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> It's quite scary to ask someone for their photo and it's a bit rude to take photo without permission. I advise you to just go for it and not care. I agree wi
by belugacat 4y ago
> It's quite scary to ask someone for their photo and it's a bit rude to take photo without permission. I advise you to just go for it and not care.
I agree with just going for it when it comes to asking strangers for their portrait. If you’re friendly and confident (and know how to take rejection swiftly and just move on), you’ll have a 90%+ success rate. Having a weird old film camera bumps that up even more, in my experience. So does opening with a compliment (“oh wow I love your outfit”).
However, taking a portrait of someone without their consent in 2023 is just a dick move. This debate has been had so many times under so many angles that you just can’t claim ignorance anymore if you take yourself seriously as a photographer.
A great book I enjoyed recently is Dawoud Bey on Photographing People and Communities.
Depending on where you are in the world and whether you obviously fit in within the cultural fabric or not, people might get very offended/aggressive about it (you deserved it), or not say anything but that doesn’t make you any less of a dick.
Just ask. It can be as simple as pointing to your camera and showing a thumbs up with a quizzical look waiting for a nod in busy situations, it’ll take a second. If the person is performing/selling/etc, buying something/leaving a tip beforehand will help a lot.
If asking scares you so much, that picture isn’t yours to take.
- Herval_freire 4y agoI promote both asking and just taking it. Asking for a photo produces something different then just taking it. Personally the whole dick move thing I don't care about. It's such a minor thing. It's true though that you don't want to start a fight, so use judgement on that but in terms of being a dick it's actually not a big deal.
- belugacat 4y ago> Personally the whole dick move thing I don't care about. I’ve met many such photographers when traveling, yep. They make things worse for all of us.
- Herval_freire 4y ago>They make things worse for all of us. This is an exaggeration. 99.99 percent of the time nobody cares. Why? Because it's really not a huge deal.
- igouy 4y ago99.99 percent of the time they don't know what you've done.
- Herval_freire 4y agoMe with my huge ass professional camera? They know and they don't care.
- igouy 4y agoApparently that is what you choose to believe.
- Herval_freire 4y agoThere is a difference between being scared of taking photos of random strangers versus actually doing it. I would mark you as the former... you're just scared. Nobody cares. At most they will be slightly annoyed, but ultimately they forget about it in a minute. A lot of people (like you) are just scared of this slight annoyance, your mind over blows it and your behavior becomes controlled by every small thought other people think of you. Even in countries where it's not culturally appropriate. Often they're just annoyed because of culture, because they grew up and were taught that it's impolite to take pictures. They aren't in actuality annoyed because nothing really happened... and they forget about it quick. Stop being scared, and stop accusing me of choosing to believe things.
- igouy 4y agoAgain you have stated personal belief as if it were fact.