I think I must have said hello to you at some point. Maybe you were the guy who snapped this lady (with the photography sign) and tried to get another shot but she was away by then. In that light it was all too easy over or under expose shots.
TBH, not sure how serious the blue hair/wigged girl was. Because she said to me, are you a pervert? And I said, yes, I'm going to take a few snaps of you and then go home and masturbate myself into unconsciousness
And she couldn't keep a straight face (snaps will follow).
I was going round saying 'yes, I have clothes on, I have a camera, just pass me the sex offenders' register'
Seemed to work. Having an elephant trunk also helps (large L series Canon lens). People just assume that no perv would either carry something so obvious or invest that sort of money to get a few shots of ladies' bits, and they're right. I had good banter with (most) of the stewards, various police officers, many riders and even some Christian type who tried to convince me I'd go to hell for thinking improper thoughts about homosexuals
A couple of the stewards tried to whip up bad feeling towards all photographers who weren't naked. Totally out of order, I thought. I made one sit there and look through my pictures with me till he conceded there was nothing dodgy on my card. Yet one thought it was perfectly acceptable to ride up say 'I see the perv brigade are here!' with a wave to the snappers gathered, several of whom were pros working for various media outlets. And another shouted various abuse as the riders descended to Madeira Drive at anyone with a camera.
As far as I'm concerned, it's largely these idiots ruining what would otherwise be an absolutely fantastic fun ride. The people taking part are mostly happy to see snappers, so long as you're not some obvious weirdo trying to take snaps of their genitalia from three inches away. But there's a small element on both sides poisoning the event, sadly.