Got in shit from the girl beside me on the bus for taking this shot. She was maybe 21 yrs old and not the subject of this photo.
“You should really ask permissions to take people’s photographs, you know.”
I explained my rights and she responded as I’d expected. “I really don’t care if the law is on your side.”
I invited her to check out my Instagram feed to see what I’m shooting but she declined. She’d already made up her mind and had no interest in being convinced otherwise, which is her prerogative, of course.
I left it at, “Well it seems we’ll have to agree to disagree. And I do respect your point of view, even if it differs from my own.”
She wasn’t upset or anything. It was a relatively reasonable conversation. She was simply a strong, opinionated person and there’s no harm in that, right.
The takeaway is, don’t let your personal pride overrule your human decency. If you can find a way to defuse a situation before it gets heated or ugly, take it. Something like this just isn’t worth an argument with a stranger. Plus, it only ruins it for other street photographers.
the lazy photographer 