Friday, December 3, 2010 at 10:16PM | 3 Comments paranoia will destroy ya
story time, boys and girls.
the other night, i went to the broiler. really hadn't planned on it, but my better half wanted to go, so off we went. was pleasantly surprised to find a fair number of cars, especially after my last couple of trips there. so we did a walk-through to see what was there worth shooting, and sat down to get the cameras ready.
probably spent an hour shooting various cars, my hubbie being mr. marketeer and showing off past images on his ipad in between his shots. i did my thing while he did his. several cars from the sultans car club showed up; a couple of them i've shot at other places in the past. some of the cadillac guys also showed, as well as this hot rod. there were a couple of really beautiful 1957 pontiac star chiefs in the lot, one you can see pieces of here.
anyway, to get to the point of the missing piece above, it was my last shot of the night. ready to go, but waiting on my hubbie to get done taking a shot of the pontiac (that's his tripod off to the left). i'd seen this particular unnamed car elsewhere and even taken some shots of it's pinstriped details. it is really a well done pinstripe job, and the car is not bad either, but i digress.
i was just finishing the long exposure for this shot, when this guy, whom i'll refer to as "richard" here, walks up between the cars (in my shot, i'll add), and gets in my face and says in a not so friendly tone, "you taking a picture of my car? what do you do with the pictures?" dude is practically looming, all puffed up like a bullfrog. my hubbie hears/sees this guy talking and walks on over...
"richard" proceeds to insist, loudly, that he doesn't want any photos taken of his car, and that i not post any pictures of it. he'd be happier if i deleted them, but doesn't wait/ask for me to do so. at this point, i'm wondering what he intends to do. if he plans on grabbing my camera, my hubbie will make him very sorry about his choice, but he backs off a bit instead.
he blathers on about how thieves will see the license plate, look it up on the internet, and get his address, then come and steal his car. claimed three of his buddies' cars had been stolen, and apparently, they'd decided this must be how it was done. seems like too much effort and intelligence for the average car thief to me.
of course, i'm sure that happens, but to get on with the counterpoint to this lame excuse for a non-picture. not getting into a pissing match with an <insert obvious expletive here>, we countered with the fact that he'd made the point of driving from his home, or wherever the car is stashed, through the city, to this show, for the sole purpose of people seeing and admiring it. pointed out that it was in a public place, albeit a restaurant lot which happened to be hosting this car show, with many people taking pictures of all the cars on the lot. he didn't hassle any of them.
i can only assume he zeroed in on me, because i had a tripod. probably thought i was with a magazine and was going to publish it without getting a model release or something. i did tell him, it was for fun, and that i post stuff i like on my website. told him, had he wanted, i could have removed the plate or blanked it out, but he insisted it not be posted.
he actually had the balls to tell us we should always ask first before taking pictures, because most people would not want their cars posted anywhere the bad guys could see the plates, and thereby steal the cars. pull your head out, "richard." seriously.
didn't matter that anyone could have followed him at any point on his route to the show, and copied the plate down, or just do what someone did to my ex's truck...followed him home, then do the thievery while the owner slept. if he's so worried about it, just stay home in your garage, and keep it all to your little bitty self. no one would ever know...
anyway, didn't want to argue with him, he's not worth it, and since i respect his request (or anyone else's, for that matter) to not post a picture of his car, here's a picture of all the other stuff that was in the shot. too bad really, because it was a decent shot of this "richard's" car. big mistake, richard. big.
kma
Reader Comments (3)
How sad , but so true. I have had the "pleasure" of being approached and confronted too. Usually I am able to explain that 99.9% of the time i either delete the plate or alter numbers to avoid these concerns. But every now and then I get a "offer" to share the proceeds if an image of their car ever sells, which I politely decline then delete the image while they watch.
What a jerk. This guy needs to keep his car in the garage and stay home.
Kathy, I too have been approached my a car owner who was not happy that I was photographing his car. He was not happy that I was working for a magazine and was going to make money off of his car. I heard him out and proceeded to delete the image while he watched. As I walked away, he asked what magazine I was shooting for when I answered him, his "mood" changed and he asked if if I would take another shot "cause he's always wanted to be in the magazine". I respectful reminded him that he did not want me taking photos of his car and walked away. Every now and then I see him at a show. I will photograph every car around his but I will not photograph his. He has never approached me again. His loss, not mine.
Like Gary commented, people like that should just keep their cars at home...