# Being branded a 'pedo' for carrying a camera



## cybertect (Feb 5, 2009)

I wasn't going to post about this. 

I changed my mind after reading this story.

....

On Monday I was out and about taking pics of the snow near where I live for an hour or so.

http://www.cybertects.co.uk/gallery2/v/other/20090201_snow/







I met one of my neighbours (who happens to be a City of London police constable) also out taking in the sights and she suggested that I ought to make a bee line for Carshalton Ponds as it was very pretty.

I made my way down to the Ponds, entered the Park with my camera (a Canon 5D) slung round my neck and within about ten seconds found myself pelted with snowballs by a bunch of teenagers (I guess aged about 15) nearby.

I can deal with this. They're kids and it's snowing like they've never seen before.

What I couldn't deal with was one of them shouting very loudly "Pedo with a camera! You'd better not take any pictures of my kids when I have them."

Another volley of snowballs. One of the kids shouts "Head shot!" as a snowball strikes the back of my head, "Head shot on the pedophile!" followed by a chorus of "Pedo with a camera! Fucking pedo with a camera!"

I should make it clear that I've not even taken any photos yet, nor even lifted my camera up. There _is_ a kids playground (I take my 20 month old son there often enough) but it's on the other side of the Wandle, far away from where I entered the park. I don't habitually carry bags of sweets in my pockets. My personal kinks lie in other directions.

I figured trying to reason with them wasn't going to go anywhere. I carried on walking away trying my best to ignore them. Eventually I lost sight and sound of them.

Reading the story I linked to at the start of this post has only confirmed my suspicions about what might have happened if I'd got angry with them or called the Police.

I'm sure I should shrug it off and just put it down to kids being kids, but while I've had the time to reflect on it in the last few days, I've found myself getting ever more angry about the whole incident. When I was their age it certainly wasn't in my mind to go round making accusations like that.

I've been taking pictures around that park off and on since I was little more than 11 years old - the best part of 30 years. It's not as if I even generally take that many street pictures of people, let alone children. I've never had anything like this occur before, anywhere else.

Nevertheless it's highly disconcerting.

Between getting stopped by police as a terrorist threat and being shouted at as a pedophile, I'm getting pretty miffed that one of my pleasures in life, getting out and about with a camera, is being poisoned by suspicion and fear in other people's minds. However hard I try, with things like this, it begins to seep into my own head.

What says Urban?


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## Brainaddict (Feb 5, 2009)

Don't know what to say really. It's fucking sad. Both politicians and newspapers breed an atmosphere of fear for their own reasons. In the end we all suffer for it.

Try to resist the creeps though and carry on with your hobby. What else can you do?


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## weltweit (Feb 5, 2009)

A nasty event certainly. The kids should have known better but they didn't.

I am very wary around kids of any age when out with my camera, unless that is I have my kids with me which somehow seems to relax things considerably. 

But why should the alone photographer be so much more of a suspicion than one with kids? 

The alone photographer could just be getting away from his/her kids for a while.


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## weltweit (Feb 5, 2009)

Nice pic in the post btw


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## dylanredefined (Feb 5, 2009)

Its an insult kids use against adults had it used against me when i was in the park with my daughter .Definatly got the red mist coming down little shits .


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## Brainaddict (Feb 5, 2009)

Thinking about it though, I kind of doubt the kids really thought you were a pedo. Kids just enjoy being little shits and ganging up on people, and it gave them an excuse to throw more snowballs at you.

Like the sheepfucker at my school. No one *really* thought he fucked sheep, but it was great fun to pretend that we all thought he did and persecute him mercilessly about it.

There's a reason guerilla armies like to recruit child soldiers y'know - they are far less concerned with morality than many adults.


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## Crispy (Feb 5, 2009)

When we were on the Brixton Mural walk, taking pictures of one of the murals, a mother came sprinting across the park to demand that we not take photos of her kids


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## Wolveryeti (Feb 5, 2009)

The sensible option would have been to yell at the kids that they are fucking mingin and you might be a paedo but at least you have standards


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## XR75 (Feb 5, 2009)

> What says Urban?



I would say thrash the cretin with your glove and challange him to a duel however,



> If a gentleman was insulted by a person of lower class, he would not duel him, but would beat him with a cane, riding crop, a whip or have his servants do so.


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## e19896 (Feb 5, 2009)

National Union of Journalists - “Media Event”.

New Scotland Yard, Broadway, Westminster, London SW1H, UK.

Monday 16 February 2009. 11am.




“NUJ, activists and BJP calls for photography rights event” - British Journal of Photography.

Monday 16th February 2009 is the enforcement date for Section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. As the British Journal of Photography (BJP) wrote last month.

“The relationship between photographers and police could worsen next month when new laws are introduced that allow for the arrest - and imprisonment - of anyone who takes pictures of officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.”

