Cameras vs. Cameras

At the moment, Justin is being shadowed by the San Francisco Chronicle, walking around town with a photographer named Liz (Liz Hafalia?) as well as a videographer named Kelly (Kelly Whalen?).

Justin and the Chronicle team were actually thrown out of Justin's usual coffee place, which previously never batted an eye at Justin's presence but balked at this morning's media entourage.

They ended up at a Starbucks. A fan watching on his laptop approaches them, and happily shows off the stream of themselves buying a tasty beverage. It's a circular moment that's also captured, of course, by the Chronicle.

He has a brief conversation with the Starbucks cashier to make sure she's comfortable being on camera.

It's obvious that the energy of the people Justin encounters is very different with the press around than when he's out and about on his own. Justin specifically notes that a large camera rig like the one Kelly carried (as well as the pro-level SLR Liz wielded) is "too in your face" to ignore, and makes people more nervous and self conscious, compared to the novelty his hat-mounted lens.

As a vlogger who uses a simple still digital camera to record video clips, I've definitely noticed the variation in response to something like a little Canon Elph versus, say, a Sony HDR-FX1. Justin's hatcam is hardly subtle, but it's certainly not as intimidating as what a TV station lugs around.

The less conspicuous equipment gets, the closer the documented life will get to candid and natural... but the more complicated things will become for everyone.