The issue of photographs is a tricky one, in my outfit the pax love to take our picture (something to do with the uniform I am sure!) however *some* of them have no idea the difference between 'souvenir' pictures and becoming some kind of paparazzi peeper with the cell phone under a paper....
I have no issue with someone taking a photo or two.... I do take issue with some random guy hiding a phone in his pocket and clicking forty pictures of me doing the service... why..? It just comes across as, to quote another poster, creepy.
I think any reasonable person would agree that a crewmember has the right to ask someone to stop taking their picture, if it makes them uncomfortable. They are not hired as photographic models, they are hired to take care of safety and service. 'Service' does not include carte blanche for pax to fill their albums with 'candid' pics of crew... It;s different to someone one the street, a crew member cannot escape someone who is relentlessly taking their pic.. and yes, I have had someone following me around the cabin taking my picture after they had been asked not to... to the point it became very weird and the senior had to have a talk to him.
I have had pax taking photos of the crew in galleys and coming out of crew rest to the point of getting in the way and impeding the service... of course we are going to ask them not to do it. However, whenever I have asked someone not to take my picture, I simply say "not right now" and invite them to stop by on their way off the plane to have a pic with the crew in full uniform rather than service attire.
The whole problem could be avoided with a polite, "Excuse me, may I have a picture with/of you/your crew?" which for me, happens in 95% of cases and is no problem at all. It's the 5% who ruin it for everyone else.
As for the travel blogger, what idiot uses the T word in this day and age, whether we think it silly or not, it WILL get hackles up in certain parts of the world.
Another point- IF the F/A genuinely believed that he DID continue to take photos, then she was not really lying, merely incorrect. If you believe it to be true then it is not a lie. We cannot know if another pax incorrectly pointed out this guy as the one who kept taking pics, instead of the other guy. I think both sides were to blame for the situation...