To read the full BJP article,  http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=836675

So with that the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has teamed up with Mark Thomas (writer, broadcaster, comic and political activist), Chris Atkins (the BAFTA nominated director and writer of the feature film documentary Taking Liberties), Marc Vallée (Photojournalist and NUJ member - that’s me by the way), The British Journal of Photography and many more for a “media event” outside New Scotland Yard on Monday 16 February 2009 The plan is simple, turn up with your camera and exercise your democratic right to take a photograph in a public place.

More info about the background to this “media event” will be up on the NUJ website soon and on this Fackbook group.
See you on the 16th folks!

{notes}

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=838048

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090058_en_1

http://www.markthomasinfo.com/

http://www.noliberties.com/

http://www.marcvallee.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=47417324089

see also http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=278280


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## Paul Russell (Feb 5, 2009)

Hmmm, yes this has got worse in the last couple of years...

I think it's a mixture of people being genuinely paranoid but also, like it sounds in this case, of people just taking the piss and throwing the word peedofile around just as a general insult. The sociologist Alex Ferguson has referred to this as the "mocking culture". 

I've been taking shots around beach areas, often in the dead of winter, often in the summer and I guess the latter could look slightly "dodgy" in today's suspicious times (before anyone says anything, I've had a few solo exhibitions, publications, etc. with more coming up, blah blah blah blah).

From 2003 to 2006 I can remember getting one comment about being a dirty pervert as I took a picture of some youths jumping into the sea, but I had several in 2007 and 2008. In those cases, I wasn't taking pictures, I was just walking round with a big SLR.

The first time was quite a shock, and I think the bloke genuinely believed it -- there seemed to be a lot of hate. The second time it happened, I wasn't in the mood for it -- I remember he shouted "peado with a camera" [[edit: I've never heard this before or since, but it seems to be exactly the phrase used by Cybertect -- is this a sitcom joke or something?]] from a great distance. I told him to fuck off and then he was all laughs and smiles and "respect" -- he was just trying to wind me up... A big joke.

Whatever the reason, it's never pleasant, and I can understand that it leaves a really nasty taste in the mouth. It's good to have a smart comeback in your head if it happens, I guess, although at the risk of some physical violence...


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## Mr Moose (Feb 5, 2009)

Paul Russell said:


> The sociologist Alex Ferguson



Sorry - I didn't get any further.


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## George & Bill (Feb 5, 2009)

Reminds me of a certain episode of Peep Show (a programme I believe is popular among the youth), in which Mark, the co-protagonist, is asked by a bunch of rowdy kids for a sip of his coke, which, in an attempt to dispense with them, he agrees to give them. They then reject it in disgust, loudly denouncing him as a paedo. 

Your lovely Suttonite hoodlums may be of the type that inspired the writers of this scene, but equally, they may have been inspired _by_ it themselves...(a bit of post-modern juvenile vigilantism, if you will...)


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## cybertect (Feb 5, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> Thinking about it though, I kind of doubt the kids really thought you were a pedo. Kids just enjoy being little shits and ganging up on people, and it gave them an excuse to throw more snowballs at you.



That's what I was trying to think at the time. Laugh and walk away.

It does have a very corrosive effect on the psyche, though.


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## Strumpet (Feb 5, 2009)

Fuck 'em!


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## Bernie Gunther (Feb 5, 2009)

It's standard stuff these days. I've had it too 'Oooh look a nonce taking photies!' from some scally thugs in central Liverpool.


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## RubyToogood (Feb 5, 2009)

Your neighbour was right, Carshalton Ponds _is_ very pretty.


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## derf (Feb 5, 2009)

The kids are nothing to worry about.
Just a bunch of low life cretins out for a 'laff'. They will be the same one that go down to the take away and call the owner a 'paki', 'chink' or whatever just to get a reaction.
As for the woman mentioned earlier running up to some poor sod with a camera she's a product of all the shit you buggers read in the papers over there.


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## stowpirate (Feb 6, 2009)

Point out that there is no law against photography in public places. Next time you see a women pointing a camera at a child make a fuss and get the press involved


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## subversplat (Feb 6, 2009)

Strumpet said:


> Fuck 'em!


I think that would be a slightly inappropriate course of action....


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## Strumpet (Feb 6, 2009)

subversplat said:


> I think that would be a slightly inappropriate course of action....


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## Herbsman. (Feb 6, 2009)

tee hee


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## GarfieldLeChat (Feb 6, 2009)

cybertect said:


> What says Urban?



you have to be mentally ill to make the mental leap from someone carring a camera to fucking children.  the fact that a significant proportion of the general public are mentally ill shouldn't come as a suprise to you.

seriously though people that think this that assume that's the next logical step are certifiable. 

I was always a cocky fucker before this new stupid law to get my shots it's not going to change what i shoot or how or when.  I'd love to see it in court if it got that far, personally i'm hoping it's one of those retrospective laws where if they can't get someone on anything else then they will get them on this.


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## Pie 1 (Feb 6, 2009)

cybertect said:


> Between getting stopped by police as a terrorist threat and being shouted at as a pedophile, I'm getting pretty miffed that one of my pleasures in life, getting out and about with a camera, is being poisoned by suspicion and fear in other people's minds. However hard I try, with things like this, it begins to seep into my own head.



