Confrontations rarely occur in street photography. As long as you smile and say “thank you” after taking photos of people, 95% of people smile and say “thank you” back or just ignore you.

However 5% of the time, people typically will react in a negative manner. It is usually one of these below (I will add rough estimates in my experience):

  1. Ask what you are doing: 90%
  2. Ask you to delete the photo 9.95%
  3. Lunge at you: .05% (This has happened only once to me by an old man in Paris. This rarely (if ever) happens).

When people confront you and ask you what you are doing, be prepared to make the right answer and react calmly and speak truthfully about what you are doing. [read]

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