If you take my picture I’ll call the cops.

If you visit this site often you may have become aware that I enjoy candid photography. One of my favorite places to take candid shots is Fort Lauderdale Beach. The beach is great because it is one place that folks are fairly vulnerable. On top of this it’s just across the street. I’m pretty low key about how I take the pictures, mostly because I don’t want folks to act in any unnatural way. But sometimes I click away. Most people are just too stupefied to even react to having their picture taken. Others just ignore the fact. Every once in a while people with get in my face about having their picture taken. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen. I’ve found from experience that it’s usually people of color that get up tight about it. Today for example a Haitian guy and his family got really upset about me snapping a couple of shots of them washing off the sand at the beach shower. He confronts me and asks me to delete the shots from my camera. I tell him no. He says he’s going to call the cops. I politely explain to him that there is no law forbidding photography in a public place. And I tell him that if he wished to call 911 and ask them to send a patrol car to arrest someone taking pictures on the beach I’d be more than happy to wait to hear their response. I walked away and he just looked befuddled. Happy snapping.