street ethics
The Other Side
Recently I have been thinking about the ethics of street photography. Questioning what is right and what is wrong, when taking pictures of people in the streets?
Opinions vary, but the opinion that I follow is the one of following your own personal street photography ethics. For me that means not exploiting the subject directly, not making direct profit off that individual, and lastly, if possible, try to get permission to take their picture. A model release would be best, freeing you to do what you want, but this doesn’t always work when you are shooting homeless people or scary people you might want to avoid, and it may disrupt your artistic approach or the heart of the moment.
In the end it is all just a matter of opinion, and personal and professional choice. It is certainly something to think about when moving through the urban scape.
I look to continue to shoot people in the streets and the closer I get, the more I understand that what I am doing is what I am supposed to be doing. I do it because it calls me. Shooting people in the streets has a great attraction for me. And my ethics will continue to be refined and I am sure questioned by others as my output becomes more public. I want to be prepared to answer those questions, and be confident that I am doing it the right way.
Below are a few links I found that highlight this topic.