Male Photographer in Public Is NOT Equal to "Pervert"

One trend I've noticed in recent years which I do NOT agree with, and am in fact strongly against--the presumption that a male photographer taking photos out in public must be a pervert or a participant in the child pornography industry. In other times, I've noticed--yes, even experienced it myself--where taking a photo of your own kid, and someone else's kids happened to be in the frame or close to it, elicits harsh reactions from other people. Thanks to the media, between Adam Walsh, Nancy Grace, "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC, and just presumptions in general, being a male daring to use your camera in public in a totally legal & ethical way nonetheless can easily elicit glares of suspicion or even worse, occasionally legal accusations or threats, even threats of bodily harm.

It is sickening, it's prejudiced, it's wrong, and I could not be more in disagreement of it.

I have experienced it myself, & I've read & heard-of plenty of accounts of others experiencing in. In this story here, a guy describes (in "letter #2") an experience whereby he was using his DSLR to photograph his kids at a public lake, and he was approached by someone who was fearful of him thinking he was trying to sneak photos of their children for explotative purposes. I liked his response: he was not apologetic at all about it, and expressly stated he had the right to photograph what he wanted to in public¹ (although it happened to be he was only photographing his own kids to start with) and he did not at all back down from it.

I have had a couple of experiences. I was once photographing the ducks at a lake, and had someone yell out "don't take photos of my kids, you pervert!" My reply: "don't worry, I only photograph things which look good." (In other words, your kid is ugly.) In another case, we were at a garage sale, and a girl of about age 12 or so took a liking to our 1 year old son, and picked him up and held him. I took a photo of it, as I was enjoying the sweetness of this young girl enjoying our 1 year old son. Shortly after, this child's mother appeared and asked me to delete the photograph on the grounds of "I don't know you."

I initially explained that I was a hobbyist photographer & that in fact people have hired me or asked me as a courtesy to take photographs for them, and that I otherwise take photos for my own personal interest anyway, & I was only photographing my son and her child enjoying each other so as to remember the sweetness of this occasion. She was still not satisfied, so I then rebutted this way: "well, I don't know you, and I don't know your girl, who in fact picked up our son without asking, not that it bothers me, but hey, if you want to make a thing of it, then why, for all I know, your daughter might be into ecstasy or meth lab drugs and might be trying to feed them to my son. But I don't think like that, all I see is a sweet moment between 2 very young people. It's enjoyable, in an innocent way, & you'd do well to think of it that way instead of making about something perverted when it's nothing of the sort."

I didn't delete the photo.

A 43 year old man who's been into photography to one extent or the other going back to 1983, I dealt with the frustrations of film and was not able to practice my hobby much as I would've liked. It took 20 more years for me to have a digital camera of good quality which would allow me to really participate in this hobby without the restraints of dealing with film. Now, I'm unleashed. I'm not about to hold back based on fear mongering and paranoid hysteria that makes a totally ridiculous assumption about me based on something I had nothing to do with--my gender.

I am not disrespectful--some social situations may call for a little discretion or restraint (one person didn't want me taking photos inside the church at her son's funeral, and I complied without any grumbling), but doing so based on paranoia and the presumption that I might be a pedophile because I'm a male practicing photography, much as Henri Cartier-Bresson did many years ago (not that I'm anywhere near as good as he is, you understand), is completely ridiculous and baseless.

Yes, I am a parent, and I still say this--and no, I have no problem if anyone were to photograph my kids in public, either.

Those who do have a problem? They need to lighten up, not expect me or anyone else to put my camera away in public because of irrational fears and paranoia.

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¹ Photographer's Bill of Rights (PDF File)