What would you have done?

BBR

BBR

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Brian
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Sunday morning (left at 04.30!) I went to Richmond park to photograph the deer.

We followed the bellowing and came across a beautiful vista, on a rise looking down on a herd of deer with a lake, mist and soon to be rising sun in the background.

There were already two dozen photographers set up looking down at the herd. No doubt waiting for the rutting (fight) to begin, there were 5 stags trying to muscle in on the main stags harem.

The sun began to rise and it was truly beautiful scene and great light. Except for the handful of photographers that had taken themselves down the hill to get a different angle and consequently appear in every other photographers shot.

Personally I thought their actions were exceedingly selfish and ill mannered, is it right to go for the shot you want and sod everyone else? What do you think?
 
crofter said:
I wouldn't go anywhere where there may be 2 dozen photographers so this wouldn't arise.
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Very good point.
I have to say I didn't expect there would be so many people out on a Sunday morning before dawn.

Unfortunately we didn't want to miss the light so didn't really have time to explore further and decided to make do with what we had.
 
Pretty sure they were probably thinking the same thing about the bunch of photographers up the hill.
No one was right, no one was wrong.
And no one had any more rights to position than the others.
Shame, but there it is....IMO.
 
Nothing worse than 2 dozen rutting photographers!
 
BBR said:
the handful of photographers that had taken themselves down the hill to get a different angle
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How is it wrong that they took the initiative to make sure did not want to comeback with the same pictures as the other photographers?
 
I don't shoot wildlife or animals very often, but I do occasionally run into this problem with landscapes, albeit on a much smaller scale of maybe 1-2 people in my view.

Generally I'll try my best to avoid getting in other photographers way, whether they arrived first or I did. It only takes a bit of planning of where I'll stand and I can usually find somewhere where I'm not in their view. If I can't I tend to wait for a short time until they've moved on a bit.

There's only a couple of times when this isn't the case:

If I'm already stood in a spot composing an image, and they then arrive and set up in a place where I'm then in their way, then tough luck for them.

If they're set up in such a way that it would be impossible for me not to get in their way, then that's their problem too. For example, I was shooting Durdle Door a few years ago and there was a chap at the top of the hill/cliff who was using a wide angle lens to get the entire scene in for miles around. I'm sorry but for me to stay out of his way would mean either standing right next to him or hiding behind a rock. Ain't going to happen.


I don't like it when people don't care and stand in my way, so I don't do it to others. However, if someone did it to me, there's not really much I can do as they have as much right to stand where they want as I do. It can p**s me off occasionally but there ain't nothing I can do about it!

Like I said, my situation is a bit different to yours. If I were with you on that day I probably would have muttered some very rude words under my breath and then tried to work around them. can totally understand your frustration though.
 
Did many of them have beards? Strange folk photographers with beards, never to be trusted.

All of them have the exact same rights, I suppose manners and good will would prevent those who came late from butting in and being in the other shot, yes its inconsiderate, but thats life now.
 
What if a photographer turned up behind you wanting a wider shot? Are you suddenly in the wrong, there? Or a photographer turns up behind her, wanting an even wider shot? Who's in the wrong now? And so on, ad infinitum. I don't see any reason for anybody to have any right to any position in a public space.
 
Carl Hall said:
If I were with you on that day I probably would have muttered some very rude words under my breath and then tried to work around them. can totally understand your frustration though.
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I agree with this, don't think there is anything you can do about it at the end of the day, you couldn't have got them to move to get the shot you wanted in time, without using the shotgun method @crofter suggested, This for me is the main reason I only photography the Deers than live around me as people don't get in the way which you also get unique shots that way & to add I can't stand Richmond Park, never been and never will go as all the images look rather the same IMHO as they have been done to death with the hundreds of photographers that flock to the site, not for me.
 
Some of the worst examples I've seen were in the Kruger Park. Visitors have to stay on the roads and getting good opportunities to see/photograph animals is largely a matter of luck. A big five sighting, and particularly lion for some reason, near the road means that a fair number of people will stop. Not uncommon for some selfish type to drive off the road and park between the other vehicles and the animals, to make sure his family get an uninterrupted view. I've seen some of the safari vehicles carrying tourists from the private reserves around Kruger doing this too.

Years ago, Kruger's own rangers and staff did a pretty good job of controlling anti-social behaviour in the park and the rest camps, but they don't seem to care very much now.
 
Why not go on Monday instead? Probably quieter then?
 
