It has happened to me a few times at fairs and craft shows. I carry a card with my name on it ,email and home address and phone number on it. I have the card to give folks if they want a picture I have taken of them. :) But you have to know I am very hard headed about my rights as an American.:) But I always win the battle with the police. Or who every comes up to me and tells me I can't take pictures.:) They have to show me their rules for the event and if it says no cameras, I back down. But I always get my money back if I have to leave and it is not posted at the gate that cameras aren't allowed.
I spent to many years in Vietnam to not have ALL my rights as an American to be given to me.
Erv
Sorry for the rant, but folks have to start standing up for their rights!!

Last night I went to a local carnival and figured it was a good opportunity to practise some night time techniques using only manual mode. This is thanks to you all for recommending reading Understanding Exposure. I was a A type person before. To keep things simple used a prime 35.

So I taking pictures of the colorful rides and the folks having fun at the carnival. I was politely stopped by the police and was asked what I was doing. Simply told them taking pictures of the event. They said some of the parents had complained about me.

WOW...this happens to other folks. We had a brief discussion. One officer said if I wasn't with my SO, he would have asked to me leave. I told him I would stop taking pictures of people and focus on objects. He seemed to be ok with that. It was not too long after that we did leave anyways.

This got me thinking, no doubt it was a mother that got freaked out. What did that one person think a pedophile or some other malcontent was going to do with the pictures of the their kids in an evil way. As a parent not sure how I would have reacted (my kids are grown up and I don't have to worry about stuff like this). Is this simply something they have seen or read in the news that should be reported and action taken on or do they have valid reasons to react this way.

Just wonderin

Willie

Last night I went to a local carnival and figured it was a good opportunity to practise some night time techniques using only manual mode. This is thanks to you all for recommending reading Understanding Exposure. I was a A type person before. To keep things simple used a prime 35.

So I taking pictures of the colorful rides and the folks having fun at the carnival. I was politely stopped by the police and was asked what I was doing. Simply told them taking pictures of the event. They said some of the parents had complained about me....

Just wonderin

Willie

Although there can be some local regulations all are subject to the rights granted under the US Constitution. As I understand it, anyone, regardless of age, who is easily visible either on public or private property can be photographed by someone who is on public property. That means that someone who is in their yard could be photographed by someone on the street without legal consequences. You have no expectation of privacy just because you are in your yard. You can not, however, stand on the street with a telephoto lens and photograph someone in their home through a window because, in this case, people DO have an expectation of privacy. This holds true if you are on private property, with permission.

In my opinion, parent's concerns are somewhat misplaced. Children are much more often molested or abducted by other family members, boyfriends and authority figures that have close contact with children. The off the street abduction and/or molestation of a child, while it does happen, is quite rare and can generally be prevented by reasonable, age appropriate supervision.