So that was a bust...

[jimd]

… or yet more reasons not to take a photo.

Bright sunny day thought I’d go to the seaside and make some beach portraits.
Car park full, this is promising - fish in a barrel.
Through a cut in the dunes and onto a wide open expanse of… empty beach.
People were there just few and very far between.
First few folks I met politely declined. Its amazing how self-conscious people get when confronted with a camera. That’s OK, I get it. I’m not gonna be that guy.
The other group of people I didn’t even approach. Families with kids. Really don’t wanna be that guy. Although I presume people like their kids, (don’t have any myself - love kids, couldn’t eat a whole one) and further presume people like having photos of their kids. I’m guessing they just don’t want to involve an old codger with a camera. (any parents out there with thoughts, opinions?)
Hot and sweaty with sand stuck between my toes I returned to the car with not a shutter clicked.

Aaanyhoo, heres some pretty flowers

[epeeist (Colin Walls)]

@jimd

First few folks I met politely declined.

One of the reasons I rarely do street photography any more, and generally restrict myself to events when I am photographing people.

The thing that gets me is that if you are taking photographs with a phone, nobody seems to be overly fussed about the chance of being in the picture. Get a real camera out and things can get a little sticky.

I keep a copy of the UK “Photographer’s Rights” documents with me, and am perfectly willing to show my images and delete them if requested.

[paperdigits (Mica)]

This is why all the landscape youtubers talk about enjoying the process, enjoying the scene in and of itself. If you get a good photo, that’s a plus. This is the winning mindset, I think.

I enjoy the process of looking for a photo, and even if I don’t get one, I enjoy looking none the less.

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

I travel a lot and different countries and different cultures have different views to being photographed. Morocco was more no than yes and then they probably expected to be paid. Japan was very much yes most of the time. That tends to be my experience in many Asian countries.

[jimd]

Yeah, deleting images a bit of an issue… sensor of choice is some Kodak Tri-X

[jimd]

ah no, I not complaining. Still enjoy the process. Its a bit of a giggle

[Thad_E_Ginathom]

My friend in Cornwall, UK is a photographer of insects, birds, landscapes, seascapes, beachscapes. I asked her about taking pics at the beach. I am English, but I had not been there for a while. She told me: "Absolutely do not photograph children."

OK, OK, so maybe some people might look at me and think, Whoa, creepy old-guy weirdo. I said, “Even you as a woman?” she confirmed. I might look like a weirdo (probably I’m actually the only one that actually thinks that) but she’s absolutely the respectable mum (now a grandmum) looker. Zero threat potential.

So all those jolly sandcastle builders and paddlers, unless they are our own, are off the photography menu.

Maybe stick to dogs.

In this country, people don’t seem to mind. It’s twenty years ago, but I remember two young women, at the zoo, telling my wife and I, "You are photographing monkeys: photograph us! We are prettier than monkeys! "

But I am still shy about street pics. And here in my now coutry, I am the one whose skin colour stands out in the crowd. And feeling that I am making myself look like a tourist makes me feel worse! (Maybe I should pretend to be a tourist).

So I stick to people playing music on the stage. Not only is the permission explicit (except for one or two who just don’t like it) but they welcome the pictures.

Seriously, I have read articles about what some of the real creepy weirdo monsters do with photographs of kids that make me wonder why any parent would document their child’s life on instagram.

Lovely flowers!

[epeeist (Colin Walls)]

Here is a picture I took in South Africa a few years back

It is a picture I really like. Would I want to take it again? Absolutely, but I would but a little more careful than last time.

I had a friend who, in similar circumstances, would sit at a table and set the camera up for the shot she wanted, but pointing at something else completely innocuous. She would then put the camera down on the table, pointed at what she really wanted to shoot and with a shutter delay switched on.

I have considered using Nikon SnapBridge. put the camera down and use a phone to actually take the picture, but it seems both limited and a bit of a faff.

So, yeah, stick to dogs and landscapes.

[Vente (Dávid 🦅)]

@epeeist

I have considered using Nikon SnapBridge. put the camera down and use a phone to actually take the picture, but it seems both limited and a bit of a faff.

Nikon SnapBridge is an app that gives me the impression that Nikon made it just so they could say they got an “app”.

With my D3500 it is almost useless. All I can do is download images and remotely press the shutter release, but with no camera settings whatsoever, the camera is completely locked and doesn’t allow you to change anything or even focus until disconnected. No idea about other models but this is a complete miss on the opportunities.

Camera Connect and Control app, on the other hand, is what SnapBridge c(sh)ould’ve been. It’s premium (10€ when you sucessfully connect the camera, I think), but boy does it feel like a proper remote control app. It even allows me to take exposure brackets, focus stacks, use intervalometer or precisely focus manually. It only works over a USB connection on D3500, but otherwise it works very well for being developped by a single dev

…the rant is over

[Vente (Dávid 🦅)]

@epeeist

I had a friend who, in similar circumstances, would sit at a table and set the camera up for the shot she wanted, but pointing at something else completely innocuous. She would then put the camera down on the table, pointed at what she really wanted to shoot and with a shutter delay switched on.

Wouldn’t work well in quiet environments with a DSLR shutter release bang lol.

[Tamas_Papp (Tamas K. Papp)]

@jimd

any parents out there with thoughts, opinions?

From a practical perspective, I think that taking good photos of children requires that they trust and engage with the photographer. I found that very few people can do this, and unless they know the child well (like a relative) it takes about 1–2 hours to establish some basic level of trust.

I photograph events my daughter participates in, and even though her classmates now know me, I am careful not to unpack the camera in the first hour or so (unless it is a stage event of course).

So, from a practical perspective, I just would not expect that a random stranger would take great photos of my child, and if I want photos of her, I will do that myself or call a professional.