bring in too much money. I've only heard of one incident when a tourist was being hassled by a police officer That was using a tripod. The tourist got a formal apology from the city, and the police officer got a formal education on the subject.

For me, the most that's ever happened is someone asked what I was shooting or if I was a professional. most people here are pretty tolerant of cameras. And won't hassle you.

01-17-2015, 02:39 PM	#1
mee Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7,403	Out with a camera and often get heckled Anyone else experience this? I'm out with my camera (K-5II with 18-135 WR), walking down the sidewalk not pointing the camera at anyone with my back turned to traffic, and I get people driving down the road on same side who yell stuff at me from their passing cars. Plus honking horns.. It seems to happen nearly every time I'm out with my camera in public - be it city or more rural locations. Last spring, I was taking photos of flower blooms in a small, rural park without many visitors and some lady in a pickup truck started screaming and yelling stuff about how I shouldn't be taking photos here as she sped off. Mostly the people just say 'hey take a picture' or yell 'HEY!@#!!@#' though. Not in a friendly way but mostly to try to scare me it seems. The guy in the diesel pickup today with the train airhorns succeeded. I have anxiety about loud noises and being out in public so it's not helping haha. What is with people? I surely don't look menacing and actually go out of my way not to photograph people. Yet I get harassed so often out there. It makes me appreciate my first photo passion, landscapes, even more.

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01-17-2015, 02:43 PM	#2
gofour3 Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 8,091	Originally posted by mee Anyone else experience this? I'm out with my camera (K-5II with 18-135 WR), walking down the sidewalk not pointing the camera at anyone with my back turned to traffic, and I get people driving down the road on same side who yell stuff at me from their passing cars. Plus honking horns.. It seems to happen nearly every time I'm out with my camera in public - be it city or more rural locations. Last spring, I was taking photos of flower blooms in a small, rural park without many visitors and some lady in a pickup truck started screaming and yelling stuff about how I shouldn't be taking photos here as she sped off. Mostly the people just say 'hey take a picture' or yell 'HEY!@#!!@#' though. Not in a friendly way but mostly to try to scare me it seems. The guy in the diesel pickup today with the train airhorns succeeded. I have anxiety about loud noises and being out in public so it's not helping haha. What is with people? I surely don't look menacing and actually go out of my way not to photograph people. Yet I get harassed so often out there. It makes me appreciate my first photo passion, landscapes, even more. That's not good, where do you live? No issues here in Vancouver, I mostly just get smiles when out with one of my Pentax film cameras. Phil.

01-17-2015, 02:45 PM	#3
wtlwdwgn Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Billings, MT Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,846	Maybe it's time to move to a nicer town. Seriously, I haven't had that happen at least not yet. Yikes!

01-17-2015, 02:51 PM	#4
r0ckstarr Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Texas Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,507	One time I had the viewfinder up to my eye and was in the process of taking a picture. Some guy nearby called out "Your lens cap is on!". Clearly, I knew he was wrong and just ignored him. At car shows, I get a lot of people asking me if I work for a magazine, or what magazine will their car be in.

01-17-2015, 02:51 PM - 1 Like	#5
VisualDarkness Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Uppsala, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,439	Never once have i faced what you are facing. Sometimes (mostly when drunk) some react and say something to me like "Are you from a newspaper?" and I just answer friendly and they walk away happy. The one problem I face is when shooting with my Voigtländer Bergheil is that, while being friendly, people tend to distract my shooting when coming over to look at my camera and it makes me mess something up in the procedure. But the camera is like a magnet for interesting conversation and "nice camera" shouts and the stories I get to hear makes it worth the messed up pics. Here in Sweden people tend to not say anything at all to strangers instead.

01-17-2015, 02:54 PM	#6
mee Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7,403 Original Poster	I'm in Tennessee. There can be strange folks. This one guy in the passenger side today yelled 'BOW' or something like it reallly loudly as he passed by me... then he got caught in traffic and I ended up passing him on the sidewalk.. so he started yelling 'hey take a picture, mane. take a picture. take a picture etc etc etc' so I took his picture. Then thought.. if he was crazy enough to do all of that he is probably crazy enough to stop and attack. So I think, in the future, I will just smile friendly and wave or something.

01-17-2015, 02:59 PM - 1 Like	#7
Docrwm Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Somewhere in the Southern US Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,285	Never had that problem. It helps being 6'3" and "big boned" I guess.

