Photographer Parent is a Pervert?!
Here’s a disturbing news blurb that I read today. A man in the UK was at the park with his two young kids, ages five and seven. While they were enjoying the day, he pulled out his camera and took several pictures of this children. Other people in the park began demanding that he put his camera away and referred to him as a pervert. The father ended up flagging down some cops to get them to confirm that he wasn’t being unlawful by photographing his own children.
The father later said, “What is the world coming to when anybody seen with a camera is assumed to be doing things that they should not? This parental paranoia is getting completely out of hand. I was so shocked.”
This disturbs me for a very obvious reason: I am a camera addict. I never leave home without one of my two cameras. If I do go out my door without one it’s because I’m just taking the garbage out or grabbing the mail. I always have a camera at the park. I don’t always take any pictures, but more often than not, I do. I enjoy playing with the camera, trying new techniques that I’ve learned and I enjoy capturing my children in their everyday activities.
I don’t take pictures of them playing with other kids unless I know them fairly well, but if I was accused of being a pervert or told I was doing something wrong for taking pictures of my own children playing, I’d be very upset, very offended, and wouldn’t really know what to do. I’d probably comply just because I wouldn’t want anyone to break my camera (or get physical with me directly) but I’d be very angry about it.
If he was at the park alone, taking pictures where kids are playing I’d understand the concern. Even though it’s not illegal to photograph anyone of any age in public spaces, it would seem weird and creepy. But if a man is with his own kids and taking their photos, what’s the problem?
What do you think of this incident?
Photo: sxc.hu
7 opinions for Photographer Parent is a Pervert?!
Andrea
Jul 16, 2008 at 11:44 am
Wow, that’s crazy. If the others thought something was wrong, why didn’t they just *ask*? Would they want people assuming the worst about them?
Kelly
Jul 16, 2008 at 11:57 am
It was probably because he was a man. They probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it if it was a woman taking the pictures.
Melissa
Jul 16, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I agree with Kelly. This was probably more a case of sexism than anything else.
Dreama
Jul 16, 2008 at 3:04 pm
This is apparently becoming rather the norm in the UK. There have been instances where the police themselves have told parents to stop taking photos of their own kids when other kids can be seen in the background. They’re basically enforcing a law in such a way that it’s no longer permissible to point a camera toward a group of kids in a public place, whether your own are there or not.
A male friend in the UK tells me that if he went and sat in a park on his own, reading a book or paper or listening to music, but in eyeshot of where kids are playing, the police would come and shoo him off because no grown man would sit near where kids are playing for any legitimate reason, in the eyes of a paedophile-obsessed society.
It’s frightening. I’m all for keeping kids safe, but the most important part of that is perspective and remembering that statistically, “stranger danger” isn’t the biggest danger our kids face.
Drasties - Nou breekt me de klomp.
Jul 17, 2008 at 5:01 am
[…] Inside Motherhood reacts as a fellow parent and photographer: I don’t take pictures of them playing with other kids unless I know them fairly well, but if I was accused of being a pervert or told I was doing something wrong for taking pictures of my own children playing, I’d be very upset, very offended, and wouldn’t really know what to do. I’d probably comply just because I wouldn’t want anyone to break my camera (or get physical with me directly) but I’d be very angry about it. […]
Ginny
Jul 18, 2008 at 3:13 pm
You know, this is really weird to be reading this today. We went to the beach twice this week & both times I felt really funny taking pics of my kids. My camera has 12x zoom, so sometimes I am really far from my girls, but I always zoom right in to my kids. I kept thinking, I sure hope people can tell I’m zooming in!
There was one time though that I took just me & my youngest to the beach. She had to have been about two. She was playing in the sand near another girl & this guy was video taping. I assumed that he was video taping HIS daughter. Then she got up & left & he stayed video taping my kid! I was totally freaking out. I scooped her up & went away from them. I wanted to say something but I was alone & he was with a big family. I still get the creeps over it.
Kristinia-Loving Heart Mommy
Jul 18, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I have noticed this also being an issue here.. I was at our local library and they have a 2nd floor dedicated to “children”. They have certain sections where children can play with toys, legos, books, play kitchens , etc.. kind of like a big daycare setting but with books involved. Another Mother had her camera out taking pics of her child, so I figured hey why not (cause I also carry mine everywhere I go), she started to give me looks.. I wasn’t going to snap a picture of her children and one Mother instantly left as soon as she saw camera.. Its Nuts!
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