Ethical to photograph women in swim suits in public?

vonfilm

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Is it ethical to photograph or take video of women wearing swim suits at public pools or beaches? Does appearing in public wearing a swimsuit preclude any expectation of privacy?
 
Appearing in public signifies no expectation of privacy... depending on the laws of the country.

My best answer for your query - if you have to ask the question it's probably not the best idea. There have been some pretty famous shots (considered street photography) at the beaches, but it ain't my cup of tea. A good barometer - if you think the reply to you asking for a photograph has a near 100% chance of a negative response, it's not a good idea to take one without asking.
 
Not any more or less than men.
Boys and Girls are a different matter though (not yet adults).
I agree with the segedi.
Whether it is wise or even legal is dependent on location and context.
Ethics are a personal matter ultimately. Some folks can reconcile much more within themselves than others it seems.
 
I don't know if it's ethical, but photographs of of people in swimming suits at public places have been taken since cameras were portable...and before. LOL
 
What is your purpose in shooting photographs of women in bathing suits in public places? What will you do with the photographs? Would you want someone you love to be photographed in the way you plan to photograph these women, and with what you intend to do with the photos?

All in all, your question is too vague for a real answer, only for more questions.
 
Is it ethical to take your camera on the beach, knowing people will wearing next to nothing?

That is a personal ethics issue....
Everybody has different ethics, none are all right or all wrong... just different because of a persons rearing by parents and the surrounding society.
And now, maybe some ethics are directed by local law.

If you have to ask yourself.... don't take the photo.....
If you want a general poll of where Rff's stand.... add a poll..To add real data to this discussion.
 
As any street shooter will tell you, many people do not care for having their pictures taken by strangers.

There are all sorts of threads here about various tactics and attitudes in this regard.

Naturally the same will be true at the beach or a pool, perhaps more so. Nevertheless from a photojournalistic POV, I see nothing more "unethical" in documenting public bathing, than in documenting people trying to kill one another in a war.

The beaches and pools today today are full of cameras, like the private parties and events. Attached to cell phones and not infrequently used.

Who knows how many video cameras are running for security in some of these areas?
 
What kind of relations do I wish to entertain with people I don't know? How would I like to be treated by them in kind?

Think about human relations first.

There are so many ways in which public space today is designed to create mechanisms of instant identification, people tend to forget the old saying" you can't judge a book by its cover." How about making a representation of that aspect of your relationship to strangers paramount in your photography, rather than some supposedly immediately ID-able securidentity?
 
There is nothing inherently wrong with taking pictures of people in swimsuits. Indeed there are many people who would willingly pose for you, even people who are just about only photographed when wearing swimsuits. The real ethical question is how much should you pay them for modelling? :angel:
 
Is it ethical to photograph or take video of women wearing swim suits at public pools or beaches? Does appearing in public wearing a swimsuit preclude any expectation of privacy?

It depends if you are talking Côte d'Azur or Saudi Arabia.

Or to keep your US perspective compare Panama City Beach at Spring break vs. Alamo Beach in Texas this coming Easter Week-end.

There are the laws, what people expect and what's ethical, all 3 very different. What's ethical is in your head.

Roland.
 
Some people enjoy looking at photos of women in bathing suits. The psychiatric diagnosis of this condition is known as "being a man."

And some women like to pose for such photos. It's called 'being a model.' While looking at images of women in bathing suits photographed without their knowledge or consent for 'a man's' prurient interest has a psychiatric diagnosis of 'being a voyuer.' Or in layman's terms, being a creepy scuz.
 
Some people enjoy looking at photos of women in bathing suits. The psychiatric diagnosis of this condition is known as "being a man."

If your sole intention to visit a beach/pool etc is to take photos of women in swim suits w/o their consent, that's not being a man. That's being a creep.
 
Forty years ago, my first ever exhibition was of pictures taken at Weston super Mare (a holiday resort). Some of the pics were of people of both sexes in swimsuits. No-one ever blinked.

In 1992 I moved to the Kent coast, a hundred yards from the beach, and shot a fair amount there too. Moved to France a decade later.

Occasionally, when I'm in Spain, I take pictures on the beach there too. Or at spas in Hungary. No-one complains. Why should they?It's like taking pictures anywhere else.

In other words, no, there are no ethical concerns -- unless (increasingly) you're dealing with paranoid twerps raised in a climate of fear and obsessed with sex, such as are increasingly commonly found in the UK and USA.

Cheers,

R.
 
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