Serious Street Photography - IMAGES

Fujifilm XF 18mm f/2 Lens X-Pro1

06/16/2009 06:33:18 PM · #177

nixter

Fujifilm X-Pro 1

06/17/2009 01:22:41 AM · #178

06/17/2009 01:56:48 AM · #179

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

06/17/2009 04:00:36 AM · #180

Message edited by author 2009-06-17 04:33:22.

bnilesh

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

06/17/2009 04:11:23 AM · #181

LevT

Olympus OM-1

06/17/2009 05:01:14 PM · #182

sorry for the long post, but I think it is relevant for this thread... just wanted to share a rather horrible incident which happened with me today...

I was riding a bus back home from a university in Marseille which I am visiting at the moment, and there was a picturesque dreamy little girl sitting on one of the chairs. Not thinking much, I did what I like to do in cases like this, I pulled my little camera (Ricoh) and proceeded to take a surreptitious photo of her. Just a few moments later, a stocky man (apparently her father) jumps at me screaming something in French (which I don't really understand) and tries to yank my camera. I am trying to hold on to it and attempt to apologize in French in the meantime, but he just becomes more and more agitated and keeps trying to twist the camera off my hand. Then the matter deteriorated quickly from there, as a bunch of teenagers who happened to ride this bus, came to help the guy and tried to wrestle me. It started to look pretty bad - I was alone against a good dozen of people with no help in sight and no language to try to talk my way out of it. I was feeling with some real horror that somebody was trying to pull the backpack off my shoulders - that would be REALLY bad since I have my work laptop and some other important stuff there. But then (thanks God and the bus driver who apparently called the police on his radio!) the bus stopped and four policemen came in and pulled me out. No, they did not let me go (not right away, I mean), but being detained by police even with a language barrier was a whole lot better than facing the "lynching mob". After some 20 min during which I was thoroughly searched, my camera and laptop inspected very closely and my name and address taken, they finally let me go. Apparently I was able to convince them that I was a "professeur" and not a pedophile :). Still, if I understood them correctly, they informed me that I do not have a right to photograph people on the street without their consent, even less so little girls, that it is against the French law. Well, I doubt that it is true given the glorious history of French street photography (Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, Doisineau, others), but I have no desire to research this issue. I am just happy that I escaped relatively unscathed... I don't know if there is any lesson here for street photographers rather than just be very careful as to where and what are you shooting, doubly so in an unfamiliar environment.

Oh, and the photo which caused all this stress - here it is without any edit. In the hindsight, I am not sure it was worth the trouble :)

Message edited by author 2009-06-17 17:23:15.

citymars

Nikon D700

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

06/17/2009 05:18:53 PM · #183

... perv.

Just kidding. Sorry about the incident, it sounds frightening.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

06/17/2009 05:35:20 PM · #184

Ooof...what a distressing experience, I'm sorry you went through it Lev and happy you got out of it.

I was thinking the other day that street photography today probably lends itself to angrier reactions as compared to other eras... The accessibility to the much much greater public of photos uploaded to the net, shady sites and so on people I wager are more likely to react the way the man did as compared to the past...

Message edited by author 2009-06-17 17:35:45.

cujee

Canon EOS-30D

06/17/2009 05:57:36 PM · #185

=S That's pretty scary. When I went downtown to take some street photographs I took a picture of a disheveled man sleeping on a park bench, as I was about to take the shutter he woke up and looked at me. He didn't say or do anything, except he just kinda fell back to sleep. I think it was because I was just a kid, but I'm sure when i'm older, street photography will be a lot harder.

Message edited by author 2009-06-17 17:58:00.

bvy

Sigma DP1x

06/17/2009 05:57:54 PM · #186

Your reality is my nightmare, Lev. I'm sorry to hear about but happy to hear you escaped unscathed. I try to be discrete and stay in open places. Ironically, the only encounter I've ever had came the day after I watched the Bruce Gilden video on YouTube. I guess I was feeling empowered. In my case it was more comical and defused quickly. It was some older folks who I've seen loitering around before. They did pursue me briefly, but I convinced them I was shooting a building and they just happened to be in the way.

