Comments on: Photographer Parent is a Pervert?!

By: Kristinia-Loving Heart Mommy

Kristinia-Loving Heart Mommy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:28:48 +0000

I have noticed this also being an issue here.. I was at our local library and they have a 2nd floor dedicated to “children”. They have certain sections where children can play with toys, legos, books, play kitchens , etc.. kind of like a big daycare setting but with books involved. Another Mother had her camera out taking pics of her child, so I figured hey why not (cause I also carry mine everywhere I go), she started to give me looks.. I wasn’t going to snap a picture of her children and one Mother instantly left as soon as she saw camera.. Its Nuts!

By: Ginny

Ginny — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:13:30 +0000

You know, this is really weird to be reading this today. We went to the beach twice this week & both times I felt really funny taking pics of my kids. My camera has 12x zoom, so sometimes I am really far from my girls, but I always zoom right in to my kids. I kept thinking, I sure hope people can tell I’m zooming in!

There was one time though that I took just me & my youngest to the beach. She had to have been about two. She was playing in the sand near another girl & this guy was video taping. I assumed that he was video taping HIS daughter. Then she got up & left & he stayed video taping my kid! I was totally freaking out. I scooped her up & went away from them. I wanted to say something but I was alone & he was with a big family. I still get the creeps over it.

By: Drasties - Nou breekt me de klomp.

Drasties - Nou breekt me de klomp. — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:01:07 +0000

[...] Inside Motherhood reacts as a fellow parent and photographer: I don’t take pictures of them playing with other kids unless I know them fairly well, but if I was accused of being a pervert or told I was doing something wrong for taking pictures of my own children playing, I’d be very upset, very offended, and wouldn’t really know what to do. I’d probably comply just because I wouldn’t want anyone to break my camera (or get physical with me directly) but I’d be very angry about it. [...]

By: Dreama

Dreama — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:04:23 +0000

This is apparently becoming rather the norm in the UK. There have been instances where the police themselves have told parents to stop taking photos of their own kids when other kids can be seen in the background. They’re basically enforcing a law in such a way that it’s no longer permissible to point a camera toward a group of kids in a public place, whether your own are there or not.

A male friend in the UK tells me that if he went and sat in a park on his own, reading a book or paper or listening to music, but in eyeshot of where kids are playing, the police would come and shoo him off because no grown man would sit near where kids are playing for any legitimate reason, in the eyes of a paedophile-obsessed society.

It’s frightening. I’m all for keeping kids safe, but the most important part of that is perspective and remembering that statistically, “stranger danger” isn’t the biggest danger our kids face.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:59:46 +0000

I agree with Kelly. This was probably more a case of sexism than anything else.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:57:31 +0000

It was probably because he was a man. They probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it if it was a woman taking the pictures.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:44:38 +0000

Wow, that’s crazy. If the others thought something was wrong, why didn’t they just *ask*? Would they want people assuming the worst about them?