Photographing assignment

It's my first time having to take photos of product in a store. I'm just wondering how does one go about doing that in the middle of a grocery store or at the customer service desk without arousing too much suspicion. Don't they know what we are up to? Do you ask your questions first so they don't suspect & then take the photos because if they figure you out after you take photos at least you have your survey questions answered...I've got 3 to do this weekend and just wondering how to handle this situation. Thanks

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2010 03:18PM by Damselfly.

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Camera phone is the most obvious answer. Nevertheless, I generally take along my regular digital camera. I turn off the flash before going into the store. The camera is in my copious pocket book and I can turn it on inside my purse and pull it up over the edge to snag a shot. My camera is relatively small, so I can also palm it fairly easily. For some shots in grocery stores I have found it necessary to take zoom shots and this I do from an aisle where the camera is on top of a can in a display for stability on a zoom shot. While I'm sure the store cameras have picked up my activity, the employees I'm fairly sure have not. Nevertheless I do my photos last before checking out or just leaving. And I'm always ready with the malarkey if someone questions. "Oh, I just thought my ____ would be amused at the _____ sign" or "I just thought your ____ display was really eye catching" or "I'm doing a photo montage and found the colors would be attractive blurred out as the background." As others have mentioned, retail employees are accustomed to weird customer behaviors. You can be truly weird without being a shopper, but if you are not ballsy in your weirdness you are likely to be a shopper.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
You can
> be truly weird without being a shopper, but if you
> are not ballsy in your weirdness you are likely to
> be a shopper.

Best advice I've gotten so far! Thanks for your input Flash, my camera is pretty bulky so I think I'll leave that at home. I have the new iPhone which takes awesome pics so I'll stick with that.
thanks again.

I would just like to comment that yes, Flash, retail employees are used to weird customer behavior. After 20 plus years in retail, I have seen a lot. There are certain "customers" that are memorable and we refer to as "backpack guy", "raisin lady", etc. Just say that and all of us who work at the shop know who we are talking about. We even have one customer nicknamed "Satan".

So what would "camera lady" need to do to earn the designation, short of rearranging your displays (and thus making work for you) or insist on taking photos of you posing with a pineapple?

Well, since we prohibit photography in our store, camera lady might not even exist.

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Photographing assignment

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