>>3103723man, this just happened to me yesterday. it was the first time anyone's ever gotten really upset and confronted me about taking their picture without permission. she just started yelling "take my picture off your camera". strangely enough, at that very moment, that video of chuck jines where he acted like an asshole when confronted flashed before my eyes. I stood my ground and patiently tried to explain to her that it's legal and legitimate photography to take her picture without permission in a public place. I really didn't want to just walk off without some satisfying conclusion for the both of us.
I spoke calmly and collected, I even surprised myself about how in control I was. I used to think I'd panic and delete the picture immediately like a total wimp if someone ever got in my face and started yelling at me.
eventually we reached an impasse where neither of us were gonna change our mind and kept repeating the same thing, so I said "fine I'll delete the picture". of course, i didn't plan to delete it at all and she made no attempt to verify that I delete it. I think at this point she was more concerned with winning the argument than about the picture itself.
she walked away, I waved, said "have a nice day, ma'am" and that was it. she was african-american.
However that encounter has really shaken me. I'm still feeling bummed out about it. I spent the whole day yesterday reconsidering if I really want to continue taking pictures of people in public. It made me think of all those people who's picture I've taken without permission before, I wondered if they felt the same as this woman but just didn't have the guts to tell me how they really felt. Everytime I think about taking someone's picture, I remember that lady and how upset I made her feel and I don't take the picture.
I need to come to terms with this ethical predicament before I can continue.
