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picture taking etiquette?

 
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At lunch I went to a free event called "Broadway on the Hudson". It was singers from Broadway shows performing outside. The woman next to me stood up during the performance. When people told her to sit down she replied "I'm just taking a picture" and proceeded to make a scene.

Personally, I think this is obnoxious; even in New York. Take your picture sitting down. It isn't fair to obstruct everyone's view.

My questions:
1) Do people do this all over? (New Yorkers are called rude so I wonder if this fits it)
2) What do you do when this happens to you? Luckily she wasn't in my way so I didn't need to say anything. Because I do in other circumstances which results in both of us missing what is going on.
 
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I think something like that can happen anywhere, not just in New York... The woman is being rude, she knows she's disturbing the performance, but acts as if it's OK because she's taking a picture. What reply did she expect? "I'm just taking a picture!". "Oh yeah, sorry, then it's OK!".

Knowing myself, I would probably grumble and not say anything, unless she keeps on being annoying.

I like photography myself, and I've just started a course on travel photography. My assignment for this week is: make 7 photos on the theme "on the go".
 
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If the person is really obnoxious, I would pour a drink or water or something on the seat when they are standing to take the photo. Oops.
 
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I second Manish.

I've not attended a huge number of concerts/plays (I live in India), but personally, I've never encountered anything like this.

When someone (who is a spectator) stands just to take picture, he/she is disturbing people behind him/her (sometimes people near him/her) - this is simply common sense.

I also like to take picture in concert (of course, if it is allowed). However, I follow 3 very simple rules:
1) If I want to take pictures, don't seat in audience.
2) While taking picture, I should be either seating on the ground, or standing in such a way that I should not obstruct view of any spectator.
3) Do not(ever) do something due to which the performer will get disturb or loose his/her bearing (concentration).

I've heard the stories of people keeping their camera's auto-focus beep on even during music concerts - which is plainly stupid and arrogant. I've also heard the stories when such people were escorted out of the auditorium (and they did not get the refund)
 
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Making a scene is disruptive, but standing up to take a picture is fine, IMO. That should not take more than 10 seconds - was there more to it than that?
 
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Do people do that all over? It depends on the kind of event. I wouldn't expect it to happen at the Metropolitan Opera, for example. But I wouldn't be surprised for it to happen at a hockey game.
 
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Ulf Dittmer wrote:Making a scene is disruptive, but standing up to take a picture is fine, IMO. That should not take more than 10 seconds - was there more to it than that?


It was more than 10 seconds. I feel like this has gotten worse in recent years as people's phones do photos/video. If 20 people in front of you block your view for 10 seconds (which does seem like an acceptable amount of time), you've missed 3 minutes of the performance. The whole event was 60 minutes. Probably closer to 50 if you exclude the chatter. So this about a 5% disruption rate.

Incidentally when I do "crowd control" at the NYC robotics competition, I do allow about 10 seconds to take a picture. We are given instructions from the facility to keep the aisle clear. Plus the people in the stands can't see the game if people take pictures. And it's worse there because matches are roughly 2.5 minutes long. Making the percentage of time blocking the view per photo much higher.
 
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Paul Clapham wrote: But I wouldn't be surprised for it to happen at a hockey game.


Just curious, how long is it acceptable for the person in front of you to stand at a hockey game? Or do you just spend the whole match standing in front of your seat so it doesn't matter?
 
Paul Clapham
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Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:

Paul Clapham wrote: But I wouldn't be surprised for it to happen at a hockey game.


Just curious, how long is it acceptable for the person in front of you to stand at a hockey game? Or do you just spend the whole match standing in front of your seat so it doesn't matter?



I'm not a hockey fan and I haven't attended a game since the 2010 Olympics. So I don't have a good knowledge of those unwritten rules. All I know is what I've seen on television now and then. However I suspect that standing at sports events is more for cheering than for photography, and that there are different unwritten rules for how long you can stand and do either of those things.
 
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Standing to take a photo was acceptable in the pre-digital days as long as you were quick. This was necessary because you had to use the viewfinder to frame the shot.

These days, every camera and smart phone has an LCD screen to let you frame the shot. It lets you stay seated and raise the camera overhead. Much less intrusive than standing.
 
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