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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that cameras shouldn't be allowed in a swimming pool

77 replies

gazingatthestars · 29/01/2017 20:01

Took my dd (4) swimming this afternoon to a well known chain of health clubs swimming pool for family swim time.
There was a woman and her two daughters (I'd guess 7 and 9) there taking photos and videos on a waterproof go pro type device. They were pointing it all over the pool (not just at each other) and underwater and Stuff. Made me feel really uncomfortable for my daughter and also my non bikini body so I told lifeguard subtlety who then promptly went over and told them to put it away.

The mum was clearly upset at being told what to do and spent the next 30 mins talking/arguing with the life guard about it and shooting me dirty looks (she'd clearly deduced it was me that had complained). Surely if she is allowed to do that some dodgy dirty character could come along and start taking photos too?!

There's signs all round the pool that say no mobile phones (caneras aren't mentioned). Aibu to have thought she was in the wrong?

Surely everyone knows you don't take cameras into swimming pools or has etiquette changed nowadays?

OP posts:
user1471545174 · 29/01/2017 20:55

YANBU OP.

Cherryskypie · 29/01/2017 20:55

And that's why I run on a machine in the gym ^

bruffin · 29/01/2017 20:55

i can guarantee nobody gives a damn what you are are wearing or even taking any notice of you.

Original poster
gazingatthestars · 29/01/2017 20:56

Wallis - no - my bikini body was an aside - it was my dd (4) in a swimming coustume I wasn't happy about being photographed

OP posts:
Cherryskypie · 29/01/2017 20:56

It's not like there are pages and pages of body shaming online. Oh, wait ...

SomewhatIdiosyncratic · 29/01/2017 20:56

Babybythesea gave a good explanation.

If the pool has a no photography rule, that's the rule.

I use council pools and all of them have this policy. Occasionally the pool that my DCs have lessons at have a professional session during lessons, so you can get quality images of your lesson (at a price!) Because it's a closed session, you can also get a permit for photography, and the people in the lesson are consulted with an opportunity to refuse. Public sessions are a no though.

Original poster
gazingatthestars · 29/01/2017 20:57

An innocently taken photograph can easily get into the wrong hands

OP posts:
Original poster
gazingatthestars · 29/01/2017 20:58

Yes I think the holiday/local pool thing has been explained well

OP posts:
engineersthumb · 29/01/2017 20:59

YANBU. I was in a pool last year and two teenage boys had a similar device. Glad to say that the lifeguard intervened and made them place it in a locker.
I think it's appalling to bring these devices into pools either at home or on holiday it's right up there with idiots that feel that they have the right to over fly my garden with their camera drone!

llangennith · 29/01/2017 21:00

Wouldn't have bothered me.

WallisFrizz · 29/01/2017 21:01

But she was taking photos of her kids, if your Dd was in shot, she just an anonymous child in the background. I genuinely cannot understand why you would care unless you think this woman has criminal intentions.

mambono5 · 29/01/2017 21:03

I am on the fence. It's a bit of a shame. I have photos of my babies and toddlers first times in a pool - public pool, not the private classes thatI a charge a fortune for the official shots. On the other hand, I wouldn't want some weirdo to take photos of them, but that means we will end up missing on lovely few pics.
Technology is so advance nowadays that if someone really wants to take a photo, they will. You can hide cameras very well if you have the right equipment.

Original poster
gazingatthestars · 29/01/2017 21:07

Wallis it was the kids taking videos/photos. And as I said it wasn't just of themselves they were filming the whole pool.

OP posts:
bruffin · 29/01/2017 21:08

and it matters why?

WhatInTheWorldIsGoingOn · 29/01/2017 21:13

We've done Havens a few times and luckily they haven't completely lost their minds there. You just sign a form with address and phone number and you can take photos. Otherwise I would have missed some lovely photos of my babies first swim!

museumum · 29/01/2017 21:18

Im so sad about the blanket no camera rules. My ds is 3.5 and has just learned to swim. We're so proud of him and it's gorgeous to see how much he loves it. My elderly mum was a national level swim coach in her day and I so want to show her video of her grandson swimming but it's just not possible. It's very sad.

engineersthumb · 29/01/2017 21:57

Why on earth does every moment of our lives need to be captured on camera or film?

WhatInTheWorldIsGoingOn · 29/01/2017 22:17

That's not changed since I was little engineers? My parents have eleventy billion photos of me when I was young. All in albums. And I'm quite old now!

mambono5 · 30/01/2017 12:26

I agree, I love seeing photos of my parents and even grand parents when they were little (or not so little). Social media is a recent thing, but photos are not.

Astoria7974 · 30/01/2017 16:30

I go to a 'posh' healthclub that will confiscate and destroy cameras (and cancel your membership) if you're found filming inside any part of it. It's a well known haunt of celebrities so prob why it's so strict. But rules are rules.

SenseiWoo · 30/01/2017 16:48

Whenever this comes up I think a lot of people people are a bit blase, because they are naive about the kind of use to which photos can be put. There are very good reasons to object without even mentioning paedophiles, perverts, etc.

Remember the woman -a model, I think-who recently decided to photograph a woman in her gym changing room secretly and mock her online (the woman wasn't slim). Her face had been pixellated, but the woman would still have been identifiable to many. Lots of that goes on. It must be horrible to have thousands of people around the world join in humiliating you.

Then there are people who decide to use a picture of you as a gif. That can do the rounds of the internet forever more. And once again, make you a laughing stock. See this article for details. She dealt with it okay, someone else might not.

A friend of mine once had a man take her son's photo, with her permission (so cute, etc) in the street. Then he sold it to an agency and the boy was plastered all over the city as part of an advert. He was too young to care, but her estranged husband made her life hell over it, including a court hearing. She asked and asked (no money for court) but none of the companies involved was prepared to lose money by pulling the ad, so it went on for months.

Plus, you know, you're out doing your thing. You don't want or need an audience/scrutiny in permanent form/being recorded for the judgment of others/whatever in real life or online, so bog off.

TeenAndTween · 30/01/2017 17:04

For me it is about an identifiable local location that the child regularly visits, whereas a holiday pool is a random location that you are only at for a week or two.

People are idiots and will happily post on FB with completely open settings. My children are not allowed photos in the press / online because they are adopted. We have no issue if they are in the background of someone's photo at Butlins or in Tenerife but would be upset if someone broke the rules where they have swimming lessons and effectively posted their location online for anyone to come across.

mambono5 · 30/01/2017 17:07

but the point is that if you really want to take a photo, you will, and no one else will be the wiser. The ones who are being punished are everyday people, who are just missing out on pics of their own kids.

Did the woman in the gym ever noticed a photo was being taken? If I vaguely remember, it was taken from a phone but she was not looking in that direction. It makes no difference in this case if the photos were banned or allowed. The "photographer" didn't seem that bothered about any kind of rules.

BonnyScotland · 30/01/2017 22:43

you are not allowed to take photo's in the swimming pool.

scottishdiem · 30/01/2017 23:46

What is interesting is that the technology used by those with less than pleasant intentions will be very well hidden and those who want to have fun with their families will run afoul of the rules.

For the princely sum of £23 on Amazon you can buy a watch that is waterproof and has a camera/video player on it. The weirdos wont be using the more expensive and obvious gopro type cameras.