katmaidog

I have a slight problem with this photo in that it's not straight. It needs to be rotated maybe 1 or 2 clicks to the left.

I rated this a 7/7 anonymously, and then realized that I liked it too much not to say something in person.

What a photo. What life you captured. This isn't good Street. This is excellent Street.

well done. you captured a little of the Human Story, which in my opinion is what good Street is all about.

Plus I really like how all of the patterns (his tattoos and their garments) work together.

I gave it a 7/6

Did she agree to have the photo put onto the internet?

Ahh, and there lies one of the Big Dilemmas for Street. If we take the photo of someone without their consent and put that photo up for the whole world to see, is that right?

And if we take someone's photo WITH their consent , but do not tel them that we will be putting the photo up on the Internet where hundreds of thousands--maybe millions--of strangers will be looking it without telling them that we will do so, is that right?

What if we THINK they might be ok with it, and assume that we have their implied consent?

Are we obliged to ask everyone whose photo we put up on the Internet if they are ok with it?

An example of the sort of dilemma that we face.

My wife is also a photographer (much better than i am), and she was down by the ocean one day (it was not a deserted beach by any means) and saw a man with a dozen roses in his hands, facing the water and throwing them one at a time into the waves. She took a series of photos as he threw the roses, and then i turned it into a sideshow/video, set to a nice piano instrumental. I thought the result was very powerful, and we posted it on youtube.

We belong to an e-group that discusses photography among other things, and my wife posted a link to the video on the gorps page.

Another member immediately came back and said that my wife was exploiting what appeared to be someone else's grief, or at least a very personal moment, and thought that it was wrong for us to have put it up on the Internet for all to see.

her main complaint was that my wife hadn't asked him if it was ok to take the photos, especially knowing that at least some of them would wind up on the Internet.

My response to this woman was to remind her that on her frequent trips to Guatemala, she always comes back with dozens of photos of the people she knows and posts them on the net. She assured me that she had permission to take these people's photos, but then when i asked her, "But do they know that these photos are not just going into a photo album to sit in your living room to show friends, but that you are instead posting them on the net where of the whole world can see them?"

She had no answer.

And I really have no answers for my other questions above.

I think that in the realm of Street Photography we each have to come to our own individual conclusions and decide for ourselves how we feel about these issues and set our behavior in accordance with our beliefs.

I do try to make sure that i do not put anything up for the whole world to see that does not allow my subject their human dignity, and I try never to put up a photo of someone else that i would not want put up if it were of me instead.

I also justify my actions in part by knowing that there is little or no chance that this person will ever see the photos i put up, or that anyone that knows my subject will ever see the photos, and so there is a "what they don't know won't hurt them" aspect to the whole act of Street-to-Internet that allows me some artistic freedom due to the remove of the subject.

Even so, I am aware of the fact that i am committing an intrusion into someone else's life, even if they are not aware of the fact that i have done so.

But yeah, it's up to us to deal with the morality of it and to try not to do anything that will hurt people, or if we do, to make sure that the art is worth it.

For what it's worth, no I never told Traci that I put this photo up on the Internet (a lot of Street People really cannot understand the concept of the WWW), but i do think, with all honesty, that she would really be ok with it.

Cheers,

matt

what a great shot. How lucky for you to have been there when all the elements of this photo came together, and how well done of you to have seen it and taken the shot.

*applause*

For example, this beggar "Traci" agreed to let me shoot her photo after we became friends...

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/5513831-lg.jpg

Alexander, i understand why you would shoot first and give money later, and i agree with your reasons for doing so.

I also agree that the misery of the world deserves and needs to be shown just as much as the beauty. This photo captures that very well.

I have made it my own personal choice not to shoot beggars, except for a couple that i have befriended, but that is a personal choice and not one that i am trying to enforce upon others. I do always ask if the photographer gave them any money, though.I think it's only right to do so if you are making art from the photo you take of them.

cheers,

matt