Download - Street Photography Ethics (Photography Degree, Year 2, Essay 1)

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Year 2, Essay 1According to Geoff Dyer, throughout photographic history the taking

of someone’s picture without permission or knowledge has been an act

that has generated constant debate. Yet, Dyer continues, for many

photographers this practice ‘has become second-nature, an ethical

blind-spot’. Recent changes to ethical codes make it no longer

possible to ignore this blind-spot. With reference to photography

featured in The Ongoing Moment and to other relevant photographic

practice discuss the implications for contemporary photography of

these emerging ethical codes.

Daniel Foy

Module No.: PHOT20115

Tutor: Andrea Fitzpatrick

Word Count: 2,046



Taking someoneʼs photograph without their knowledge and/or permission is considered

something of an ethical and, more recently, legal blind-spot. There are numerous reasons

why such conditions may be of interest to a photographer: in some cases a photographer

may want to photograph someone without their knowledge for artistic or aesthetic effect; or

without their permission due to practical constraints, in the case of certain types of

photographs used to illustrate breaking news events. This is of particular concern to the

fields of documentary and street photography, where work produced is often dependent on

the subject being unaware that their photograph is being taken.

Methodologies for taking photographs without a subjectʼs knowledge differ between

photographers and cultures. The street documentary photographs featured by Geoff Dyer

in the opening section of The Ongoing Moment (2005) are principally by pioneering

American photographers; however, the laws regarding personal privacy in a public space,

at least in the UK and USA, are largely unchanged since these iconic images were

created. In 2008, Home Office Minister Tony McNulty stated: “There is no legal restriction

on photography in public places, and there is no presumption of privacy for individuals in a

public place” (Why street photography is facing a moment of truth , The Guardian, 2010).

However, sensitivities concerning the taking of a personʼs photograph without their

knowledge or consent is an issue with implications reaching further than the objective eyes

of the law, and is approached differently by individual photographers.

Both philosophy and aesthetic intentions inform the methodologies behind street

photography. The WNYC Culture interview WNYC Street Shots: Bruce Gilden (c. 2005),

showcases the somewhat confrontational practice of this celebrated Magnum

photographer as he documents the streets of New York. Whilst the photographs are made

without the subjectʼs consent, they are clearly very aware of his presence - Gildenʼs

approach is to hone in on a subject, then to penetrate their personal space with his Leica

and flash. The subject is typically captured in the moments prior to their understanding of

the situation. In one instance a pedestrian anticipates Gildenʼs intentions and pauses to

smile and pose for a photograph, which leads to him being chastised by a visibly irritated

Gilden, and then instructed to walk on.

What is perhaps most surprising about Gildenʼs approach is the lack of resistance by the

subjects. Despite his direct and somewhat confrontational approach, and despite clear

and understandable surprise, the subjects shown in the video interview largely continue

about their business without challenging Gildenʼs actions. This may seem a strange

concept to contemporary photographers in the UK, where such methods would likely be

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considered by the public to be an excessive breach of personal space and privacy. This

may be due American extroverted culture, but equally it may by a result of New Yorkʼs

uniquely rich heritage in street documentary photography.

The practice of street documentary photography in Britain is notably different. With British

law ruling that no-one has the right to privacy in a public place, it would seem logical that

candid street photography would be an accepted and popular field. However, this law also

safeguards corporate and state surveillance, which, along with other factors, has resulted

in Britain becoming the most surveilled nation in the world, ranking lowest in the EU and

alongside Russia for ʻindividual privacyʼ, and as the only nation in the EU rated in the

ʻblackʼ category, indicating ʻendemic surveillanceʼ (Britain: the most spied on nation in the

world, The Telegraph , 2006). This may understandably contribute to suspicion directed

toward British street photographers, as physical manifestations of an often unwelcome and

overbearing background hum of constant surveillance.

In this context, it is perhaps not surprising that British street photographers largely adopt a

more subtle methodology when photographing citizens without their consent.

