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
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
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
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:
- Where this experience happened,
- What were you doing, and
- Why is it not permitted or suggested not to take photos
Happy and safe guiding
Adam