I need to vent some air.

I try not to be a nuisance when shooting on the street, so it rarely happens that people stop me walking and demand to know whether their picture was just taken. When that happens, I try not to escalate the situation and comply with their wish to either see the image and if desired, delete it.

Today, I was walking through Hamburg’s central train station on my way to the platform. I was carrying my heavy DSLR over the shoulder and grabbed and shifted it, so it came to rest on my compact shoulder bag, supporting the weight of the camera. An elderly woman who I didn’t even notice beforehand stopped me walking and demanded rudely if I just took a picture. I was already homewards bounds in my mind, not witty enough to respond in the same tone, so I just told her with slight outrage in my voice that the camera was turned off and I didn’t take any picture (which was true). She turned away, talking to her spouse (I assume) and stared after me as I mumbled some curses her way.

I kept feeling bad about being addressed so impolitely for doing nothing wrong (carrying a camera openly in a public area). I have to come up with wittier responses in situations like these. These people just piss me off. I just should have told her that she doesn’t interest me and since I only photograph what interests me, she now knows the answer to her question. Maybe next time.

I really hate Germany for being so fuddy-duddy. Anyway, who cares.