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« on: November 13, 2022, 09:16:46 AM »
Hi Forum,
I just wanted to tell you all about a unique experience while out on a ship-spotting expedition yesterday. The location was at the western most tip of Wales in a large field at St Anne's Head.
Now, I want to stress that in no way did I feel threatened but I felt a little uncomfortable after this event and got me to thinking.
I went back to the same location primarily to look for my lens cap, which thankfully I retrieved from the mud and in doing so was again drawn to a couple of vessels arriving/departing.
Now I was aware of a couple of 'hikers' who had come off path and come down to the fence line to observe the vessel inbound to the port. They were approx 20-30 feet away from me in the corner of the field.
I was happily snapping away when I was suddenly aware of someone coming towards me. This guy literally strided towards me and asked if I was one of 'those' people who took photo's of ships and "stuff" then posted them online for all the world to see. Now, nothing wrong with that you might think BUT it was the way he said it and how the conversation progressed which put me on my guard.
I played dumb and said I'd just changed my camera and was trying to get used to the settings, photographing anything that moves which as a point of fact, I have and still am trying to master the technique.
He said he had a small yacht on the south coast which people had taken pictures of over the years and most of those photo's hadn't been taken in the best possible way, didn't show the best aspects & whoever was behind the camera obviously had no intellect on how to use the technology ! He was extremely unhappy about it. Almost as if he'd had this bottled up over the years, saw me and decided to vent his frustrations. Very bizarre.
He then dialled up Vessel Finder on his phone and showed me the photo's. When he said "small" I thought he meant something in the region of 20-25 ft or so - but the picture showed a two-masted sailing boat of perhaps 60+ feet !!!
He asked me if I was aware of the Vessel Finder site and about photo's that are published on it. Then wanted to know if I was local and where exactly did I live for some inexplicable reason. I was speechless and didn't know how to respond. It was a comical situation.
His partner came over to join in who said that the photo's should have been better conveyed to the public, (like I was responsible for them !!!). He wasn't happy either. I almost felt like saying perhaps they should take up photography and they'd see how difficult it is to get the best photograph in conditions on the day. After all, it is a form of art.
But in light of this whole uncomfortable episode, it does make me wonder if it's ok to take photo's of ships with individuals aboard. I try to avoid it if I can. Depending on the quality of the camera, usually you can't identify people on board when a photo is published and enlarged. Perhaps this was his concern even though he didn't clearly express it like that.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share my experience.
I may or may not be posting for a long while....ha,ha,ha
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