I've got really fed up taking pics in the UK to the point where I just can't be bothered at the moment. I've never had so much crap - I just can't relax and get into it half the time 'cause of it.
" Oi mate, what do you think you're fucking doing?" etc,etc.

My set up, though reasonably small for me  - either a MF/small view cam on a sturdy tripod - does stick out a bit & due to the nature of my pics & I do hang around a bit as a result admitedly, but fuck it, I should be allowed to go about my business without some cunt coming at me from a building on the other side of the fucking street wielding a tyre iron, trying to grab my camera & threatening to smash my head & the camera with said tyre iron if I don't fuck off right now.

[for those who know the location, it's the cunts in the tyre place on Ferndale Rd, opposite the old Queens Head pub in Brixton - I was shooting a wide scene from fucking Bellefields Rd,  that happened to include their garage in the shot  ]

It's depressing


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## Struwwelpeter (Feb 6, 2009)

I've only once been challenged taking pictures - I was photographing a building for work and a van passed across the picture.  He braked so that he was right in the middle of the shot and mouthed off at me threatening violence if I took a picture of him.  Obviously he had problems...

However, reading about other people's stories, I have considered swapping my SLR for a compact as they are less obtrusive.  Now if all the paedos are doing the same ...

Edit: Just read Pie's post.  I'd say it was the same bloke apart from the fact I was in Sudbury - so there's probably more than one.


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## dooley (Feb 6, 2009)

i don't do any jobs now that involve kids or hanging around near schools (i'm a PI). it's too much grief. and if it ain't the paedophobics it's the law with some anti terror bullshit


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## cybertect (Feb 6, 2009)

Struwwelpeter said:


> IHowever, reading about other people's stories, I have considered swapping my SLR for a compact as they are less obtrusive.



SLRs do seem to attract undue attention. There were plenty of other people around taking pictures with compacts.

I'd settle for a Leica M8


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## Biglittlefish (Feb 6, 2009)

I was  coming home from a run the other day and a group of about 7 kids challenged me to a snowball fight. I wasn't in the mood so told them no and kept walking. They followed my back to my door(it wasn't far) at which point I gave in and launched a pretty good attack on them. They surrender and fucked off. It was all pretty harmless. But the words out of their mouth(they were 13ish) were unbelievable. 'Hay motherfucker' 'we're goin to fuck u up' 'now we know where you live' etc.
In fairness they postured but none off them through a snow ball till I turned to get into it with them. Individually probably pretty nice kids  but if it had of been one of my elderly neighbours or one of the girls in my house I could see how they could be pretty intimadated. The parents need to keep an eye on what their kids are doing.


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## spacemonkey (Feb 6, 2009)

cybertect said:


> SLRs do seem to attract undue attention. There were plenty of other people around taking pictures with compacts.


 
I was just going to say this...

I always wondered how people got into such trouble photographing stuff, until I went out and about with an SLR. 

I've been confronted a few times and can't help reacting angrily, I might get my camera smashed up one day.


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## Paul Russell (Feb 6, 2009)

spacemonkey said:


> I was just going to say this...
> 
> I always wondered how people got into such trouble photographing stuff, until I went out and about with an SLR.
> 
> I've been confronted a few times and can't help reacting angrily, I might get my camera smashed up one day.



Come to think of it, the *very first time* I went out with a digital SLR I had some nutter come up and ask me if I had taken pictures of his daughter on her bike (who was about 200 m away at the time and facing away from me). Luckily, it hasn't continued like that!


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## boskysquelch (Feb 6, 2009)

Paul Russell said:


> some nutter



they are not "nutters"...they are all norms...and norms are the Mo(an)jority.

My stories are bigger than your stories.

Majority Roolz.


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## kyser_soze (Feb 6, 2009)

Teenagers taking the piss, innit?


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## Paul Russell (Feb 6, 2009)

boskysquelch said:


> they are not "nutters"...they are all norms...and norms are the Mo(an)jority.
> 
> My stories are bigger than your stories.
> 
> Majority Roolz.



Yeah, right.


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## boskysquelch (Feb 6, 2009)

kyser_soze said:


> Teenagers taking the piss, innit?



"It" is beyond "That"..... it is a Cultural Movement of fear and Suspicion created for the use of, and dilligence through, a hand-wringing perception of Panopticonism.

"You want safety for your kids? "

"Yes We Do!!!! "

"Go fuck a pedo(sick) for us and we'll get on with the more important things like Proflict. Spice Grease My Thighs Power. Jizza Jizza . Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."


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## Fledgling (Feb 6, 2009)

Paul Russell said:


> Come to think of it, the *very first time* I went out with a digital SLR I had some nutter come up and ask me if I had taken pictures of his daughter on her bike (who was about 200 m away at the time and facing away from me). Luckily, it hasn't continued like that!



