Do you mean thid one?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ThnFxH]Cheeky[/url] by Greg Turner, on Flickr

I haven’t shared it on any newpaper site; I guess it’t not impossible for it to have been referenced by one but it’s unlikely and I wasn’t contacted about it.

And please tell me you weren’t peeking Pennywise style through a load of balloons?

I’m not sure what that means, but, for clarification, my aim with the photograph was the balloons and not the child.

If you look through my flickr feed you won’t find many photographs of kids but there are some, for example:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KFsqao]Grab 'n' Go[/url] by Greg Turner, on Flickr

Which is one of my favourite images I’ve taken and hangs on the walls of several friends.

Junky I understand your reasoning but it is exactly the same kind of reasoning as ‘racial profiling’ in police.

I understand why you want to side step the point and discuss something else but no it is not.

Shall I bring up some tangent not at all related – it seems to be the way to reply to relevant points these days on STW

Do you mean thid one?

Yeah Ive definitely seen it before, can’t remember where, my guess is somewhere on the mail online site. Someone owes you some dosh I think.

Unless you uploaded it on here earlier? maybe thats where i saw it

I’m not sure what that means, but, for clarification, my aim with the photograph was the balloons and not the child.

Not having a dig, just from the composition I pictured you standing close up to a group of balloons shooting past them, which might give the impression to onlookers that you were doing it surreptitiously. Hence the kid being in focus and the balloons not.

Obviously I can also see you could be standing further back and zoomed etc.

I understand why you want to side step the point and discuss something else but no it is not.

Let me explain what I meant.

99% of sexual offence crimes against children may be committed by men (I don’t know if that’s true or not but let’s agree that it’s very high).

But the percentage of men that committ those crimes is vanishingly small.

Racial proiling is based on the statistic that black men are responsible for significantly more violent crimes than white men, in particular knife and gun crime. This where stop and search came from; it’s based on the idea that because more black men commit these crimes than other racial groups, therefore being a member of that racial group means you’re more likely to commit those crimes.

That’s just not true, at least not to anything like a significant enough level to start racially profiling people.

Likewise the chances of me actually being what I was accused of are similary so remote that the ONLY reason one might leap to that concusion, is because of bias and prejudice.

My call out is on hypocrisy. You can’t be OK with someone making a vile assumption about my intention, and not be OK with racial profiling. It’s all based on the same logic even if it’s not the same thing.

Not having a dig,

Ah OK, no I didn’t think it was a dig, just wasn’t previously familiar with the term Penywise.

No I really was trying to compose something with the balloons. It’s a 50mm lens so I was no more than 1m from the pink balloon and 3m from the blue balloon.

It’s a crap picture though.

No I really was trying to compose something with the balloons. It’s a 50mm lens so I was no more than 1m from the pink balloon and 3m from the blue balloon..

In that case, you must be able to see how this might be interpreted wrongly as snapping a kid surreptitiously through the cover of a crowd of balloons. Might explain the ferocity of the reaction, at least, however unjustified it was.

If you had a small monkey on your shoulder you would have been ok, maybe wearing a waistcoat and a fez.

n that case, you must be able to see how this might be interpreted wrongly

Oh yes, I can and I did, which is why my immediate response was apologetic, sincere and humble. On the very few occassions where this situation arises, this diffuses the situation. It didn’t in this instance for all the reasons we’ve already covered.

Likewise the chances of me actually being what I was accused of are similary so remote that the ONLY reason one might leap to that concusion, is because of bias and prejudice.

I never said it was a sound decision to make I explained the reason for it and this has nothing to do with mens perceptions as carers and it has something to do with men being the sex offenders

WTAF is going on in the Cheeky photo? I can see alcohol is involved but suspect some other stimulants might also be involved. 😯

This has turned into STW at its worst! As far as I can see there are 2 questions:
1. Is there something objectively wrong with taking a photo of someone, large or small, in public?
2. Is it wise to do so, given that we live in Daily Mail-land?

My paedo credentials:

Arent Fairs just gathering ponts for halfwits?

I wouldnt go to one with under any circumstances.

