So people generally act one of three ways when a camera appears.
Some ignore you no matter what. I like them the best. Some mug for the camera in various ways. This can actually be useful, depending. It can also be very annoying. And, finally, some get suspicious or even upset. I try to avoid them if I see that reaction — unless, of course, they are part of the story I’m telling. Then I might try to work it out with equal parts charm and bullshit.
A few of the latter type showed up on Saturday when I was traveling to Lisbon to cover the Não nos encostem à parede (Don’t put us up against the wall) anti-racism protest. Video coming soon on my YouTube channel.
The reason: I was carrying a big camera with a big dead cat. Now it wasn’t my biggest camera. It was my Canon XC-10, which is my run-n-gun camera that I employ in situations that might be dangerous to the camera, including, but not limited to, water or street riots.
Thankfully, neither of those occurred on Saturday. But the morning started off with security at the Aveiro train station stopping me because they thought I might be filming. I wasn’t. The lens cap was on, and I had the camera slung over my shoulder (monopod attached). But that didn’t stop them from stopping me and giving me a mini-lecture about filming at train stations.
Had I been carrying my SONY a6400 (or a smartphone!!!), I would have looked like a tourist, and they would have said nothing just as they say nothing every day to the hundreds of tourists who arrive at the station carrying cameras and smartphones.
The second encounter was a bit more alarming except that charm and bullshit diffused the situation. I left the protest as it was getting dark and decided to walk the length of the Rua do Benformoso one more time. This is the street where the police — and here I agree with the protestors — committed at blatant act of racism and xenophobia against the people of that neighborhood — populated by many immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and Africa.
Earlier when I walked the street in the daylight — I had lunch at a local restaurant — no one paid any attention to me. I didn’t film, but I did make a few pictures with my phone. On the way back through, I think emotions were running a bit high from the protest.
Long story short: Two young guys told me not to film (Note: I was not pointing the camera at them and had not done so previously.). I ignored them. Then one of them pushed me. I said, curtly, “I’m working” and continued. Another guy gave me a harder shove. That’s when I whipped out the charm and bullshit, explaining quite accurately: I’ve been filming the protest. I agree the police acted badly.
The two guys then apologized and offered to help me 🙂
So I’ve had more than 40 years of experience making photos and video in public for the purpose of telling all kinds of nonfiction stories. People act the three ways I mentioned at the start. There’s an interesting continuum: The larger the camera, the more people either mug for the camera or are suspicious of the camera. The smaller the camera, the more people ignore you.
And if you have a large dead cat, well, that just pegs you as someone who is up to something.
Choose wisely.
