is this a pick pocket in action ?

I never noticed when taking the picture but I think the fellow in the centre is actually stealing from a shoulder bag ?
and the other fellow has his elbow in such a position that he cannot see to the right too well
the 'pickpockets' face seems to be concentrating on something very 'important'
?

sure looks like it.,....

Wow, that's amazing. I hope it's not what it really look like.
On the other hand, I really like what you did in post processing.

Happy New Year Marie!

Wow. What a shot. Looks the classic pick pocket move.
Nice pic too.

Hmm look as though arm is swinging naturally as when walking, notice the foot shows him to be moving as the toes are off the ground as when walking. Hopefully wasn't a pickpocket.

Looks to me like he may be just squeezing sideways between two people.

Yes.

That's not the classic pickpocket move. That's the classic "damn people get outta my way" move.

It could be a husband slipping a pocket camera back into his wife's handbag. We don't want to ruin the lines of our suit do we!

I am guessing that the guest would be a known person to be there, so it would be a little dumb.

Graham

No, no pickpocket. If you look, thats not even a handbag, its a woman in a black dress shes wearing the black shoes and next to the woman in blue. He just looks like he is walking through holding his binoculars. ;p Nice shot though!

I think you nailed it.

Nice shot of a thief - perhaps. Sure looks fishy.

I really like your post processing on this one.

One of those things we'll never know. I love the post processing on this.

A few years back, I'm walking with my wife; Sunday afternoon, broad daylight, Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, right in front of St Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan. We notice a few ruffians (hoodlums) in front of us, about 20 feet, kind of surrounding an elderly woman who has her handbag on her shoulder. One of the punks is in the process of removing her wallet after unzipping the bag. The woman has absolutely no idea what is taking place.

Well, I couldn't allow it to happen. As it is occuring, I begin to walk quickly to close the gap, the whole time my wife and I holding hands as we always do.

Just as he's slowly pulling the wallet up from inside the bag, I'm on him, only he doesn't know it.

Well, know it he did, as I planted my palm-heel strike square in his back. It sent him sprawling on his face across the sidewalk, while the rest of his cohorts took off running. In a second or two he peeled his face off the sidewalk and limped-ran away as well.

The woman was startled but still unaware of what occured. I said to her: Ma'am, I just saved your wallet. (Perhaps a poor choice of words, but it's what came to me.) She was so shocked that she couldn't utter a word.

As God is my judge (and I know religion is not allowed here) the above is entirely true.

Yes, as pointed out earlier, the guy is making his way through the crowd holding his binoculars. Looks like a scene at a horse racing course? Nice shot and great processing on the colours, although I'm not entirely sure if the "brush stroke" effect, hiding part of the outside of the picture, works too well.