I'm not sure what kind of sighting this is, beyond the guy being a total arse. Thought I'd share it.
Backstory:
My city has this small festival each year around the end of Sept. This year, the fest's organizer happened to be a friend of my family. Knowing one of my hobbies being photography, he asked if I would mind taking some pictures of the fest for him. He'd pay me of course, and I could get in free. Plus, the photos would later be published in a local travel magazine/brochure. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.
Sighting:
Most of the day was spent wandering around taking pictures of people, mostly the visitors to the show, but also some of the vendors. So everyone knew what I was doing, I was wearing this garish neon green shirt with the word "Staff" in black letters across the back. (that will be key) During one of my passes, I came across this elderly lady and who I guessed to be her son (could have been husband though) who were selling these nice wooden toys. I didn't remember seeing them on my first pass (though to be honest the beauty pagent girls kinda did have my attention) so I figured I'd take a few shots of his stall. I had maybe four or five shots left on this roll, so no point in wasting them.
Raising the camera, I clicked off one shot of the stall and then paused to clean my lens. While doing this, the man at the stall came up. He seemed nice, speaking to me and all. After a moment he asked me what type of camera I had, and then asked if he could see it. I shrugged, and handed it over for a second while I dug some more film out of my bag. As I was doing this, he's looking it over talking about it how he loves photography and such; and how it's a nice set up. About halfway through this I hear a distinct click. Looking over I find he's popped it open and has proceded to pull out the roll of film. As he's doing this, the organizer is coming my way, making a circuit as I have. He too has a camera, though a lower grade. This is the conversation that ensued.
R (me)
V (vendor)
O (Organizer.)
R= Hey, what do you think you're doing!?
V= (snidely) I don't allow any photos of my stall.
R= I am. Give me that back. I need that for my work.
V= (Exposing the whole roll and handing the camera over) No photos.
R= (staring at the now exposed roll, some hour worth of work. Seeing O coming I wave him over) Hey, hey! Come here a sec.
O= What's can I do for you?
V= I caught him taking pictures. I don't allow photos of my stall.
O= (seeing the film in my hand he turns a rather nice shade of puce) Your contract says you have to allow staff to take photos.
V= He's not staff.
O= Oh? And you think he's wearing that shirt just for fun?
By this point, the vendor seemed to realize he'd made a serious mistake. I mean how could you miss that shirt in the first place? He started hemming and hawing about how he had made a mistake and was sorry, but he didn't want just anyone taking photos. O wasn't hearing any of it. After a few minutes of this, O told him to pack up and leave. The festival could do without him. The guy of course balked, but O stood his ground. He even went so far as to tell the guy he wouldn't be allowed back the next year.
As we walked away, O did tell me that there had been several complaints from other people that the guy was being very difficult about having photos around his booth. He'd even gone so far as to threaten one of the local TV crews reporting on the fest.
Backstory:
My city has this small festival each year around the end of Sept. This year, the fest's organizer happened to be a friend of my family. Knowing one of my hobbies being photography, he asked if I would mind taking some pictures of the fest for him. He'd pay me of course, and I could get in free. Plus, the photos would later be published in a local travel magazine/brochure. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.
Sighting:
Most of the day was spent wandering around taking pictures of people, mostly the visitors to the show, but also some of the vendors. So everyone knew what I was doing, I was wearing this garish neon green shirt with the word "Staff" in black letters across the back. (that will be key) During one of my passes, I came across this elderly lady and who I guessed to be her son (could have been husband though) who were selling these nice wooden toys. I didn't remember seeing them on my first pass (though to be honest the beauty pagent girls kinda did have my attention) so I figured I'd take a few shots of his stall. I had maybe four or five shots left on this roll, so no point in wasting them.
Raising the camera, I clicked off one shot of the stall and then paused to clean my lens. While doing this, the man at the stall came up. He seemed nice, speaking to me and all. After a moment he asked me what type of camera I had, and then asked if he could see it. I shrugged, and handed it over for a second while I dug some more film out of my bag. As I was doing this, he's looking it over talking about it how he loves photography and such; and how it's a nice set up. About halfway through this I hear a distinct click. Looking over I find he's popped it open and has proceded to pull out the roll of film. As he's doing this, the organizer is coming my way, making a circuit as I have. He too has a camera, though a lower grade. This is the conversation that ensued.
R (me)
V (vendor)
O (Organizer.)
R= Hey, what do you think you're doing!?
V= (snidely) I don't allow any photos of my stall.
R= I am. Give me that back. I need that for my work.
V= (Exposing the whole roll and handing the camera over) No photos.
R= (staring at the now exposed roll, some hour worth of work. Seeing O coming I wave him over) Hey, hey! Come here a sec.
O= What's can I do for you?
V= I caught him taking pictures. I don't allow photos of my stall.
O= (seeing the film in my hand he turns a rather nice shade of puce) Your contract says you have to allow staff to take photos.
V= He's not staff.
O= Oh? And you think he's wearing that shirt just for fun?
By this point, the vendor seemed to realize he'd made a serious mistake. I mean how could you miss that shirt in the first place? He started hemming and hawing about how he had made a mistake and was sorry, but he didn't want just anyone taking photos. O wasn't hearing any of it. After a few minutes of this, O told him to pack up and leave. The festival could do without him. The guy of course balked, but O stood his ground. He even went so far as to tell the guy he wouldn't be allowed back the next year.
As we walked away, O did tell me that there had been several complaints from other people that the guy was being very difficult about having photos around his booth. He'd even gone so far as to threaten one of the local TV crews reporting on the fest.
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