Thursday, March 20, 2008

Odd photography


Odd, I mean, in the terms of a photographer doing something odd, not odd as in a photograph of something odd. Do you get me, or is this all starting to sound a bit odd? Oddly enough, I agree - something odd is happening.

As if photographers, professional or not, are not under the cosh enough already. They're scared of being abused in public, scared of having their camera ripped out of their hands, scared of being arrested and scared of being accused of being a paedophile.

They're not scared for no reason - these things are happening. I've not had the paedo label hurled at me, but I have been abused (see blog of angry man at Gateshead Shopping Centre below).

Now those infinitely wisdomatic people at the Metropolitan Police in London have started a campaign to report odd looking photographers to police because they are probably terrorists.

You can read the poster for yourself. Thousands Of People Take Photos Everyday. What If One Of Them Seems Odd?

Odd? You take a photo down any highstreet in Britain and people think you're odd. It's one of the perks of the job. Now they're trying to take that away.

Being odd was once a privilege, now it's the quickest route to Guantanamo Bay.

The next time I take a photograph of a smoker outside the back door of a pub, rather than behaving oddly I'm going to blend perfectly into the background by behaving normally: I'll slur my words, ask a blonde bird for a spit roast and then vomit in the gutter. Nothing odd about that.