Was at Chinatown this evening snapping architectural photos when I heard someone angrily shouting "Hey what's your problem?". Puzzled, I turned around to realize that the comment was targeted at me. However, I just ignored him and carried on shooting more photos. A minute later I realized that the man was still staring at me - pissed. Another guy approached me asking me why I was taking photos. Apparently he works at one of the pubs there and was worried that I had taken photos of the pub/their girls. I told him that i was just taking architectural photos and not photos of his pub or whatever. He followed up by asking me why I was taking photos and I replied "For fun?!" in a really duhhh manner. He walked away after that. Later on as I was walking down some ulu sidewalks, I realized many pairs of eyes observing me intently as i snapped at more scenes. it made me very nervous feeling like a rabbit trapped in a lion's den (it really felt that way). Casually I approached one of the men and asked him if there was anything wrong with taking photos. He said "No one said cannot what." Then why stare at me as if I did something so gravely bad?
There were some nervy moments during today's phototaking walkabout and it made me wonder if other photographers face similar problems as well. Is it wrong to take photos of certain places or people? Certainly I would think that taking photographs of those Pub waitresses or prostitutes would definitely be inviting trouble with the pimps/bouncers. But how about the rights of just taking architectural shots?
