The GWC as Street Photographer

According to Hartford, Connecticut's, Hartford Courant, a photo-enthusiast was arrested outside a Target department store for shooting women's butts.

"SOUTH WINDSOR -- A Manchester man found allegedly photographing women's rear ends as they walked in and out of the Target store is now facing disorderly conduct charges, police said."

It seems this guy was sitting in his car, in a Target parking lot with a camera equipped with a long, telephoto lens, snapping away and capturing various women's rear-ends for, I suppose, his own, personal, photographic use.

When confronted by police, who went as far as videotaping the suspect as he pursued his photographic hobby, the man claimed he was merely taking shots of the architecture. The cops didn't buy it, although I suppose this parking lot GWC (Guy With a Camera) could have been referring to women's architecture rather than the building's architecture.

Obviously, for many men, the lure of shooting women and/or women's body parts is powerful. Of course, there's the right way to do it and the wrong way to do it and the wrong way might land you in the slammer.

Here's the big mistake, IMO, this GWC made: He chose to sit in his car for an extended period of time, on private property and in plain site of everyone, with a long lens mounted to his camera and exclusively pointed at feminine derrieres. D'uh! Talk about being obvious! While not condoning this guy's photographic pursuits, had the GWC parked himself on public property, like at a park, he could have pointed his camera at a variety of things, other than women's behinds, claiming "street photographer" status if anyone asked while still having his (photographic) way with the subjects of his true desires.

Thankfully, many GWCs are dumbshits and morons (not to mention cretins) and, because of this, they might sometimes serve to inadvertantly reduce the negative impact GWCs have on photographers as a whole. That's not to say GWCs don't, in general, tarnish legitimate shooters' reps but perhaps guys like this--who are on the outer, freakish fringe of GWCism--make GWCs, as a group, seem more easily identifiable and, by so doing, reduce the public's suspicians about shooters in general. (At least, those who appear as if they're shooting the right stuff for the right reasons.) After all, if a GWC is easy to spot, legitimate shooters should be equally easily identifiable.

Then again, maybe this is flawed logic and wishful thinking on my part and GWCs--as always--continue to befoul people's perceptions of photographers in general.

The pretty girl at the top is Roxy. I shot this quite a while ago.