[Irma]

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With a park there are kids, and generally people are VERY leary of "men without kids" taking pictures, especially smaller cameras that look concealing. Unless you look like a photographer (and this generally means big bulky cameras with unhidden gear etc etc) with a photographers purpose, people are bound to question it. Its unfortunate that a few scum of the earth deadbeats (molesters etc) in society have created a mistrustful atmosphere when it comes to our kids and the areas they play in.

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This is something we are very careful about... We always try not to take pictures of kids directly... sometimes we get a picture of the kid because they come to our way, and you simply can't avoid that, but we don't take picture in parks or play ground areas... We haven't got any problem until now... because when the kids arrive to the place we are taking picture we normally leave the area...

I have a contact in flickr, he is a teacher working in educational programs around the world... He was working for a long time in China but few months ago he was moved to India... He explains that in China people is a bit cautious about having their photo taken... while in India people actually come up to you and ask you to take a picture of them...

One photographer commented that once a family of Turks asked him to take their picture on Akdamar island in the middle of lake Van. He did a lovely portrait, but he was a bit perplexed as they didn't ask him to send them a copy. Simply having their photo taken was thrill enough for them...

It seems to me... that the more a country is in contact with modernity and it is aware of what sick people can do with kid pictures, the more mistrustful it is...