I think people use this peadophile thing as an excuse to vent and get "offended". To any sane normal person it was clearly obvious (or at least extremely unlikely) you'd be photographing his daughter. But it's more than likely that he either a) believes all this hype in the tabloids and is therefore stupid or b) is angry about something else and decided to wrap his sad frustration in a supposedly righteous attack on you. Either way he and others like him can piss off as far as I'm concerned. Sad wankers. 

Where do you all live? I never encounter kids like this round here.


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## boskysquelch (Feb 6, 2009)

_another_ way to say it is that This is Nurture at Work...not Nature.


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## The Groke (Feb 6, 2009)

TBF we only have the OPs assurance that he _isn't_ a paedo with a camera...


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## pk (Feb 6, 2009)

Crispy said:


> When we were on the Brixton Mural walk, taking pictures of one of the murals, a mother came sprinting across the park to demand that we not take photos of her kids



I really hate this attitude, and I'd usually respond by deliberately pointing the lens at her precious brats, just to boil her shit.


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## subversplat (Feb 6, 2009)

Swarfega said:


> TBF we only have the OPs assurance that he _isn't_ a paedo with a camera...


Well personally I think we all have the right to look through his photographs and make sure there are no kids in there!


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## boskysquelch (Feb 6, 2009)

Go Google Ron Oliver & Graham Ovenden to see when This started.ie a full generation ago. This is the Culture expected by the Culture that created This.

I'd say Anthea Turner too...but I can't find any Net evidence of that...ha!


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## Paul Russell (Feb 6, 2009)

Incredible how quickly attitudes have changed. Like how Roger Mayne spent years photographing the kids in Notting Hill (then Dale) in the late 1950s.

And Martin Parr's Last Resort in the 1980s -- three summers' worth of walking around photographing kids and babies on the "beach". You wouldn't last 10 minutes now -- not even with Parr's skills!


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## GarfieldLeChat (Feb 6, 2009)

the nice thing about being in India again is everyone coming up to you demanding to be photographed not because they'll ever see it (though digital has it's benifits in that regard) but for the novelty of being photographed...


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## derf (Feb 7, 2009)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> the nice thing about being in India again is everyone coming up to you demanding to be photographed not because they'll ever see it (though digital has it's benifits in that regard) but for the novelty of being photographed...



You lucky bastard. I've wanted to visit India for years and not had the chance. May have shit it for ever going now I have a wife and sprog.
But the same goes here. Kids are always wanting their photo taken with a 'bule'.
Many have camera phones here and go crackers to get their photo taken with me. 
The UK really does have some odd ideas these days. Glad I'm out of it.


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## stowpirate (Feb 7, 2009)

derf said:


> The UK really does have some odd ideas these days. Glad I'm out of it.



It is going to get a lot worse as this upcoming generation impose more insanity on what we already have. I can see those with real cameras having to have permits and background checks while teenagers will continue to be allowed to take photos with impunity on their mobiles. It has already been mentioned a few times in the hysterical press


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## GarfieldLeChat (Feb 7, 2009)

stowpirate said:


> It is going to get a lot worse as this upcoming generation impose more insanity on what we already have. I can see those with real cameras having to have permits and background checks while teenagers will continue to be allowed to take photos with impunity on their mobiles. It has already been mentioned a few times in the hysterical press



nah it's a storm in a teacup for a particular pecuiliar period in history nothing more every time a society becomes to dracionian it falls apart...


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## GarfieldLeChat (Feb 7, 2009)

derf said:


> You lucky bastard. I've wanted to visit India for years and not had the chance. May have shit it for ever going now I have a wife and sprog.



I have no idea why this would stop you from going...

TBH it'd proably do you kid good to take them when they are old enough to appreciate it... part of me suggest actually when thee kids old enough to stay with granny or Nan to allow them to do so for 12 days and you and the misses go it'll be well worth it to do it before it becomes westernised sanitised and totally like very other western democracy... 

it's already started last time i went there was only around bit of highway accross the country now there's thousand upone thousands of miles of the stuff and it's washing away the india people have talked about for so long and bringing with it a new and ultimately blander future as green field to remotely accessable previously now starts to become industrial units...

the pollution is better the smoking ban is actually well impalmented with deisnated smoking rooms or areas and has significantly reduced the numbers of smokers... (but you cannot smoke anywhere in public privacy of your own home or in a designated area only)


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## stowpirate (Feb 7, 2009)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> nah it's a storm in a teacup for a particular pecuiliar period in history nothing more every time a society becomes to dracionian it falls apart...



Trouble is that it is all being enshrined in law and psyche of the nation. Short of some form of mass civil disobedience I cannot see a return to sanity. There is no sign of the system relaxing its hold but the reverse


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## boskysquelch (Feb 7, 2009)

stowpirate said:


> Trouble is



ffs stowpirate..don't you get it  ...you live In the Tipping Point...Archaeology just doesn't lie around to be buried...it's gets buried for Purpose.

Watch the last few seconds of Ridley Scott's nu version of _The Day the Earth Stood Still_...that's It...in Pictures.


