I was doing some random snapping when I caugth this man in a semi-trance contemplating a shoe brand sign. I continued taking some pictures of pedestrians on a nearby escalator. Suddenly a security guard approached me and asked what I was taking pictures of. I replied that the pictures were of nothing special. He insisted on being let in on the secret of my escalator pictures.

Instead of letting him know I'm a lousy photographer with a cheap camera, I asked him why he was curious. He said photography was illegal in the mall. I told him that he was probably wrong, and asked why he thought picture taking was illegal. "The shop owners can get their clothes copied" he said. I told him that I'd rather buy one piece of clothing if I wanted to make a pirate copy, he stuttered something unintelligeble in reply.

Together we went to check the mall entrance for signs of cameras being forbidden, that was cool since I knew there were no signs. He apologized and since he was a nice person I showed him my pictures and explained my pbase addiction. He gave me a weird look, smiled and asked me to have a nice weekend. I guess he normally associates pictures with glossy magazines with lightly dressed females or family pictures from last weekends barbeque; the idea of someone capturing random escalator pedestrians probably scared him.

The funny part is that Gallerian shopping mall is one of Stockholms most heavily camera surveilled areas. I guess what freaks the shop owners is not cameras per se, but who is taking the pictures.