Could you please not take pictures

Making me give up my rights is not a compromise. You can compromise by having your kid play soccer in your yard. Your kid still gets to play soccer without being photographed by anyone but you and anyone else you allow, and I still get to take photos in a public place.

Twitch1977 wrote in post #6030208
Firstly I like how you refer to the 'mystery photographer' as a guy all the time, and secondly I guess only guys without children can be pedophiles.

the OP, I thought, is a guy. That's what I was referring to. My first post clearly stated that it would also bother me if it was a woman.

granted... but why not practice your sports photography on adults? They tend to move faster anyhow... better practice.

They're not inherently, but in some situations they could be

this is my main point. Why get defensive and righteous because someone doesn't want you to shoot their kid? Who the hell cares? I do realize that the OP stated that he told the mother he would stop shooting her kid... I just don't understand why people get indignant about it. I just think common courtesy would dictate that if a parent asks you to stop taking photos of their child, you would. And I don't understand why people get their panties in a bunch about it, especially if you were just practicing your skills.. I mean, c'mon...

I also clearly stated that I recognize the slim odds of the person being a creep, but if we start allowing everything with no regard for that few, soon anyone will be able to do anything, not just photographers.

A huge part of the reason why children are so easy to victimize is that they basically have no rights and the people who should be standing up for them, when they're not the ones victimizing them, are either afraid to speak up or they don't have a leg to stand on when it comes down to it. There are more important things in this world than the right to take photos.

notapro wrote in post #6030430
And I don't understand why people get their panties in a bunch about it

pot, meet kettle.

picturecrazy wrote in post #6004978
It's as LAME as ALL men being banned from sitting next to childen on flights by New Zealand Airlines, because of course, ALL men are potential pedophiles. Yeah, let's inject more hate and paranoia into the world. freaking STUPID is all I can say.

I don't know how true this is but if it is I love it, have you ever sat next to kids on a long haul flight? no fun! (excluding my own kids who of course are little angels )

downunder wrote in post #6030865
I don't know how true this is but if it is I love it, have you ever sat next to kids on a long haul flight? no fun!

Yeah maybe it's to protect the sanity of the adult, not the safety of the kid.

cdifoto wrote in post #6030467
pot, meet kettle.

I reserve the right to get my own panties in a bunch about those causes I feel strongly about, even if I think the panties of others should remain unbunched with regard to what I in my sole discretion deem to be lesser causes.

no actual panty bunching going on at the moment, though. I just think debate on these types of issues is healthy, and it almost always requires differing viewpoints, so I thought I'd throw mine in.

notapro wrote in post #6030905
I reserve the right to get my own panties in a bunch about those causes I feel strongly about, even if I think the panties of others should remain unbunched with regard to what I in my sole discretion deem to be lesser causes.

Once again...pot, meet kettle.

I hear what you're saying, and I understand your POV, but if someone isn't breaking the law, and you put yourself and/or your kids in a public place, you have to accept the existence of photographers, whether professional or hobbyist.

Concern yourself with things that really do matter. Stressing over things that you shouldn't even think about will only make you older than your years.

Well after reading stories for many months about this stuff, and shooting my son's soccer for 18 months, dozens of matches at dozens of different fields, today I was approached for the first time ever. I shot my son's soccer match at a field I'd never been to before and a field official walked past and told me that people weren't allowed to shoot at games any more, citing 'new child protection laws.' I politely told him I was aware of the law and that he was wrong, and he walked off saying 'well I warned you.' His actions appeared to be an attempt to inform rather than stop me shooting, but still it bothered me some. I kept shooting anyway but I felt rather self conscious for the rest of the game. Child protection laws? How the hell is stopping a parent shooting their own kid at a sports game supposed to protect the children? I fear that in another couple of decades, my son will have no pictures of his kids to look back on, because they'll all be outlawed.

cdifoto wrote in post #6030913
Once again...pot, meet kettle.

I hear what you're saying, and I understand your POV, but if someone isn't breaking the law, and you put yourself and/or your kids in a public place, you have to accept the existence of photographers, whether professional or hobbyist.

Concern yourself with things that really do matter. Stressing over things that you shouldn't even think about will only make you older than your years.

I guess I should have used more smileys, cause that was a joke meant to more or less convey a "touché" in its absurdity.