What’s a gathering pont?

Arent Fairs just gathering ponts for halfwits?

I worked as a carnie for two months over the summer when I was 22. Admitedly it was in Del Mar, near San Diego but it was still the same ‘class’ of people you’re rather ignorantly referring to.

Honestly, those two months are in my top five life experiences and the people, if you care to spend some time with them, were (mostly) wonderful.

What’s a gathering pont?

A phrase for half-wits.

where the chosen ones go on the coming of the lord/apocalypse?

Its similar to a ‘point’ especially if you haven’t got your reading specs and are writing on a phone.

Only pedant knobs get bothered by the difference usually.

Ooooh….sensitive wee snowflake.

Arent Fairs just gathering ponts for halfwits?

I wouldnt go to one with under any circumstances.

Proximity of **** to bollocks; often a good thing, not in this case 🙂

The original incident sounded very much like a bunch of pack animals behaving, well, like pack animals.

I doubt it was really your actions that stirred them up, OP, trying to reason with baying mouth-breathers will only have enraged them further as they probably didn’t understand you if you used any long words.

They’re just projecting their own neuroses on to an easy target, but are too thick to realise.

I get dragged to our local fair every year and I hate it. Feral kids running everywhere effing and blinding, getting ripped off at every turn and being jostled left right and centre.

Cultural heritage? You can stick it up your arse.

Ooooh….sensitive wee snowflake

Cough….to the fair halfwit.

I’d have probably taken pics somewhere else other than a fair. Might have been more acceptable had you had children with you.

There was a fair in Victoria Park, Bath, last year, which prompted me to take a few photos, but it was mid-morning, it was cloudy and dull, with nobody around but those doing maintenance so I thought I’d go back later if the weather cleared.
Glad I did, it was fantastic, there were loads of people about, and the rides were made for taking photos!
Like most of the people there, I was using my phone, because it was unexpected and I don’t habitually carry my compact camera, but there were people there with ‘real’ cameras, and nobody seemed to much give a shit.

Some interesting (and not so interesting) points of view in this thread. IMO there is a big difference between being the focal point of a photo and just being captured in a photo. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any family member being the first without permission, I am not sure if it is an invasion of privacy thing or something else but it just doesn’t sit comfortably with me and I’m struggling to work out why.

I am not sure if it is an invasion of privacy thing or something else but it just doesn’t sit comfortably with me and I’m struggling to work out why.

It’s really worth wrestling with it to come up with an answer. There’s a good chance it’s the product of some underlying bias or fear, perhaps not entirely unreasonably and I’m not suggesting it’s specific to you. I encounter the issue a lot and I think it has a lot more to do with the nature of our society now.

Think of it like this; every day you walk down the street you are already being photographed without your knowledge or consent. Like it or not, surveillance has become an every day part of our lives that most of us don’t think too much about. But see someone pointing a camera at you and that apathy changes, often quite dramatically.

It’s illogical, but it is real and it’s interesting, or at least it is to me which is why I do what I do (though bear in mind most of my work is done entirely with consent).

That’s a peado in the 3rd pic, best send that to operation yewtree.

badnewz – Member

Yeah you probably shouldn’t go around photographing like that without asking parents permission.

just to point you don’t need anyones permission to take their photo in public wither they are a child or not.

geetee1972

Think of it like this; every day you walk down the street you are already being photographed without your knowledge or consent. Like it or not, surveillance has become an every day part of our lives that most of us don’t think too much about. But see someone pointing a camera at you and that apathy changes, often quite dramatically.

The thing about surveillance is that whilst we might not agree with it, we understand the point of it. Even if there is a security guard observing, generally the point is to monitor a set field of view for something out of the ordinary.

The fixed security camera doesn’t curate or discriminate. It merely documents. A photographer with a camera is functioning in the opposite way. They are making a conscious decision to take one snapshot, for whatever motive.

Most of us will agree that it’s acceptable to photograph a crowd scene, even if it contains children. It may well be fine to have a random child be the focus provided it’s not exploitative. But it’s impossible for a parent to know what the intentions of a complete stranger are.

poah
just to point you don’t need anyones permission to take their photo in public wither they are a child or not.