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## cybertect (Feb 7, 2009)

stowpirate said:


> It is going to get a lot worse as this upcoming generation impose more insanity on what we already have. I can see those with real cameras having to have permits and background checks while teenagers will continue to be allowed to take photos with impunity on their mobiles. It has already been mentioned a few times in the hysterical press



There does seem to be a huge measure of irrationality about this whole thing when you actually look at the risks children face from sexual abusers - the proportion of abuse by strangers is in the region of 4%.

I remember the storm about Satanic abuse of children back in the 80s. Thankfully that particular myth was put to sleep, but in some ways I think the current obsession with pedophilia, notably 'stranger danger' is its continuation in another form.


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## stowpirate (Feb 7, 2009)

cybertect said:


> There does seem to be a huge measure of irrationality about this whole thing when you actually look at the risks children face from sexual abusers - the proportion of abuse by strangers is in the region of 4%.
> 
> I remember the storm about Satanic abuse of children back in the 80s. Thankfully that particular myth was put to sleep, but in some ways I think the current obsession with pedophilia, notably 'stranger danger' is its continuation in another form.



As you put it "stranger danger" is destructive for society and we should be encouraging our children to take risks and even talk and mix with strangers and not fear them. Who the fuck thought it was a  good idea to put locks on primary schools and put groups of toddlers on lead, they are just building more problems for the future. My kids were allowed to talk to strangers from birth and they as far as we know have never come to harm. As for photography and children it is paranoia gone mad.


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## boskysquelch (Feb 7, 2009)

I know "some" will think this is hippyshiot etc...but be gracious enuff to give it a go...only one read is necessary...I Believe.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/170/


*soz I know I'm repeating myself..._over & over_...but it's kewl...when don't you go to somewhere Regular and hear the same things more than once hey_heh?


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## stowpirate (Feb 7, 2009)

boskysquelch said:


> I know "some" will think this is hippyshiot etc...but be gracious enuff to give it a go...only one read is necessary...I Believe.
> 
> http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/170/
> 
> ...



Nirvana


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## boskysquelch (Feb 7, 2009)

stowpirate said:


> Nirvana



I wish...some day!


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## butchersapron (Apr 2, 2013)

boskysquelch said:


> Go Google Ron Oliver & Graham Ovenden to see when This started.ie a full generation ago. This is the Culture expected by the Culture that created This.
> 
> I'd say Anthea Turner too...but I can't find any Net evidence of that...ha!


Artist Graham Ovenden convicted of historic child sex offences 



> An internationally renowned artist and photographer, whose work has included portraits of nude children, has been convicted of historic sex offences against young girls dating back 40 years.
> 
> Graham Ovenden, 70, whose early tutelage was under Sir Peter Blake, the "godfather of pop art", was found guilty at Truro crown court of six charges of indecency with a child and one of indecent assault.
> 
> ...


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## sim667 (Apr 3, 2013)

I've only ever had problems twice, once with a policeman during a march who twatted me round the back of me noggin for walking too slowly whilst taking a pic and another time shooting on a 5x4 camera and someone thought it was a speed camera 

I don't tend to go out in cities photographing stuff much though, I tend really only to take photos abroad as I just can't be bothered with nobbish police and security guards in the UK.


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## Tankus (Apr 3, 2013)

I tend to go for panos of landscapes and such .....often wait to minimise the number of people in them......heh
...Urban parks and cameras ...and even single men....are becoming perceived no go areas....dunno


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## Greebo (Apr 3, 2013)

Tankus said:


> <snip>...Urban parks and cameras ...and even single men....are becoming perceived no go areas....dunno


^One of the few advantages of being female.  Mind you, I avoid leaving my camera visible for longer than essential, people are less worried about compacts (even with the zoom out), and it's stealth black.

Given the use of camera phones, the moral panic about anyone visibly using a camera in public is ridiculous and misplaced.


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## Spymaster (Apr 3, 2013)

A friend of mine, a keen amateur photographer, was asked by two coppers to leave Paddington rec last summer because there'd been "complaints from concerned parents" that he was taking pictures in the park. He showed the plod all the pictures that he'd taken which were of plants and reflections in water. They came out with some shit about children's safety being paramount and that he'd have to leave anyway. He was fuming and still gets arsey about it, especially when I wind him up about "going noncing" at the weekends.

It says something pretty sad about society when single blokes are branded paedophiles when doing nothing but minding their own business.


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## TruXta (Apr 3, 2013)

Moral panic or morons' panic?


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## Greebo (Apr 3, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Moral panic or morons' panic?


Morons' moral panic.


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 3, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Moral panic or morons' panic?


 
Most moral panics are moronic, promoted by morons, for morons.


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## butchersapron (Apr 3, 2013)

TruXta said:


> Moral panic or morons' panic?


I bumped this in order to highlight the unwitting defence of paedophile behaviour that can slip in under the banner of attacking moral panics.


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## TruXta (Apr 3, 2013)

By whom?


