People are camera-shy but not phone-shy? [View all]

[usonian]

https://photoni.st/index.php/2026/01/02/serious-suspicious/

Like me, you’ve probably carried both phones and proper cameras through countless streets, events, and gatherings, and the difference in people’s reactions is stark enough to make you question everything we think we know about privacy and consent in photography.

Hold up an iPhone to capture a sunset, a street scene, or even strangers at a café, and you’re invisible. Nobody flinches. Nobody asks questions. You’re just another person documenting their life in the socially acceptable way we’ve apparently all agreed upon. But pull out a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a good lens, and suddenly you’re transformed from casual observer into potential threat.

I have been asked to stop taking tight framed photos of my wife in a Starbucks when a bunch of girls at the table next to us were taking truckloads of selfies with the shop in the background. When I asked why I was told that the company doesn’t allow photography on its premises. But apparently if you use a phone it’s not photography.

I’ve been taking photos at a small village randonnee, just so that people can have something to remember it and have it in the village monthly newsletter, just to have someone shout at me that they didn’t want their face in any of my photos and they’d sue me if I used them for anything. The guy next to me was filming with his phone!

The only solution I've come up with is a bit of a James Bond one.



Keep a can of tuna handy to enhance the disguise. Makes a good snack afterwards (unless you ate too much at the cafe)


Meanwhile, camera-shy person fails to notice:



up above