06/17/2009 08:11:32 PM · #187

and this is why i am buying a 100mm prime for candid stuff rather than my 50mm...

bvy

Sigma DP1x

06/17/2009 08:52:16 PM · #188

Fujifilm XF 18mm f/2 Lens X-Pro1

06/17/2009 10:22:39 PM · #189

probly too many shots again, but as usual i didnt want to leave any out, sorry guys.

nixter

Fujifilm X-Pro 1

06/17/2009 10:40:15 PM · #190

Originally posted by LevT:

sorry for the long post, but I think it is relevant for this thread... just wanted to share a rather horrible incident which happened with me today...

Wow, that's sounds scary, sorry to hear that Lev.
I rarely take photo's of kids for that reason.
It's a shame the world has gone that way, cause they're missing out on some wonderful images.

I wonder if you had been female, would it have made a difference?!

tph1

Fujifilm X-T1

Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS

06/18/2009 12:14:31 PM · #191

pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

06/18/2009 12:46:48 PM · #192

Originally posted by LevT:

I doubt that it is true given the glorious history of French street photography (Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, Doisineau, others), but I have no desire to research this issue. I am just happy that I escaped relatively unscathed... I don't know if there is any lesson here for street photographers rather than just be very careful as to where and what are you shooting, doubly so in an unfamiliar environment.

I don't believe it's illegal to take pictures of strangers but I do believe they own the rights to how the image gets used.

Marseilles is probably more North African then French these days. I passed through back in '85 and the place was loaded with Algerians, Tunisians, Moroccans and people from the Ivory Coast so culturally speaking it hardly resembled France. I assume it's the same today if not more pronounced.

When I was shooting in Paris two years back I wanted to get some pictures of prostitutes on Rue St. Denis but was very careful and found out that some tourists had been stabbed to death by a swarm of North Africans only weeks before for taking pictures. Nobody was arrested and from what I understood 8-9 men came at her from different directions. Apparently they do a lot of shady business on that street and the working girls don't want to be seen doing their thing by anyone at home so taking photographs is risky business.

Taking pictures of little children is risky business anywhere but that girl doesn't look like a French native so you walked into a hornets nest.

Glad you're ok. Could have been worse.

Message edited by author 2009-06-18 12:47:25.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

06/18/2009 12:59:32 PM · #193

Dang, Lev. That'll teach you try to be surreptitious. Next time just break out the dSLR and loudly proclaim you work for National Geographic, maybe? Seriously, though, that is one thing that I do think about, since I do wander about on my own, and at least while I'm here, I don't speak the languages. Germany isn't nearly as bad about taking pictures of strangers - even kids - and I do think it helps that I'm female (and small and old.)

VERY glad you're OK. One of those times it's nice to get police attention.

tnun

Ricoh GR III

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

06/18/2009 01:40:57 PM · #194

Very scary, and yes we all think about it. I quite like the picture: a modern odalisque/Lolita with backpack; background pleasingly filtered by the bus window at an angle. Yes, Lolita, though I do think pornography is primarily in the eye of the beholder. And yes, Marseille has always been a rough place, and yes, you were very very lucky.

cujee

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

06/18/2009 01:58:18 PM · #195

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

06/18/2009 04:15:30 PM · #196

I thought I would post one of two pictures for which I was yelled at in light of Lev's experience...

This man yelled something from the bible and asked me quite angrily if I believe in God and something about who I would I want to save me in a burning building...I tried to have a dialogue but he was way too impassioned.... Then when I walked away he stood yelling stuff at me very much in the way Samuel L. Jackson did in pulp fiction.

Message edited by author 2009-06-18 16:17:05.

LevT

Olympus OM-1

06/18/2009 06:11:43 PM · #197

thank you friends for your kind words! I still cannot believe my luck in getting into this situation, and even more in getting out of it. My body is a bit sore after the tussle, but otherwise I am fine.

pawdrix and

tnun are absolutely right - French have long been saying that "Africa begins in Marseille," and now it's more so than ever. And indeed Marseille has a special distinction as the most rough among the French cities. On the plus side, it does bring you a lot of interesting photo ops... LOL.

OK, enough of that. Back to our regular programming

bvy

Sigma DP1x

06/18/2009 10:15:54 PM · #198

PennyStreet

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 17mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko

06/18/2009 10:49:54 PM · #199