I do now have to add in response to the last bit that I consider my kids' safety to be the single most important responsibility in my life, and I did say in my first post that I tend to be overzealous with their safety, but I have my reasons for that too. So to say that it is something I "shouldn't even think about" doesn't sit well with me. When I take my kids somewhere - anywhere - I think about every single person, object, and potential situation that is there. I weigh possibilities, I look for danger of any kind, and I do what I need to prevent it. I'd rather piss off a hundred thousand photographers and be the crazy lady who "doesn't understand" that it's their right to shoot my kid, than not piss off the wrong person. And for the record, it's not just photographers: I pretty much assume that every single person I pass on the street is potentially a threat, so don't think that this is an attack against photographers in any way. I just wanted to say that I sympathize with the parent in this situation and understand where she may be coming from. I mean, really... I am a photographer... I appreciate the rights that we are afforded, and sometimes get annoyed with ones we are not, but at the end of the day I feel a responsibility to my community more strongly than to my work or art.

I'm not suggesting you or anyone else should agree with me... my only purpose in posting here at all was to say that I see where the woman is coming from, and to try to expand on that perspective, since I feel in these types of situations it can be difficult to see things from the other side, and in most areas of life, a little empathy usually goes a long way.

notapro wrote in post #6030997
I guess I should have used more smileys, cause that was a joke meant to more or less convey a "touché" in its absurdity.

I do now have to add in response to the last bit that I consider my kids' safety to be the single most important responsibility in my life, and I did say in my first post that I tend to be overzealous with their safety, but I have my reasons for that too. So to say that it is something I "shouldn't even think about" doesn't sit well with me. When I take my kids somewhere - anywhere - I think about every single person, object, and potential situation that is there. I weigh possibilities, I look for danger of any kind, and I do what I need to prevent it. I'd rather piss off a hundred thousand photographers and be the crazy lady who "doesn't understand" that it's their right to shoot my kid, than not piss off the wrong person. And for the record, it's not just photographers: I pretty much assume that every single person I pass on the street is potentially a threat, so don't think that this is an attack against photographers in any way. I just wanted to say that I sympathize with the parent in this situation and understand where she may be coming from. I mean, really... I am a photographer... I appreciate the rights that we are afforded, and sometimes get annoyed with ones we are not, but at the end of the day I feel a responsibility to my community more strongly than to my work or art.

I'm not suggesting you or anyone else should agree with me... my only purpose in posting here at all was to say that I see where the woman is coming from, and to try to expand on that perspective, since I feel in these types of situations it can be difficult to see things from the other side, and in most areas of life, a little empathy usually goes a long way.

Geez Louise - I don't envy you, your kids, or your husband. I can't imagine living such a stressful, worrysome life.

All I can say to that Amanda must live in a much more dangerous place than me..

cdifoto wrote in post #6031016
Geez Louise - I don't envy you, your kids, or your husband. I can't imagine living such a stressful, worrysome life.

the traffic on envy street is flowing fairly equally both ways

AdamC wrote in post #6031033
All I can say to that Amanda must live in a much more dangerous place than me..

no, but I probably am exposed to child victimization, indirectly, more than a lot of people, and I did say from my first post that I was likely overzealous about it, but when you're dealing with it a lot, it's hard to keep it from being at the front of your mind. Certainly, though, every decent normal parent is constantly on the lookout for danger, whether it's creepy people or sharp objects. At least every parent of young kids.

notapro wrote in post #6031106
Certainly, though, every decent normal parent is constantly on the lookout for danger, whether it's creepy people or sharp objects. At least every parent of young kids.

Absolutely - but they don't call out random strangers as pedophiles just because they're male, childless, and have a camera in their hands.

If someone really wanted to, they could file charges against you (approaching them without provocation, accusing them of being a pedophile with no evidence or cause). I'm no lawyer but that almost certainly has to be illegal. Harassment perhaps.

cdifoto wrote in post #6031141
Absolutely - but they don't call out random strangers as pedophiles just because they're male, childless, and have a camera in their hands.

If someone really wanted to, they could file charges against you.

I never said I would call someone a pedophile. I said that if a parent asks a person to stop photographing their child, I think the courteous thing to do is to stop. I also said it would annoy me if somebody was just showing up taking pictures of my kid for no apparent reason, cause it would. I'm allowed to be annoyed.

And for the record, I've never asked someone to not take a photo of my kids. I agree that in general there isn't much harm can come from it. I'm just trying to offer a POV of understanding why some parents might not want people taking photos of their kids in the hopes that understanding that POV would lessen the hostility about the situation. Not necessarily make it worse, but let a person bear no hard feelings toward the mother who asks you to please stop.

If this were a parents forum and someone was **** about photographers showing up at games, I would be explaining the other side of it. And none of it would have anything to do with rights. I was never talking about rights. I was talking about people.

ETA: I don't think anyone's ever taken anything I've said as seriously as you have been... even when I tried to make a joke (even though I know I'm not funny) and agree to disagree.