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## butchersapron (Apr 3, 2013)

The ramblings in the post i replied to. I'm confused as to why else anyone would think i bumped it to be honest.


> Go Google Ron Oliver & Graham Ovenden to see when This started.ie a full generation ago. This is the Culture expected by the Culture that created This.
> 
> I'd say Anthea Turner too...but I can't find any Net evidence of that...ha!


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## Balham (Apr 3, 2013)

Super photo at the beginning. Grew up in Sutton know the ponds well from childhood. A pity there are plonkers about that come out with daft comments though to ruin your day.


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## starfish2000 (Apr 3, 2013)

Didnt this happen in the first series of Peepshow?

My sympathies, its never happened to me, but I could see it happening if ya know what I mean.


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## Pickman's model (Apr 3, 2013)

Spymaster said:


> A friend of mine, a keen amateur photographer, was asked by two coppers to leave Paddington rec last summer because there'd been "complaints from concerned parents" that he was taking pictures in the park. He showed the plod all the pictures that he'd taken which were of plants and reflections in water. They came out with some shit about children's safety being paramount and that he'd have to leave anyway. He was fuming and still gets arsey about it, especially when I wind him up about "going noncing" at the weekends.
> 
> It says something pretty sad about society when single blokes are branded paedophiles when doing nothing but minding their own business.


even if he had been taking pictures of children there'd have been fuck all the cops could do bar asking him to go, because no one has a right to privacy in a publick place. Obviously most people have the courtesy to ask other members of the publick before taking their picture, but I have never extended that to cops, ticket inspectors or suchlike. But what do cops or parents think would happen to the pictures of these children? Even allowing for paedophiles finding children sexually attractive, it would take a right perv some effort, i'd expect, to crack one off over a picture of a toddler playing in the sun.


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## TruXta (Apr 3, 2013)

butchersapron said:


> The ramblings in the post i replied to. I'm confused as to why else anyone would think i bumped it to be honest.


Oh right, sorry.


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## TruXta (Apr 3, 2013)

BTW it's a bit sad to see this thread with so many posters dead, gone or banned.


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## dweller (Apr 28, 2013)

This just happened to me and I'm still seething. I just sat down on the grass in a small park for two secs, 
 not a child or even the sound of a child in view of earshot and I decided to take a couple of shots of the dandelions on the grass a metre in front of me.
After taking them and getting a sort of typical shallow depth of field effect with blossom in the background a woman out of nowhere comes striding up to me.
"What are you doing?"
At first I thought, I'm not in a private park am I?, no er ok . So I thought maybe she's into photography and wanted to strike up a convo.
Unlikely, but what else could it possibly be?
Anyway after telling her about my so-called arty flower shots, she said "You're not taking photos of those children then?"
I was gob-smacked.
"What children?" I said. As far as I could see there were absolutely no children around and still weren't.
It turns out over this little hill I was on and way beyond some other trees and behind a fence there was a kids playground.
Anyway I didn't get angry because I like to be nice, but as she was walking away she said "you should be more careful"
And I'm thinking what the fuck!
There is just me a pigeon and a dandelion here. What do I have to be careful of?
Anyway, you can tell I'm angry and I'm just venting, but I really think things are getting ridiculous in the UK and probably some other
 paranoid countries. Everyone is so fearful. I think it is she that should have been more careful.
If I'd been observed, for some length of time pointing a camera towards some children then I could accept at least she had something approaching a reason
to challenge me. 
Instead, 30 seconds of sitting down and photographing a flower and it is "I MUST GO AND STOP THE PAEDO!"
Right, little rant over


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## weltweit (Apr 28, 2013)

dweller tbf that would piss me off also. None of her business what you are up to anyhow in a public place. Some people are just busybodies and I suspect this woman was one of those.


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## bi0boy (Apr 28, 2013)

You should have followed her accusing her of trying to steal your camera or something.


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## dweller (Apr 28, 2013)

Yeah, I think I was double pissed off one because there were plainly no kids around and two because of their snipey comment as they walked away.
I think she made that comment because she felt a bit foolish when she realised it was an unwarranted challenge.
Ah, well, I'm getting a can o' beer now.


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## Tankus (Apr 28, 2013)

.........happened to me in Roath park (cardiff) a year or two back ..heard a woman call me a perv ... behind me 

I was on my hands and knees in front of some swans at the time


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## stuff_it (Apr 28, 2013)

Tankus said:


> .........happened to me in Roath park (cardiff) a year or two back ..heard a woman call me a perv ... behind me
> 
> I was on my hands and knees in front of some swans at the time


You filthy bastard, everyone knows swans are too young to give consent.


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## weltweit (Apr 28, 2013)

I wonder what would happen if the photographer just started taking lots of photographs of the busybody. Click what are you doing click click..... etc ... I suppose they would just be so incensed that they would probably call the police


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## skyscraper101 (Apr 28, 2013)

Sorry to hear this dweller.

Straight up I would've photographed her anyway after being so confrontational. And then told her to do one.


