Suspicious neighbours

There are some delightful tiny mosses colonising an old wall in a lane near my house. The sun is nearly favourable for photographing the sporangia (spore-cases like tiny pixie-caps on the end of little stalks) so I took the camera and tripod to the lane after lunch yesterday. Photos NBG - must try again. As I packed up and started home, a woman challenged me: what was I doing? Why was I photographing? Did I know that there was a neighbourhood watch scheme? (I'm sure that she was mentally adding "to keep an eye on people like you").

I was a bit taken aback: OK, I look scruffy, and had a biggish macro lens on the K-x, but in broad daylight???

She relaxed when I explained, but declined my invitation to come down the lane with me and look at the sporangia, disappearing into the big house that used to be the village Manor House.

I suppose that one should be grateful for observant neighbours...

Martin

Join the Royal Photographic Society and next time you cross paths show her your Coat of Arms emblazened I.D.

It will impress the hell out of the "Lady of the Manor".

On the public highway? You should have offered called to call the police and warned her for threatening behavior or if she does it again, harassment and hustled her back to her Daily Mail.... They all read the Daily Mail , don't they, that sort....

When carrying my camera equipped with 400mm lens and a monopod and asked what I am doing my response has been fishing, golfing etc - the person asking the question usually hates not being taken seriously

However, the temptation in my mind wants me to say 'none of your business, **** off' - thankfully I don't

I like to say "I'm minding my own business - you should try it some time'

strongly agree with Stuey and Jem.

I'd be highly unimpressed if some **** asked me why I was taking photographs of anything .. i'd likely not react terribly well or calmly.

People should learn to mind their own ****ing business more ... live and let live is my motto

My god, that would be ruinously expensive. At £85 pa for a pensioner it is the equivalent of almost half a pint of (good) beer a week! Dearer than membership of the Museums Association! Maybe I'll just print off the crest of the RPS from the wikipedia page and tie it to my camera.

The odd thing is that my wife and I have lived in the village for just over 40 years and I do not ever remember meeting the "Lady of the Manor" before. I guess that we move in different social circles (in a rural village there are as many different circles as in Dante's Inferno). I think that she was a bit touchy because there is tension in the village at present over a proposal, by the owner of the old Manor House, to redevelop a site at the heart of the historic centre of the village. They are probably a bit twitchy about people hanging around the lane.

On balance, it is probably no bad thing to have nosey neighbours. We have had a few burglaries and a few weeks ago there was a smash-and-grab at the village COOP in the small hours of one morning.

Martin

Sadly this 911 false flag terror nonsense and paedos in the bushes propaganda by the mainstream media has instilled a phobia in the minds of the masses about photography. We've all seen the stories about jobsworth hi-viz people reacting to photographers like amoebas reacting to small electrical current.

I'm so saddened by this, but as much as I would respond to these herd people angrily/sarcastically the best thing IMO is to be polite but assertive.

This isn't the same thing, just one imperious lady quizzing someone in a fierce Enid Blyton way about what they were doing. The answer was taking photos, that's it.

No need to escalate it into all things that are wrong with the world!

This has happened twice to me, the first time was a big showdown where neither I or the neighbour backed down, and the second time it resolved itself into an amicable chat despite an embarrassing initial display of childish passive aggression on my part ;P

I guess people are sometimes genuinely twitchy about crime in their neighbourhood and sometimes it's better to respect that and explain politely what you are up to, although absolutely not back down and desist taking photos.

My stock response is 'didn't you know the council has applied for a compulsory purchase order to knock all this down?'

I've used similar ones to that ... New road, block of 16 flats for disadvantaged drug users, &c.

What is wrong with the Daily Mail : Or indeed people who read it :

I could write a book.
How about "200 foot waves hit Cornwall" - the latest perfect example I've seen

Wow, Some wave that Of course it could have been a typo