From what I have learned, it's always better to catch bees with honey rather than vinegar.
I heard a call on the scanner about a hay truck that was on fire. After a 15 minute drive to the scene, I rolled up, made my presence known to the police and asked where they would like me to park.
After snapping roughly 40 frames, I was approached by a woman (on the left in the blue) who asked me to stop taking pictures because I do not have permission.
I then explained the law associated with photos on public property (I had to explain it to the officer there as well, but that's all for a different blog entry).
After that, she returned to the field to tend to her daughter, who was driving the truck when it caught on fire.
Both her and her daughter came back to where I was shooting from, visibly upset. I explained to them what I was doing and used the photojournalist-friendly saying 'just doing my job'.
That didn't make her happy. The mother then lunged at me, but was stopped by the police before she could do any real damage.
Contrary to the beliefs of many outside of (and inside sometimes) the journalism industry, I think we do have hearts. They're often covered up by deadlines and stress, but we do have compassion.
Every time I take a photo like this, I ask the question: Is this necessary? At the same time, I use the shoot shoot think approach to spot news. Shoot everything you can and think about it later.
No one was injured in the incident.