There are many rude or inconsiderate things you don’t need anyone’s permission to do which are also not illegal.

There are many rude or inconsiderate things you don’t need anyone’s permission to do which are also not illegal.

Is it rude to take a photo? How about to look at you? What if I write some notes about your appearance? Or mention you to my wife over dinner? All rude?

The thing about being in public is that you’re, you know, in public. Luckily for you, there is less and less space in the UK which is actually public, much of it being sold from under your feet to business, so you won’t have long to wait before there is actually no “public” left and your paranoia will find support from the rentacops patrolling the streets.

Many folk dont like their photo being taken

this will only be exacerbated by a person they dont know doing it in public without consent

As a photographer how you wish to deal with this is your choice but you know it will happen

Is it rude I dont really know but i think most folk would get annoyed if someone followed them everywhere taking photos so i guess the only question is where is the line.

To save me getting grief I dont mind I simply understand that some folk do and we all would if it became “intrusive”
I guess the real point is what is intrusive and what is ok. the answer will vary as this thread shows.

Probably around the same point as the difference between a look and a stare.

Difficult situation and not one that I would put myself in, but I love a candid street shot and have a lot of respect for those that take them (I failed miserably on the street shot module of a college photography course.. I didn’t have the balls for it)

Your best reaction would have been to show them some of your shots in good grace and offer to delete anything relevant to them that they objected to. If this didn’t diffuse the situation then steadfastly demand police involvement.. I don’t imagine any right-minded paedo wanting the police looking at the contents of their camera and it would have proved your innocence to the Jeremy Kyle mob.

Wierd that you didn’t tbh but probably incredibly hard to remain reasonable, calm and friendly in that situation though..
You’re gonna havta work on your conflict management charm offensive if you wanna keep putting yourself out there like that

Many folk dont like their photo being taken

People do lots of stuff I don’t like, but I don’t go round threatening to punch them. If you get upset by other people doing things, go live on a desert island.

Bit late to the thread, but those women are the sort that watch Eastenders, Jeremy Kyle and the like – they expect life to give them these dramas, and part of them goes looking for it to revel in it. I know people like this.
Sad for you to have bumped into them and encountered their stupidity in this way.

People do lots of stuff I don’t like, but I don’t go round threatening to punch them.

Glad to hear it whoever said this was a suitable response will feel foolish now – who said this?

If you get upset by other people doing things, go live on a desert island.

you are right not only is it the only choice its the sensible one 😕

Just out of interest GeeTee, which town was this ?
Reason I ask is that there a couple of towns nearby with fairs at the moment and wondering if it might have been one of those.

horrible situation Greg, and I agree – it’s sad that society now has this in built fear of people doing completely innocent things.

The more I thought about this, the angrier it made me so if I were you I wouldn’t let it lie. I haven’t read all of the thread, so someone else might have suggested similar, but I’d go back. I’d take my wife and I’d go around making it so bloody obvious that I was taking photos of the general atmosphere of the fun fair and being the most artsy, considered photographer around. Now some might argue that this is because I’m an obstinate bugger (and they’d be right), but I value the freedom to do what we want, where we want (within reason), and I don’t want some jumped up mums getting all agro on me and stopping that.

I’m not saying you’re wrong for walking away (far from it), but I don’t think I’d be able to let it rest.

Just out of interest GeeTee, which town was this ?

Horsham in West Sussex.

Probably Crawley scumbags visiting then…

Ps. Crawley Scumbag here

Most of us will agree that it’s acceptable to photograph a crowd scene, even if it contains children. It may well be fine to have a random child be the focus provided it’s not exploitative. But it’s impossible for a parent to know what the intentions of a complete stranger are.

A couple of genuine questions, not just for you.

What do you think the chances are that someone photographing a crowd scene is a paedophile and will use those images for some paedophilic purpose.

Suppose it does happen, what do you think the outcome will be?

@spin – I think the answers are evidently
a) approximately zero
b) nothing