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Boat spotting and people taking pictures of your boat


Lia

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How do people deal with people taking pictures of your boat, even when you're sitting in front of it?

We're roving traders and quite often people take pictures of us and our wares when trading. A lot don't ask, or don't look at our stuff with any interest after they've taken a picture.

I find it very weird because I would never take pictures of other people if they are sitting in their gardens!

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I suppose people on the towpath see the boats and the people on them as part of the canal, not as for some of them their homes. We are just part of the show. Especially if you are trading from your boat. Folks living in picture postcard villages in the Cotswolds, or anywhere touristy must get the same thing. Even worse on a boat as there is a disconnect with their houses that doesn't register a boat as home to them. Can't see anything you can do about it. Some people will ask to take a picture of my boat. Most won't.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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I pull a stupid face and hope they don't notice until they get home and check their pictures.  That or stick the finger up at them, depending on what type of mood I'm in. 

12 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Yep, there is no such thing as bad publicity in business.

Mr Ratner may disagree

  • Greenie 1
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I take great pleasure in finding my boat interesting enough for people to take pictures and even film me. I enjoy finding old friends pictures and also notices I was in the opening credits of a recent canal program on a major Hanney. 

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2 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I take great pleasure in finding my boat interesting enough for people to take pictures and even film me. I enjoy finding old friends pictures and also notices I was in the opening credits of a recent canal program on a major Hanney. 

Saddo ;)

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38 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 Folks living in picture postcard villages in the Cotswolds, or anywhere touristy must get the same thing.

In some of the villages residents cars get vandalised if they doesn't blend in.....

 

 

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37 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I suppose people on the towpath see the boats and the people on them as part of the canal, not as for some of them their homes. We are just part of the show. Especially if you are trading from your boat. Folks living in picture postcard villages in the Cotswolds, or anywhere touristy must get the same thing. Even worse on a boat as there is a disconnect with their houses that doesn't register a boat as home to them. Can't see anything you can do about it. Some people will ask to take a picture of my boat. Most won't.

Jen

Definitely this at least partly. People seem to really struggle with the idea that a boat moored on the towpath might be someone's home and not just a pretty/interesting part of the scenery. Some people don't even seem to realise they belong to someone.

When I was around London with a more unusual boat than I've got now, I had a number of people at various points climb on my boat and they always acted surprised when I appeared and asked them not to do it. I had one person who asked me, wasn't it public property?, and a group of lads who climbed onto my boat in the middle of the night, scaring me to death in the process, asked, couldn't they finish taking their photo first? And then when I tried to suggest they wouldn't just do the same thing to a car parked on the street or to someone's house, just kept saying 'yeah, but it's a boat...' They really seemed unable to grasp why it wasn't an okay thing to do. Someone climbed on my boat the other morning so they could pretend to be in Titanic...but at least when I told them to get off they apologised instead of arguing with me about why they thought it was okay. :rolleyes:

I don't generally mind people taking pictures (although I've had people proper lean or put stuff on my boat whilst they were taking a picture, and that I don't appreciate), though it is a bit of an odd thing to do without asking when you're literally sat looking at them through the window etc. I just stare back at them; they can have a picture of me staring at them if they really want...

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We met a boat spotter who photographed us exiting a lock and later just cruising along. Next day he called out that he had something for us and gave us 2 A4 sized prints. As it is not easy to get action prints with everybody aboard we were pleased.

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1 hour ago, Lia said:

How do people deal with people taking pictures of your boat, even when you're sitting in front of it?

We're roving traders and quite often people take pictures of us and our wares when trading. A lot don't ask, or don't look at our stuff with any interest after they've taken a picture.

I find it very weird because I would never take pictures of other people if they are sitting in their gardens!

Point is you are in a public place, the canal and towpath, and not a private garden, so it goes with the territory!

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2 hours ago, Lia said:

How do people deal with people taking pictures of your boat, even when you're sitting in front of it?

We're roving traders and quite often people take pictures of us and our wares when trading. A lot don't ask, or don't look at our stuff with any interest after they've taken a picture.

I find it very weird because I would never take pictures of other people if they are sitting in their gardens!

Have you ever been on a foreign holiday , or even a UK one, and taken a picture of a market, or some local fishing boats setting out to sea, or a picturesque little side street in a village somewhere?

What is the difference?  You are in a public placve, possibly adding to the character of the area.  I would be quite pleased if someone thought I was interesting enough, and pretty enough, to worthy of a colour photograoh.

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In law I would think that taking photos of the exterior of a boat from any place that the photographer is entitled to be, i.e. public land or on private land they own or have permission to be on, is OK. Stepping aboard a boat without permission is definitely not OK, and taking a photo through a window likewise. There might be a bit of a grey area where a photo includes a little of the interior, say a glimpse into the cratch or through an open doorway.

The more unusual or historic the boat, the more likely it is to get photographed. When I'm volunteering with the Narrow Boat Trust on their pair of coal boats, I see it happen often.

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Years ago I had Resolute tied on the Waterfront moorings at Merry Hill. We had been shopping in the centre, walking back only to see the boat festooned with people..." What the f.. ck" I thought and headed in...only to see that a wedding party at the nearby Copthorne hotel had used the boat as a backdrop for photos. Hope it all went well, never saw any pictures. Less pleasing was the news that two fellows had been over the boat with a tape measure when moored in Kinver. Cheeky sods..but it takes more than dimensions to build a decent boat!

 

 

 

 

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We were moored in the centre of Birmingham when a couple asked if they could take some pictures. How polite, I thought, then they climbed on board and posed in our chairs on the tug deck. I was gobsmacked but just said nothing, after all, I had given them permission.

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