Originally posted by Fenwoodian Have you experienced such in your face demands for money? Have you noticed it's easier to take photos with smartphones than serious cameras?
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Kind of.
In 2014 I was sitting in a truck stop in Blacksburg, South Carolina resetting my hours, and decided to bobtail to Shelby, North Carolina to the store for groceries. Along the way I passed a huge junk yard full of old cars, and though I would stop and shoot a few from the road.
As I was walking along the county road, composing and shooting, a guy drove by, stopped, and approached me. He demanded I pay him for the privilege of taking photos of his junk cars. Apparently he was the owner of the junk yard.
There were no fences, and no signage concerning photography, or even trespassing.
I politely told him I was free to do as I pleased from a public road, and had no intention of paying him to photograph his junk.
What followed was a long conversation, and soon it was dark and I told him I had to get back to my trailer and load, and prepare for the next day. We ultimately had a nic talk, and he gave me his number, inviting me to get in touch the next time I passed through, and we could get together and have a beer.
A couple of the images I made that day: