Local Guides' bad experiences

Today I read and commented on the interestingAwareness of international reviews post by @Ageliki1 ,a new member on Local Guide Connect. After posting my idea about Local Guide ID cards, I’ve had in the back of my mind to write a post about bad Local Guide experiences as, by sharing we can learn from how best to handle these situations. As I mentioned in my reply to Angela, I have visited a few places around the world and Greece many times and have experienced some issues. In each of these cases the bad experience related to taking photos at the Place of Interest. Let me mention a few:

Bad experience #1 - Post Office, Melbourne, Australia

This was rather unusual for me as I had visited this local Post Office in my own city in Australia many times and Joe, the Postmaster there, knew me from many visits. On this occasion, I accompanied a friend, Ray, who was picking up a parcel. While Ray was at the counter doing business with Joe, I took a couple of photos inside the Post Office and Joe yelled out “Hey, what are you doing…stop taking photos”. I explained what I was doing but he insisted that I stop and that I delete the photos. He said that he did not want any reviews of his Post Office. Of course I obliged. I think the mistake I made here was not to ask Joe first. All good, Joe and I are still friends :slightly_smiling_face:

Bad experience #2 - Los Angeles, California

I was visiting family in Los Angeles and while taking photos I was approached by two local police officers asking why I was taking photos of this place, it was a bank. When police officers approach you while taking photos it can be a little scary. I thought of sheeesh I’m going to be arrested here!! However, after explaining things the police officers were happy to join me in a selfie :smile:

So while I have called this a bad experience, perhaps it is better described as just being a somewhat scary one. However, I mention it because of bad experience number 3, coming up.

Bad experience #3 - Sicily, Italy

From memory, I think this bad experience happened in Messina, Sicily but when I have a bit more time I will check and update this post if necessary. What happened here is that I needed to withdraw some money and went to a local bank in Messina which had I understood had a partnership arrangement with my local Australian bank. It was located in a busy shopping mall. Sadly, while both the teller and Bank Manager were very polite and tried everything to help me, they didn’t recognise my Australian bank’s international traveller’s currency card and advised that I would need to take this up with my own bank. Rather than taking a photo inside the bank, I decided it best to take a photo of the outside. I wanted to do this for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to have this for my report back to my Australian bank, and secondly I thought I would write a brief review about my experience at this bank as I thought it might be helpful to future travellers. My review would have been a positive one because as I mentioned, both the teller and Bank Manager were very polite and tried everything to help me, it appeared that the problem was with my Australian bank. Well, the unthinkable was about to happen! I took the photo and it seemed almost instantly that all hell broke loose outside that bank. I was approached by 2 local police officers yelling quite loudly and in an angry tone at me, in Italian of course, and I could see the people in the open shopping mall fleeing like crazy not knowing what was going on but with the thought that something terrible was about to happen. Perhaps they thought I was some terrorist or something like that and that shots (not my camera clicks) were about to be fired. People everywhere fled so fast and within just a few minutes there were only 3 people left standing in this open shopping mall. Of course I didn’t flee the scene for fear of being shot so I was one of the 3! A bustling noisy shopping mall had within seconds turned into deserted standoff scene! This was the scary part for me as at one moment it was a typical, really busy mall and within a minute it was like a ghost town, just a “bank robber” and the “local Marshalls” ready to shoot first and ask questions later! Anyway they approached and insisted that I show my passport, which of course I did. Then they insisted that I delete the photos I just took, which again I did. I did tried to explain, but waving their forefinger at me in a no uncertain gesture and still in very loud Italian they said no, no, no! Sorry I have no photos to share of this experience :joy:

Well the moral of my stories here is, when taking general photos inside a place, it’s always best to ask first and explain why you’d like to take photos BUT if they don’t agree then oblige and don’t, and don’t take things for granted. Even if you’re a regular or known there always ask. However, what’s even more interesting is that in the last two examples I was taking external photos. While they are not military sites or secret defence bases, certainly when taking photos of banks or ATMs, be very, very careful or reconsider and perhaps just take photos of the bakery, dress shop or ice cream parlour next door!!!

Related to this post you might be interested to read my post about a simple idea regarding our Google Maps profile which I feel will help improve things in such situations: see this post about Local Guide ID cards.

Some of the Bad Experiences of others:

Here is a summary of some of the bad experiences of other Local Guides mentioned in the comments of this post, an index if you will:

Who Where What Why


@Erna_LaBeau



?



Taking a photo of a where to vote sign!

Lady nearby


@Devidyal



West Africa



Taking photos anywhere

A a big mixture of superstition and rumors about what you’re going to do with the photos.


@NasimJoy



?



Taking photos in a shopping mall

Concern by mall’s Security Guard


@Devidyal



China



Taking photos anywhere

Belief that in most of Asia and Africa that taking photos can get you anywhere from ticketed, to arrested, to disappeared.


@SholaIB



Lagos, Nigeria



Arrested for taking a front view photo of a hotel

Didn’t obtain permission before taking the


@TusharSuradkar



India



Taking a photo of a clock tower

Didn’t obtain prior permission before taking the photo which is required in India if the subject is a government building.

As I mentioned above, I think we can all learn from each other by sharing such experiences so what about you? Have you had any similar bad or scary experiences when taking photos while doing your Local Guide thing? Join in and let’s share our experiences. Using the above examples, please provide a summary with your case clearly indicating:

  1. Where this experience happened,
  2. What were you doing, and
  3. Why is it not permitted or suggested not to take photos

Happy and safe guiding

Adam

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Haha @AdamGT you literally scared us… :no_mouth:

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I can assure you that Bad experience #3 was very scary @Pratik_89 . Only the dry cleaner and I knew the color of my … after that experience. Hmmm I was the dry cleaner on that day :joy: Do you have any bad experiences that you’d like to share?

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Nice post @AdamGT ! Luckily I never caught into any bad experience while taking photos because I always take permission of the business owner or authorities or anyone I take photos of ! But the last one is really scary ! Thanks for sharing your bad experiences here so that others learn from it and avoid the mistakes so that they can enjoy being a Local guide :slightly_smiling_face:

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@AdamGT Well not yet i got into any trouble i always asked for the permission before taking pictures or videos. :grinning:

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I’m pleased to hear that you have neverany bad experience while taking photos and that you always seek permission of business owners or authorities @Globe_trotter_Ish ! What’s interesting in my first case is that the Postmaster knew me well but still I should not have taken that for granted and sought his permission before snapping away. However, what’s even more interesting in the last two cases I mentioned is that they were external photos of the places. Should I have sought permission or was I just unwise to take photos of banks? Interesting hey!!! However, you hit the nail on the head @Globe_trotter_Ish , the purpose of my post is to share experiences, both good and not so good, so that we can all learn from this and avoid making mistakes.

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What an experience @AdamGT … I guess there are times when people look at me intimidatingly when I take some photos. I try to ask permissions in public places afterwards, just to be sure and safe. Thanks for sharing this

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Yes @indahnuria asking permission is the best way and if they say no, then move on to the next Place of Interest, there are many :wink:

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Interesting story @AdamGT your experiences will help others to be more cautious of surrounding areas when taking photos. I just wish there is a sign saying do not take photos on this premises :confused:

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Yes I agree @Erna_LaBeau . Of course we’ve all seen such signs in some places. I’ve seen them in, for example, a number art galleries but yes it would be good if places that didn’t allow photos taken to have a sign at say the entrance.

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I had bad experience 2 days ago this lady thinks I took her photo she did not realize I was not interested in her photo but the sign a bit far away from her. It was my fault I was so lazy to get out of the car and walk to the sign.

