An interesting tale from the past weekend: on Friday, I heard a brass quartet playing through my window. Mindful of the Speed Challenge, I went out to shoot them. (I got some nice pix, though none seemed up to the quality of the contest, but I gave them a 5-Euro tip as a way of thanking them.) Anyway, after they stopped playing I wandered around to practice my candid skills. I keep my G3 dangling from a wrist strip, quite casual, finger on the shutter button. As a lover of children, I was shooting more of the stroller crowd than the adults.
As I was heading home, a woman with a 2-year-old in tow accosted me. "You photographed me and several other people. I don't know what you're doing, but I don't like it." Or words to that effect; my German is very good but not quite up to the shock I felt. I pointed out that there's no law against it (somewhat of a fib, since I only know American law) and offered to delete the shots of them. I even offered to let her watch the process, but she refused, saying that she had no way of knowing whether I'd really erased them. "Just do the right thing," she said. Whatever. I zapped her shots right there. When I got home, I wound up deleting all the other candids I'd taken, simply because they weren't worth keeping (shooting good candids from the waist is HARD!).
Anyway, a few lessons from the encounter. First, I did one right thing in not trying to deny that I'd been taking candids. It's definitely better to 'fess up and offer to erase the stuff. Second, in later experimentation I realized that I could use the second joint of my finger, rather than the tip, to operate the shutter button. That makes it less obvious what you're doing. Third, remember that if your entire behavior pattern is unusual, that might cause people to take a second look at you. You may be unobtrusive to a casual glance, but are you obvious to somebody who's studying you? Maybe, maybe not. Think about what another photographer would see.
The last lesson came after a bit of reflection. I'm pretty sure I'd seen the woman and her daughter before, when I was photographing the quartet. After one song, the little girl had clapped enthusiastically, in that cute way that only a 2-year-old can do. I'd noticed her and thought that it would be an adorable shot, but I wasn't quick enough and she didn't repeat the performance after the next song. But I should have gone to the mother and said, "Hi, your daughter was so cute with her clapping that I was wondering if I could take her picture if she does it again." Maybe she would have said yes, maybe no. But it would have defused the "Oh my god he's a maniac" reaction, and maybe I would have gotten a great shot.
