Street photography code of conduct

[DougFord]

The news is not good.....amateurs armed with digital cameras using the internet are killing street and documentary photography. But not for the reasons you would expect, IE: Free photos versus pro photos.

I am going to go put something out there that has been a topic of discussion among some well known documentary photographers lately. I am sure I will get flamed for it, but it has to be said.

Professional journalists and even long time pro street photographers are finding it hard if not impossible to make a photo of someone without being asked, "Is this going to be on Flicker? Because I don't want my photo on Flicker".


If I need a permit to make certain photographs in certain places, I am actually all for it, it might help to weed out the people who are utterly clueless about respect for other people and slapping their photo up on the internet for all to see.

Great, that’s all we need, a bunch of bureaucrats that hand out photo permits to so-called “Professional journalists/pro street photographers” in order to regulate public photography. Tell your little group of whiny ‘Professional journalists/pro street photographers’ to stuff it.

 

[Drewus]

If photographing people in public places ever becomes banned, i'm still going to do it.

I'll just make sure I don't get caught

 

[Bobfrance]

Drewus says it well. Street shooting is exciting, difficult, and when you get it right, rewarding. YMMV, but for me, there is nothing on this earth more interesting than people. People just being people, in public, is a slice of visual life that is endlessly fascinating. When shooting on the street, the odd gesture or out of place facial expression, the juxtaposition with all the other random elements of "life" makes fiction useless. As Drewus said, the ability to recognize a scene that is unfolding in front of you and then react in a way that allows you to "get" the picture is a huge challenge.

What he said.

It is an extreme sport in a way. I find it exciting.
IMO to do it well you have to be fast, develop skill in using your equipment properly and have an instinct for a seeing a shot appear. You also have to have a degree of respect for your subjects (but YMMV).
Whilst I enjoy seeing some shots of static objects (architecture, landscapes etc.) and can appreciate some of the skill involved in capturing them, for me if a shot doesn't have a real person in it it doesn't really engage me. Those objects/scenes are always there and to my mind I could wait for the perfect light and get a good shot, but odds-on somebody else will have got there countless times before me. The scenes on the street are constantly changing and never repeated.

I shoot for my own pleasure - I don't really publish or exhibit - and for me the shooting is almost as important as the finished product.

I have shot in groups and find it great fun, but I must emphasise it was nothing like that vid. Perhaps i twas the involvement of a video camera, but quite franlky they lacked "Finess"
We tend to split up more and come together every so often. I've never shot with anyone whoo LOOMS over their subject in such an impolite way.
In the past whilst out shooting with another RFF member we sometimes found that we would stand talking with a stranger and after the conversation has ended aked eachother "you get any shots?" and we'd both got shots off without the other person, or our subject realising, that anyone had.

Whist I've never thought of it before I have never consciously poached someone else's shot and I don't think I ever would.

 

[steenkamp]

I am member of the group shown in the video. Just to clarify this: We are a group of street photographers coming from different countries. We meet each other 1-2 times per year in a chosen city. This video is from Vienna, the meeting before was held in Berlin. It's just during this meetings that we walk together and, as everybody of us normally has a camera in his hand, do some shooting. This is in no way organized, it's just fun.

There is no question that Street Photography works best if one works on his own, therefore the photographic results of this meetings are mostly crap ;-)

Nevertheless, i think there are some great photographers in our group. If you have an interest in street photography make sure to check their individual work on our website

www.seconds2real.com

or subscribe to our flickr pool

http://www.flickr.com/groups/seconds2real/

Thanks a lot for your interest.

Guido

 

[clayne]

What I've never understood is what is the attraction of "street photograhy", the motivation for doing it as a hobby. I can understand doing it to illustrate an article in a magazine or book, maybe the occasional shot because you want to "make a statement" about something. But a group of guys armed with cameras stalking random people? Somebody enlighten me please.

That's the funniest aspect of that video. Those guys act like they don't have the foggiest idea as to why they're doing it either.

Everyone wants to be the next Winogrand unfortunately.

 

[mfunnell]

[...]Professional journalists and even long time pro street photographers are finding it hard if not impossible to make a photo of someone without being asked, "Is this going to be on Flicker? Because I don't want my photo on Flicker".

[...]

If I need a permit to make certain photographs in certain places, I am actually all for it, it might help to weed out the people who are utterly clueless about respect for other people and slapping their photo up on the internet for all to see.

Presumably because it is so much less intrusive to splash someone's photograph all over a newspaper Where it is sure to get many fewer views that a random somebody's flickr stream

I assume you and your little coterie of "accredited professionals" would have something like this banned:


An accident on George Street, near Town Hall. An older lady had taken a bad fall. I came on the scene later, and quite deliberately didn't photograph the injured lady. It was nice to see, though, that any number of bystanders stopped to help. It was also handy that a number of medical types were walking through the city, handing out flyers for a fund-raising doctors' orchestra - they were on-hand to provide some expert assistance almost immediately.

Leica M3, Elmar 50/2.8(current) @f8; Fuji Reala 100, lab scan; resize etc. PS CS2

What happens when a government official threatens to pull your accredititation unless an "embarassing" photo is made to disappear is left as an exercise for the reader. No government would do such a thing, now would they? :angel:

...Mike

 

[jky]

@chambrenoire: when out shooting with a friend I, like you, keep my camera down when his is up. The only time we would both be shooting at the same thing is if the final image will obviously be different (ie: angles, lighting, composition, or including/subtracting elements into or out of the frame).

 

[Yoricko]

I'd rather be walking around the street solo. Having a friend with me is a distraction.