Perspective – A Beachy Day/Part II

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective

I’m riding my bike in one of my favorite Delaware Bay towns.

I pass by a nicely decorated home and yard. Oh what pretty birdhouses.

I’ll write a birdhouse-themed blog post I decide. I focus my camera and click.

A man is suddenly peering over my shoulder at my camera screen.

The situation feels menacing, an utter stranger standing way too close.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Making sure you’re not part of the riff-raff around here,” he answers.

“Do I look like riff-raff?” I ask.

He mutters something more about watching out for neighbors and walks away.

I am over sixty, I look sixty. I am average height, average weight for my age. I was wearing a hat, sunglasses and had reading glasses on a string around my neck. The man, in my opinion, purposely tried to intimidate me for taking photographs. I was in the street, I was not on private property. We live in an age of people indulging in bad and rude behavior if they feel their cause is good. I, for one, am SICK of it all.

Here’s the law about photographs for anyone who takes photos to use on your blog, You can take any photographs you want if you are on a public street or public property. If you step on private property to take a photograph you are breaking the law and can be prosecuted. You can find an informative article here: When photos break the law, and an updated, but harder to understand article here: Photography and the Law.

23 thoughts on “Perspective – A Beachy Day/Part II”

    1. Timelesslady

      I’m fine except for the anger it caused after the fact. My husband said if I had pepper spray I would have been within my rights to spray him coming up behind me like that. I know though, that type of personality, wouldn’t have taken that and it might have caused an altercation that could have caused harm.

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      1. OMG ! Kathy, you must have been petrified and also wondering what did I do to warrant that sort of reaction from a total stranger. We have no protection in this world, Kathy and it is futile to expect any earthly agency to provide this for us. All the more reason to trust and believe that our Lord is our protector.
        My daughter was walking outside our university with her new digital camera and enjoying taking pictures of the university, which is really a nice building made of red stone. A person in a local garb came by and started waving his hands in front of her face and said, no picture, no picture. She was petrified and embarrassed. Seems like he thought she was taking pictures of women which they don’t appreciate here.

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        1. Timelesslady

          Susie, our societies, because of technology, are causing people to feel very paranoid. I have seen both ends at my age…technology was just beginning in my lifetime. Most people enjoy taking photographs with their phones. I use my camera. I think some people will use any excuse to bully and intimidate others. I believe the person who came up behind me was just such a person. I feel badly your daughter felt embarrassed when she was just innocently taking photographs.

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          1. She felt intimidated too and has almost never taken her camera out again. She seems to be always looking over her shoulder. If one can’t take pictures for posterity sake, what is the point of cameras itself?

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  4. I have been wondering about this very thing. Most of the areas I go to are public spaces, but I am interested in photographing some of the architecture around here. I don’t want to upset anyone in the process. Thanks for the information.

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    1. Timelesslady

      Thanks so much. I wasn’t so sure if I had broken a town law…I hadn’t. I stopped at the local post office and asked.

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    1. Timelesslady

      I was not sure about it all until now, and still, I will probably wonder where the lines are drawn in some places concerning photographs. At least the incident had some positive outcome.

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  9. Great information! I’ve wondered about this at times. I’ve only had someone ask me once what I was doing, and the confrontation wasn’t as scary as yours. I avoid putting photos with peoples’ faces on my blog, and wouldn’t invade a person’s property without permission. It’s nice to know I’m respecting the law.

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    1. Timelesslady

      I agree with not putting people’s faces on the blog unless they know what I am doing. Sometimes I catch people in my photographs, but usually not full face. I think if the person had approached me from behind I wouldn’t have been so taken aback…and maybe if he hadn’t made the riff-raff remark.

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Thanks so much for your comments. They fill my life with sunshine.