I was out this weekend with my photo gear taking some photos in town and I have come to the conclusion there are just too many teachers in this town. I don’t know if there is something in the water or what. But everywhere I went this weekend some Swiss was trying to tell me how I should and should not do things.
The first encounter was near the train station where I was taking pictures of crowds of people going in and out of the station. A woman came by and told me that I should not be doing that because I was doing something not allowed, and then she mumbled something about security. I kindly told her that I was in a public place, and as a photographer I can freely photograph the area. She gave me some kind of evil eye like I was the devil and stormed off. I was half expecting security to find me but they never showed, and she probably in the end realized I knew what I was talking about. After all if she was right, then every tourist in the country might was well not bring a camera because it would be useless.
My second encounter came this afternoon when I decided to walk down to the old town with my tripod and some gear to practice some flash photography. The reason I went to thisspecific area was because the the beautiful cobblestone streets, and the relative lack of traffic. In the past I have stood on the street for 2 hours and not seen a single moving vehicle.
Of course I get to the area and setup my tripod and not 5 minutes after getting things together an elderly woman walking a worn dog stops next to me to ask me how long I plan to stay. At first I am a bit confused by the question. Then she jumps into a lecture telling me that I should not be in the street with my tripod because there is alot of traffic. She is absolutely right, all those 80+ sunday church goers taking over the old town on foot on Sunday afternoon. I also found it a bit ironic as here pace was not exactly speedy and she was not moving much faster than my tripod. But back to her point, yes the people in the street were walking so fast they might not see a man in a red ski jacket standing next to a triopod in the middle of the road. Politeness got the best of me of course, and I calmly responded that I will not be more than 5 minutes before moving on.
In all fairness, I was on the street for 45 minutes, and I did have to move once. Only once, when the police came by in their van, probably looking for strange foreign men standing in the middle of the road with tripods.
