Would you be paranoid about this man with a camera?

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

DH rides our DDs to school...it's 3 miles, they are 8 and 5. The route is along a rural cycle track...very picturesque. Towards the end of the journey today, he said there was a man on the track...with a dog and a camera.

As DH approached with DDs, the man said "I'm just taking picturs of the park" and as DH and DDs passed, DH said he thought the man took a photo of them.

Is that odd? Or is DH paranoid>? He feels he should have said something...but what? I just called him as I often do to see how the ride went...

[Eyesunderarock]

No, but then both of the men in my family are photographers. Fortunately not of people, but they always have a camera on their persons.
It is legal to take photos in public places, perhaps you could go down the Jackson route if the paranoia becomes uncontrollable?

[freddiefrog]

The bloke probably felt like he had to explain what he was up to.

I was taking pictures of my own kids at the beach on Saturday and a couple of people saw fit to ask me who I was photographing.

I don't want other people in my photos, I'm careful to avoid other people/children getting in the background, if they do, I photoshop them out, so I wasn't waving the camera around taking pics of all and sundry

A couple of weeks ago I was in a poppy field taking pics (it was really, really pretty) and a family came along behind me on bikes and the Dad stopped and told me he didn't want his kids appearing in my picture. I had my back to him, my camera was pointing in the opposite direction

It makes you a bit defensive

[Eyesunderarock]

Although I find that the line 'You are more likely to be an abuser of your children than I am' does not go down well either.
But yes, what is it with all the in-your-face aggressive responses to an unoffered threat?
Gets more like Taxi Driver every day. Along with 'WHAT YOU LOOKING AT PERV?'
www.abc.nl/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/taxi-driver-you-talkin-to-me-5000052.jpg

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

What makes your husband think he took a photo of them?

He didn't see it otherwise you'd say he saw him take a photo of them.

So what did your husband actually see?

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

oh, and no, I wouldn't be paranoid because I wouldn't really care if someone took pictures of us cycling away from them.

[WorraLiberty]

Poor bloke, feeling as though he had to explain why he was there and what he was doing.

If it was a woman with a camera and a dog, I doubt your DH would have batted an eyelid.

[Eyesunderarock]

HE SAW A MAN WITH A CAMERA NEAR HIS CHILDREN

Good Gods Hecs, don't you see the danger?

[IRCL]

No I wouldn't be paranoid.

[Pennyacrossthehall]

People need to take a grip, because the level of general paranoia these days is just insane.

First, 99.9% of the population is made up of good people ( . . . . or, at least, people who are not actively bad).

Then, if the bloke with the camera was one of the 0.1% (max) of evil perverts, what does he now have? One photo of (the back of) some people of mixed ages with all of their clothes on. So what?

[mrsjay]

if it was a park I am assuming there is nice trees and what not to take pictures of or perhaps he works for the parks department and your dh bike will be in some glossy brochure somewhere What was he paranoid about anyway,

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

yeah, silly me.

I was with my husband the other day and I asked him to pop out of the car and take a picture for me and he came back to the car and said we had to wait because there were people taking their kids into some sort of nursery or playgroup or something and he didn't want to be seen with a camera taking pics. (of a well dressing for me)

How bloody awful is that? That he felt he had to come back to the car rather than take a picture of a bloody well dressing!

I understand completely why that bloke rushed to try to explain himself.

[BabyMakesMyEyesGoSleepy]

I think you're overreacting. He could have been taking a picture of some flowers or birds not necessarily your dh and DDS.

[Eyesunderarock]

I've just remembered something to be retroparanoid about.
I used to cycle round Oxford in a floaty dress all thin and elven with long hair looking like an animated David Hamilton.
Tourists used to stop and ask for a photo, and I let them.
OMG am I on a website somewhere? With my beloved Griselda in some dreadful photoshopped scenario.


More seriously, I do get worried for both of my men when facing the possibility of an attack by a rabid parent.

[mrsjay]

where we walk our dog you see people taking photies sometimes I am wondering if I should be worried

[Eyesunderarock]

What about mrsjay?

What do you think might happen as a consequence?

Or do you think you ought to be worried because you are being contaminated by the groundless fears of others?

[mrsjay]

OH I dunno maybe my besutiful face will end up on some website somewhere

[burberryqueen]

ridiculous - what on earth would someone do with pix of sweaty kids and dad on bicycles?

[LtEveDallas]

It is a sad old world we live in now. For years now DH has refused to take holiday photos etc after being asked "What are you doing with that camera?" quite aggressively by a woman on the beach where we have our caravan (He was actually taking a photo of our JRT trying to give DD a ball to throw for her....DD was about 6 months old at the time - Poor old JessDog didn't quite understand)

He says its "not worth the hassle" to be a bloke taking photos any more.

I don't mind so much, as I hate being in photos tbh, so anything that puts me behind the camera rather than in front of it is a bonus - but I do think its sad that DH feels that way.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

I live in Edinburgh.

The amount of perverts you see pretending to take photos of the Castle while surreptitiously snapping the backs of kids is astounding.

[mrsjay]

OH i live in Stirling bloody perverts everywhere we should call it perv season not tourist season

[MalcolmTuckersMum]

What all the sensible people up there said.

OP - I really am intrigued. I need to try to understand the mindset of someone like you. Please please can explain what offence you think this poor guy committed/has in mind? Suppose you decided to take this further - to whom would you report him and what would you say? But most of all I just want to know what on earth is going through your mind.

[starfishmummy]

I really think that the government should ban all cameras...

[Eyesunderarock]

Try Brighton in the summer.
Full of cameras and half-nekkid bodies.

OP, your husband is a seriously confused person.