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## abe11825 (Apr 29, 2013)

As much as I would like to carry my camera around with me, this thread is the exact reason I don't. I live in a rather touristy area (during season) and when we go down to the beach, I'd like to take random pictures, but am afraid some twit is going to go fuck all on me and say shit (no one has yet). I _have_ gotten some really decent pictures, but it's at the sake of being paranoid. My camera stays in my bag at least 80 per cent of the time I'm walking around _*anywhere *_ that I bring it.

It sucks, living in the world we do now. No one can do what they want, all because a few nutters fucked it up for every one else. My questions is, how does legal press people deal with it? I'm sure they get the shit stare too.... and they're on the job!


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## Pickman's model (Apr 29, 2013)

dweller said:


> This just happened to me and I'm still seething. I just sat down on the grass in a small park for two secs,
> not a child or even the sound of a child in view of earshot and I decided to take a couple of shots of the dandelions on the grass a metre in front of me.
> After taking them and getting a sort of typical shallow depth of field effect with blossom in the background a woman out of nowhere comes striding up to me.
> "What are you doing?"
> ...


where you went wrong, is not kneecapping her.


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## Artaxerxes (Apr 29, 2013)

What would these people do if you actually said "Yes, I am indeed a pedo and I'm going to get my pedo friends to pedo at you because your a pedo magnet made of delicious pedo juice"


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## emanymton (Apr 29, 2013)

Tankus said:


> .........happened to me in Roath park (cardiff) a year or two back ..heard a woman call me a perv ... behind me
> 
> I was on my hands and knees in front of some swans at the time


Urmmm, What exactly where you doing with the swans at the time?


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## sim667 (Apr 29, 2013)

abe11825 said:


> As much as I would like to carry my camera around with me, this thread is the exact reason I don't. I live in a rather touristy area (during season) and when we go down to the beach, I'd like to take random pictures, but am afraid some twit is going to go fuck all on me and say shit (no one has yet). I _have_ gotten some really decent pictures, but it's at the sake of being paranoid. My camera stays in my bag at least 80 per cent of the time I'm walking around _*anywhere *_that I bring it.
> 
> It sucks, living in the world we do now. No one can do what they want, all because a few nutters fucked it up for every one else. My questions is, how does legal press people deal with it? I'm sure they get the shit stare too.... and they're on the job!


 
It only seems to be a problem in the UK though. I've only ever been questioned about what I'm photographing in the UK, when a vast majority of my photographs have been taken abroad.

I have never been accused of being a paedo though, I once got questioned as to whether a 5x4 camera was a speed camera (I was doing long exposure headlight trail shots with it), and I've had run ins with over zealous security guards in London, and police at a protest march


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## sim667 (Apr 29, 2013)

emanymton said:


> Urmmm, What exactly where you doing with the swans at the time?


 
Greasing up a roasting dish.


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## weltweit (Apr 29, 2013)

I took photographs near a military base without realising and the next day two plain clothed policemen appeared at my door asking to see what photographs I had taken and why.


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## 8ball (Apr 29, 2013)

weltweit said:


> I took photographs near a military base without realising and the next day two plain clothed policemen appeared at my door asking to see what photographs I had taken and why.


 
This is the sort of thing I'd probably unwittingly do. 

More on topic, I was with my nephews at a kids playground and was taking some photos - I'm sure some photos have other kids in them - there were other parents etc. with cameras too.  It never even would have occurred to me that the paedo-panic has gone as far as people randomly accusing anyone with a camera.


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## Pickman's model (Apr 29, 2013)

8ball said:


> This is the sort of thing I'd probably unwittingly do.
> 
> More on topic, I was with my nephews at a kids playground and was taking some photos - I'm sure some photos have other kids in them - there were other parents etc. with cameras too. It never even would have occurred to me that the paedo-panic has gone as far as people randomly accusing anyone with a camera.


it's the people _without_ cameras you should be looking out for


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## 8ball (Apr 29, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> it's the people _without_ cameras you should be looking out for


 
I usually don't have a camera!


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## Pickman's model (Apr 29, 2013)

8ball said:


> I usually don't have a camera!


get one sharpish


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## Kizmet (Apr 29, 2013)

maybe you should have to have a license to have a camera... solves 2 problems in one stroke.


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## abe11825 (Apr 29, 2013)

sim667 said:


> It only seems to be a problem in the UK though. I've only ever been questioned about what I'm photographing in the UK, when a vast majority of my photographs have been taken abroad.


 
To be honest, although I see your point and don't disagree, I think maybe it's more pronounced of an issue in the UK. Like, the US (or any other country) seems more focused on other problems, than turning people into paedos at a desolate park. Then again, I can only speak from experience in Boston and Fort Myers, two very different tourist cities. 

I know a lot of avid / amateur (and pro) photogs up in Boston used to rely solely on abandoned buildings and isolated areas to get a really well rounded shot. Some of the architecture in the city screams "take my picture", and it was captured perfectly. However, it was always in areas where people less frequented. 