01-17-2015, 03:08 PM	#8
MadMathMind Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Houston, TX Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,717	This has never happened to me. But I generally don't shoot many places where a few cameras wouldn't be expected (touristy areas, interesting locations in town, etc.). But even in those areas, I'd expect a comment or two when I pull out a big lens (monopod at the zoo, for example). Never a word. And I'm not 6'3" nor big boned nor large by any standard that doesn't involve comparing me to the people of impoverished nations.

01-17-2015, 03:13 PM	#9
VisualDarkness Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Uppsala, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,439	Originally posted by Docrwm Never had that problem. It helps being 6'3" and "big boned" I guess. I'm a skinny 174cm 60kg guy and that isn't likely to be threatening to anybody!

01-17-2015, 03:33 PM - 1 Like	#10
Sandy Hancock Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Adelaide Hills, South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,272	Some people are just arseholes, and they become even moreso from the safety of their car. We get the occasional tosser who thinks it's funny to yell out or honk as they drive past my archery club. One day, I would love the entire shooting line to turn around and aim at the offender.... I've never had this reaction while walking around with a camera though.

01-17-2015, 03:36 PM	#11
narual Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: South Bend (Notre Dame), Indiana Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,988	Never run into anything like that, no. Usually the only comment I get is "are you with the paper?" or "nice camera" (which seems to depend solely on the size of the thing in my hand - I suspect if I took a crappy old thing, stuck a grip and a flash and a big telephoto lens on it I'd get the same comments -- when I'm using the camera with no flash, no grip, and a small prime lens, I almost never get any comments).

01-17-2015, 03:42 PM	#12
Jacquot Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sun City Center, FL Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,544	Originally posted by mee I'm in Tennessee. There can be strange folks. This one guy in the passenger side today yelled 'BOW' or something like it reallly loudly as he passed by me... then he got caught in traffic and I ended up passing him on the sidewalk.. so he started yelling 'hey take a picture, mane. take a picture. take a picture etc etc etc' so I took his picture. Then thought.. if he was crazy enough to do all of that he is probably crazy enough to stop and attack. So I think, in the future, I will just smile friendly and wave or something. Interesting, I'm from Nashville, and people take pictures there ALL the time. If you are in a rural area, there might be some residual attitudes that I certainly knew were strong a few decades ago. I haven't lived there for some time. Things have changed a very great deal since then. What is the context?

01-17-2015, 03:58 PM	#13
mee Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7,403 Original Poster	Originally posted by Jacquot Interesting, I'm from Nashville, and people take pictures there ALL the time. If you are in a rural area, there might be some residual attitudes that I certainly knew were strong a few decades ago. I haven't lived there for some time. Things have changed a very great deal since then. What is the context? The context of the situation that causes people to yell things or honk? walking down the sidewalk not pointing the camera at anyone with my back turned to traffic was all of the events today... except the airhorns.. I had stopped with my back turned to traffic at the edge of an empty parking lot, photographing an abandoned building. In all cases today my back was turned to them and they approached me. The flowers in the park thing I was taking macroesque (really close up) photos of the flower blooms on some of the plants in the park on the edge of the parking lot. No person was in the images or at risk of being photographed. Various beeps and honks at other places usually walking with or away from traffic a on sidewalk or 5-15 feet off of the sidewalk (further away from the road). So, in all situations, there was no threat to the people acting like turkeys. Actually, I had my tripod out once on the sidewalk near dusk, taking long exposures of traffic on a lightly used stretch of road in town and had a couple occurrences there. Only time I was really static and aimed at traffic. Thankfully, Police have never ever bothered me. Even when I was camped out on the sidewalk with the tripod that time. They just drove by.

01-17-2015, 04:55 PM	#14
gaweidert Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Rochester, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,325	Jerks are everywhere. At my son's wedding the wedding party the photographer was taking photos outside the church. A car passed by with one of the occupants mooning the wedding party. I would have paid a lot of money to have had a paintball gun with me. One shot for each cheek and one dead center of mass.

01-17-2015, 05:01 PM - 1 Like	#15
promacjoe Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 340	I've never had anything like that happen here. I live close to a major tourist town, and one thing that people around here don't want to do is mess with tourist. They bring in too much money. I've only heard of one incident when a tourist was being hassled by a police officer That was using a tripod. The tourist got a formal apology from the city, and the police officer got a formal education on the subject. For me, the most that's ever happened is someone asked what I was shooting or if I was a professional. most people here are pretty tolerant of cameras. And won't hassle you.