Q. I was helping to work our narrowboat through a
lock in the centre of a country town last week, surrounded by the usual small crowd of onlookers. To see them there was not surprising as the scene is colourful and interesting. I was, however, taken aback to find myself and the boat being filmed by two of the watchers, armed with video cameras. Maybe it was that, at the end of a long day, I was feeling a little tired and tetchy, but I found myself annoyed at this intrusion. I was brought up to believe it bad manners to take a photograph of anyone without their permission, and indeed in some countries a small pourboire is expected if permission is granted. Of course, as a keen amateur photographer, I have taken shots surreptitiously in order to avoid an unnatural pose, but these two were filming at close quarters. There are narrowboat owners who are professional thespians and who might respond to the above situation with a lighthearted demand for a fee, but I am not of their number. I did not express my feelings at the time and have been wondering since whether I was being oversensitive, Was I? If not, dear Mary, can you suggest some suitable words with which I could have put down those intrusive film-makers?
W., Stogumber, Somerset A. It is one thing to film a crowd scene but quite another to film a specific person with
Out having asked their permission. To counter such breaches of etiquette (and stymie the intrusion altogether), why not disconcert the film-makers by pleasantly shouting out your email address with a request that they email you the footage? Not only will you thereby sabotage their shot; you may even be agreeably surprised to receive a souvenir for your archives.
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