The comments were interesting enough that Michael posted a second blog with counterpoints. All of it is polite, well reasoned and strongly felt. If you like my take you might want to see what his readers think.
I presume that there's a lot of cross over between our blogs. There should be. He writes stuff that I find interesting. Check it out.
The shot above was done in a Paris Metro station. Just to date this image, the slats on the escalator were made of wood. I did not get permission from the subject.....
6 comments:
If I photograph a person from behind or at such and angle/distance that they could not be identified from the photo, I never ask for permission. OTOH I'm primarily a landscape photographer so I don't often include people in my photos.
I should say thank you for your original post, I considered it quite thought provoking and believed that, as a result of your post, I had settled the debate in my own mind and to my satisfaction.
Now I have to conclude that, thanks to the can of worms your stirred up, I am more confused than ever. Maybe there is something to be said for burying your head in the sand :)
I'm not serious of course, while I don't think there can ever be a "right" answer, debate is always enlightening. Particularly when conducted by thoughtful people in an reasoned manner.
It is instances like these that remind me what the internet is really about.
Jim, I chose to illustrate the blog with that image because of its ambiguity...
The term "street photography" implies to me a certain kind of photo that often revolves around some form of social criticism or catching someone in behavior or expression that makes them out to be a bit of a jerk. If it's a picture of people laughing or some other pleasant slice of local life, I tend to think of it as "travel photography" or "documentary" or "photojournalism."
I admit that this is probably wrong of me to think this, but it could be some of the people who dislike street photographers don't like the idea of being put up on a gallery wall as the artist's target of the moment.
it comes down to the issue of ethics. Once upon a time perhaps more photographers were more ethical creatures ... now we have more people with cameras and facebook, so things have changed a lot. Ethics often is not considered in the average 'tagging' on facebook yet it falls under the same sort of photography if you look at the words you'd use to describe either.
Photographers haven't changed much, but there are far more people with cameras these days. My theory is that everyone has gotten used to being in complete control of their image and persona on the Internet, and these "real life" reminders have become too annoying for people who are used to being in complete control of their appearance and worldview. It used to be that the real world was all we had, and we were used to such things, but things are different now, alas.
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