The Watchman
I was in Dublin for the day with my wife and daughter to see some museums, do a bit of shopping, and for me - shoot street photography. I took a photograph of a security person through the shop’s window, and he was not happy about it.
When my wife and daughter are in the shops, not being a shopper myself, I tend to wait outside somewhere near-by to shoot photos on the street. On this occasion, I was across the street from the shop practicing panning shots of people riding by on bicycles. I noticed the security guard looking at his phone in the window. My initial perspective was too far away for my liking.
Unedited image of security person through shop window. This was my initial perspective - too far for my liking. I needed to move in closer.
I walked casually, not sneaking (don’t want to be creepy), but not too abrupt that I might draw his attention. Spoiler - I failed. I approached from the right side, so I would get a bit more of his facial expression and not so much the side of his head.
If you would like to see my Instagram Reel about this, here is a link:
As I raised my camera and just as I was pressing the shutter button, he noticed and looked directly at me. It actually made a much better picture. Instantly, I noticed he was not happy about being photographed. He moved towards me along the inside of the window, as if the window was the only thing holding him back.
I waved, gave him a smile and thumbs up. This didn’t seem to pacify him. I briefly thought of going in the store to show him the image and let him know what I was up to. But I walked back across the street having decided I didn’t want, nor felt I needed to explain myself. When I turned he was still giving me the stink eye. You could tell he wanted to come out and confront me, but I don’t think he was allowed to leave the store.
When you shoot street photography, people are occasionally not going to be happy with you shooting their picture in public. That is ok, and that is their right. (note it is legal to shoot photos of people in public places in Ireland - short answer). I am not out there to make people uncomfortable or annoy people, that is the last thing I would intentionally do. This is why I work on making sure I come across with a happy and approachable demeanour.
Most people who are annoyed will not confront you. But occasionally, someone will. Be confident in what you are doing, deescalate, explain what you are doing, and show them the image. If they are still unhappy, offer to delete. You don’t need to get into long explanations, and don’t need to be defensive or over defend what you are doing. If they insist on banging on about it. Delete the picture, say sorry and move on.
As it turns out, he didn’t come out to confront me. When my wife and daughter exited the shop, we carried on with our day.