Maybe it's just the crowd I hung around and their way of thinking.


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## el-ahrairah (Apr 29, 2013)

i don't do a lot of photography but i have to admit that i have never, ever, ever had anyone complain about me taking pictures.  some of you must look way more noncey than me.


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## el-ahrairah (Apr 29, 2013)

mind you, i have had people email me through flickr to tell me to stop taking pictures because i'm shit.  i guess that is kind of the same thing.


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## sim667 (Apr 29, 2013)

el-ahrairah said:


> i don't do a lot of photography but i have to admit that i have never, ever, ever had anyone complain about me taking pictures.  some of you must look way more noncey than me.



It's something to do with big cameras I think, only paedos carry big cameras to make themselves really obvious to the anti paedo masses


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## fogbat (Apr 29, 2013)

"I may be a paedo, but I  wouldn't be caught dead  photographing your kids. Ugly little buggers, they are. "


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 29, 2013)

I had occasion to watch this again the other day http://2point8.whileseated.org/2007/03/23/garry-winogrand-with-bill-moyers/ (brilliant little interview).

It made me sad that it's highly unlikely he would be able to take those photos today. He looked incredibly suspicious as he wandered around snapping off photos, but I believe that was because a) he wanted the shots to be as candid as possible, and b) he comes across as being a bit shy and awkward anyway. But if you saw someone like him wandering around with a camera like that today, what would you think? We've had this 'anyone acting suspiciously' shit rammed down our throats to the point where even the best of us might just have taken a second look and had it rush through our minds "what's he up to?"

Greebo said being a woman helps. Probably. But I've never felt comfortable taking my cameras out because I can't stand the thought of being approached and questioned by someone. I really fucking hate feeling like that.


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## scifisam (Apr 29, 2013)

abe11825 said:


> To be honest, although I see your point and don't disagree, I think maybe it's more pronounced of an issue in the UK. Like, the US (or any other country) seems more focused on other problems, than turning people into paedos at a desolate park. Then again, I can only speak from experience in Boston and Fort Myers, two very different tourist cities.
> 
> I know a lot of avid / amateur (and pro) photogs up in Boston used to rely solely on abandoned buildings and isolated areas to get a really well rounded shot. Some of the architecture in the city screams "take my picture", and it was captured perfectly. However, it was always in areas where people less frequented.
> 
> Maybe it's just the crowd I hung around and their way of thinking.



I'm on a mostly US forum similar to this and there have been multiple threads just like this one.


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## weltweit (Apr 29, 2013)

Vintage Paw said:


> .........
> Greebo said being a woman helps. Probably. But I've never felt comfortable taking my cameras out because I can't stand the thought of being approached and questioned by someone. I really fucking hate feeling like that.


I also have the impression that a female photographer has more licence, because everybody knows, most paedos are men!! ..


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## Greebo (Apr 29, 2013)

weltweit said:


> I also have the impression that a female photographer has more licence, because everybody knows, most paedos are men!! ..


Not only that, but female photographers aren't usually expected to be photojournalists, terrorists, spies, or taking anything other than a few harmless snaps.


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## FridgeMagnet (Apr 29, 2013)

I've taken a fair number of pictures in parks etc where there are kids about and IME that sort of reaction is the rare exception. The very idea of it happening can put people off though. I was in a park last week when the weather was nice, with my camera, and even though I knew almost everyone is sensible and knows that people take pictures of stuff, I was still thinking "I better be careful about what shots I take". For a bit anyway.

The only trouble I've had taking pics of kids has been from kids themselves, though they would not have liked being called that at all as they were obviously proper revolutionaries and I was MI5 or something.


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## Grandma Death (Apr 30, 2013)

I know fuck all about peados but I should imagine most would do what they do in the privacy of their own home and on the internet rather than go out and expose themselves to take pictures of kids?

It's all very bizzarre. People are so ultra aware of it now which on balance isn't a bad thing-but the downside is you get reactions exactly like this. These kids sound morons though-probably the type of kids that would go with badly spelt banners and petrol bombs to a suspected offenders house.


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## Utopia (Apr 30, 2013)

fogbat said:


> "I may be a paedo, but I wouldn't be caught dead photographing your kids. Ugly little buggers, they are. "


 
Indeed........its a known fact that the biggest cause of Paedophilia is indeed sexy kids, take them out of society and the temptation is no longer there for the weak minded.


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## Mr Smin (Apr 30, 2013)

Grandma Death said:


> expose themselves to take pictures of kids


 
Unfortunate choice of words. Made me imagine a human-camera cyborg whose "flasher's mac" was add-on made by Canon.


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 30, 2013)

Artaxerxes said:


> What would these people do if you actually said "Yes, I am indeed a pedo and I'm going to get my pedo friends to pedo at you because your a pedo magnet made of delicious pedo juice"


 
Paedo Jews, eh?


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 30, 2013)

emanymton said:


> Urmmm, What exactly where you doing with the swans at the time?


 
Hoping to get some beak-up-arse action, probably.


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