BBR said:
Sunday morning (left at 04.30!) I went to Richmond park to photograph the deer.

We followed the bellowing and came across a beautiful vista, on a rise looking down on a herd of deer with a lake, mist and soon to be rising sun in the background.

There were already two dozen photographers set up looking down at the herd. No doubt waiting for the rutting (fight) to begin, there were 5 stags trying to muscle in on the main stags harem.

The sun began to rise and it was truly beautiful scene and great light. Except for the handful of photographers that had taken themselves down the hill to get a different angle and consequently appear in every other photographers shot.

Personally I thought their actions were exceedingly selfish and ill mannered, is it right to go for the shot you want and sod everyone else? What do you think?
Click to expand...


I'd have thought.... "There's no point in taking this, as there's already a gaggle of other snappers taking exactly the same shot" and gone home.
 
BBR said:
Sunday morning (left at 04.30!)

The sun began to rise and it was truly beautiful scene and great light. Except for the handful of photographers that had taken themselves down the hill to get a different angle and consequently appear in every other photographers shot.

Personally I thought their actions were exceedingly selfish and ill mannered, is it right to go for the shot you want and sod everyone else? What do you think?
Click to expand...

There's nothing you can do about it unfortunately - they have as much right to stand where they wish as everybody else. Maybe they didn't realise they were in the way - some people are like that. Maybe they thought you could just photo shop them out. The only time I would object to someone else is if, for example, they literally and deliberately came and stood two feet in front of me knowing full well they were preventing me from seeing anything, given I had arrived at that spot first. In that scenario I would expect them to simply wait their turn which I feel is standard protocol in a similar situation, wherever it arises, with cameras or not. But in a park or similar, you can't do anything about people wandering across your line of view. Sure it can be frustrating, but you can't really get angry about it.
 
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In situations like this, I normally head to another vantage point at the same location so I don't get the same shot as everyone else - it could be a good chance to get something different.
 
BBR said:
The sun began to rise and it was truly beautiful scene and great light. Except for the handful of photographers that had taken themselves down the hill to get a different angle and consequently appear in every other photographers shot.
Personally I thought their actions were exceedingly selfish and ill mannered, is it right to go for the shot you want and sod everyone else? What do you think?
Click to expand...

Richmond Park is a big place, I will be there on Sunday with some friends, mainly for the deer as they haven't seen them that often and certainly not fighting.
Will I be looking around for someone on a hill trying to get the landscape..............................highly unlikely as my thoughts will be elsewhere.
In the same way I know I will have to move about to try and avoid getting people in my shots, but it is a huge public place and you have to expect it
 
redsnappa said:
How is it wrong that they took the initiative to make sure did not want to comeback with the same pictures as the other photographers?
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Well the guys on the hill were there first, and while there is no rule against them doing what they did, I felt it was a bit selfish. It would appear that some photographers will go for 'their shot' without any consideration for the majority, other photographers show a bit more consideration for others, consequently may not get the shot they wanted.
 
ghoti said:
What if a photographer turned up behind you wanting a wider shot? Are you suddenly in the wrong, there? Or a photographer turns up behind her, wanting an even wider shot? Who's in the wrong now? And so on, ad infinitum. I don't see any reason for anybody to have any right to any position in a public space.
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I walked behind the photographers that were already there and took up a position where I was not in front of anyone else. I know I don't have any rights over anyone else, may be I'm too considerate:)
 
BBR said:
Well the guys on the hill were there first, and while there is no rule against them doing what they did, I felt it was a bit selfish. It would appear that some photographers will go for 'their shot' without any consideration for the majority, other photographers show a bit more consideration for others, consequently may not get the shot they wanted.
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Yes, it can seem selfish at times but there's not much we can do about it. Human nature unfortunately. That said, I do feel that if the people are close enough to communicate with, having a chat with them can be helpful. Perhaps something along the lines of 'hi, I see you're also wanting to photograph the deer - they look great don't they? I was wondering if I could ask a huge favour .... we've been here for the last couple of hours and the light is just getting nice but unfortunately you're quite prominent in all of my pictures. Would it be possible for you to move back for a few minutes? Then I will of course move as well if I'm also in your own line of view'. In my experience a reasonable request usually gets a reasonable response. And if not, you can accidentally be in their pictures for the rest of the morning. ;)

If they are too far away to talk to then I'm guessing they might be small enough in the picture to clone out - I do this quite often.
 
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