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Thank you for sharing that experience with us all @Erna_LaBeau . Yes you certainly do have to be careful when and where you take photos! Another place to always be very, very careful is in children’s playgrounds. I had an incident in the tomb of KingTutankhamen but I must save that for another post, there’s just too much to say about that experience :joy:

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Indeed you’re right @AdamGT … so many PoI around the area…

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Hallo @AdamGT , liebe GLC Community

Wenn ihr meine Fotos anschaut, werdet ihr feststellen, dass ich keine Personen veröffentliche. Wenn sich doch vereinzelt jemand auf den Fotos befindet, ist er/ sie nicht wirklich erkennbar, oder ich habe gefragt. Auch bei Fotos von Gasthäuser usw hole ich mir meistens die Erlaubnis ein. Ich erzähle ihnen, dass ich auf Google Maps ein so genannter “Influenzer” bin und über 1,5 Mio Zugriffe habe undauchRezensionen schreibe… Das erzeugt in Österreich immer großes Erstaunen und bis jetzt habe ich keine Ablehnung erhalten.

Als Vorsitzender des Pensionistenverbandes OÖ, Ortsgruppe Neukirchen, komme ich in Österreich zu vielen Orten und Sehenswürdigkeiten. Auch auf Facebook bin ich mit meiner Ortsgruppe vertreten.

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I understand your strategy and if possible it is a good one @Spricki1 and like you I aim for this but I have found that sometimes it is not possible, you are there, then and there and perhaps unlikely to be there again any time soon. Here’s an example of a photo I took outside Cidrerie Hurrup Eta Klik, a restaurant on Rue de la Citadelle at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France. It shows the entrance of this entrance but more to the point, it shows the busy and vibrant street location that it is on. You can see there are people everywhere. It would be impossible to ask for everyone’s permission in such an instance let alone tell them who you are or why you are taking the photo. Just out of interest, would you take such a photo? You are very lucky that you visit many places in beautiful Austria, Jo. Sadly I visited a few years before I became a Local Guide and didn’t take many photos :disappointed:

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I lived in Cotonou, Benin for 3 years. It’s tough to get pics anywhere in West Africa. Well… anywhere with humans around. It’s a big mixture of superstition and rumors about what you’re going to do with the photos. I have amazingly few photos from those years. I was randomly taking pictures on the beach once, not of anyone or anything in particular and someone came charging at me with a machete. That was just in 2018. If you know the person well or you know someone that knows someone then you can often get pics but to get pics of strangers or even random places is often impossible. It was the weirdest thing. I’d be walking along, see something that caught my eye like a tree or even an old tire on the side of the road and pull out my phone to take a pic and someone would start yelling at me to stop. It depended on my mood and exactly where I was as to whether I cared to listen to them or not but…yeah… taking pics in West Africa is a weird thing. I would add new places to Maps but I couldn’t add pics because the owner wouldn’t let me take them even when I told them what I was doing. All the places I added with pics were foreign owned.

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Wow, @Devidyal !!! Thanks for sharing your amazing experience in West Africa and especially, in Cotonou, Benin. I wonder if any other Local Guide had similar experience in that part of the world or anywhere else for that matter! You mentioned “superstition and rumors”, I wonder what the attitude of Local Guides is about taking pictures in religious or spiritual places like inside churches and mosques, and at cemeteries!

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I also have that type experience. 1 year ago I was adding a shop in a Malls. I was taking some photos and collecting phone number from the banner, The Security Guard looked this and come to me, He asked me lots of questions,

  1. Why I tooking photos and collecting number?

When I said I’m a local Guide in Maps, then he wanted to see my ID card and asked my salary,

Then Shop kipper also came, I said him all things clearly and he understood. I got affaid. I never forget this Experience @AdamGT

@

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I take pictures in “holy” places all the time. I never ask. It’s always easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. I’ve occasionally charmed someone into granting me a pic even in places where they’re strictly forbidden, like the other day I got with an ancient Quran in Uzbekistan just by being really friendly. It was tough around Africa. I usually had to offer money and I hate offering money.

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Thanks for sharing this experience @NasimJoy . Are you able to name the shopping Mall?

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