Contemporary street photographer Matt Stuart sums up his philosophy in an interview with

Spine TV:

“Primarily you need to know that you’re not doing anything wrong. Primarily you need to

know that you’re not hurting anybody, and that what you’re doing you’re happy with and

confident about. Then you don’t give off any bad vibes, you don’t give off any stalker vibes,

you don’t give off fear.” (Matt Stuart’s street photography, 2010)

Stuartʼs description clearly indicates he is comfortable that he isnʼt acting in an ethically

questionable manner, whilst outlining a methodology that recognizes the sensitivities of his

subject matter. He does however indicate that, despite his own ethical comfort, there is a

natural fear associated with taking photographs without someones knowledge. He goeson to state that: “[You can come across] a whole situation, an argument, or love, or

something happening, and you can go in and share it with these people and go out, and

they didnʼt realise you were there, and thatʼs a really nice feeling.” Whilst Stuart is clearly

mindful of the reactions of his subjects, the fact remains that he enters their space - private

not in a legal sense, but perhaps symbolically - and leaves with, in his case, a negative

that will become a physical object - a record of the subject and their actions at the time of

exposure - whilst the subject leaves empty handed and possibly oblivious. It is not an

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exchange that appears mutually beneficial, and the connotations of ʻtakingʼ a photograph

would seem to reinforce this.

Photographers that Dyer discusses in The Ongoing Moment also adopted measures to

help ensure that the subject was oblivious of their presence as a photographer, or at least

unaware of the true subject of the photograph that was being created. Strand affixed a

false lens to his camera, and took photographs at right-angles to the direction the false

lens faced in an effort to mask his intentions. Evans concealed a camera up his sleeve,

whist Winogrand took photographs so quickly that ʻeven if people notice they do not have

the chance to do anything about itʼ (Dyer, 2005, p.17).

These photographers went to lengths to deceive their subjects - Evans was even breaking

the law, as photographing on subway as he was without a permit was illegal - and yet the

contemporary ethical issues around creating these images are overlooked in many

modern photographic texts. Dyer touches upon the issues around ʻtakingʼ photos of

beggars whilst offering nothing in return, but states that in Strandʼs case “only by deceiving

his subjects that he could be faithful to them.” (p.13) However, this doesn ʼt address the

question of whether Strand had the moral authority to create these images without the

subjectʼs knowledge, much less if the subjected actually wanted to be photographed.

That isnʼt to say necessarily that Strand was acting immorally in creating them, but rather

that it is a dilemma that is becoming more significant and less avoidable in todayʼs society.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia, who photographed unknowing passersby using a flash system

rigged to a scaffold in his ʻHeadsʼ series, was sued by an Orthodox Jew on the grounds

that his privacy and religious rights had been violated in the act of exhibiting this image in

a gallery (Why street photography is facing a moment of truth, The Observer , 2010).

Although the case was dismissed on grounds of the image being created for art rather

than commerce, the case is a notable indicator of increased demand for control over

personal privacy and control over personal representation in the public sphere.

There are other methods of photographing people without their ʻknowledgeʼ, although

these methods present an additional set of ethical issues. Dyer explains the interest of

photographers in images of the blind at length, which at one point he summarizes by way

of a quote from Diane Arbus, who also photographed the mentally ill: she likes them

ʻbecause they canʼt fake their expressions.ʼ (p.44). Arbusʼs statement of interest in the

blind and mentally ill likely also applies to the street photographers discussed by Dyer -besides being visually unaware of the physical manifestations of emotion, the blind cannot

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The most recent obstacle facing British photographers is British Anti-Terrorism legislation.

The legislation is significant both because it affects a wide range of photographers as

varied as street photographers, journalists, and tourists, and because parts of the law have

in the past been misused in a virtually systematic fashion to restrict innocuous, previously

ethically acceptable, and still entirely legal photography of all kinds, with no obvious link to

terrorism, whilst the photographer is working in public spaces - for example, the stopping,

searching, and detaining of a 15 year old photographing a parade (Young photojournalist

detained for army cadet pics, The British Journal of Photography , 2010).

Two particular elements of the Counter Terrorism Act 2008 affect photographers: Section

44, which was retired mid 2010 and allowed police officers to conduct on-the-spot

searches; and Section 76, a more recent addition which concerns the creation or soliciting

of ʻinformationʼ (including photographs) about members of the armed forces. Despite both

sections of the Counter Terrorism Act being created for use against legitimate terrorist

threats, both have been used by frontline police officers to deter photographers from their

legal right to photograph police officers without their prior permission. While it is important

to question the ethics of photographing someone without their permission, the ethics

concerning misusing laws for purposes other than for which they were intended must also

be addressed.

Photographers are not hampered by Sections 44 and 76 alone, however; an advertising

campaign launched by the Metropolitan Police Service encourages people to report

photographers who ʻseem oddʼ as potential terror suspects (Metropolitan Police Service,

2008). Vague language such as this encourages paranoia directed at photographers

creating photographs of anything out of the ordinary.

Thus, questions regarding the ethics of photographing people without their permission, or

using deceitful methods, are now not merely philosophical questions alone - negative

responses, right or wrong, could easily have tangible consequences for a photographer ʼs

freedom.

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ReferencesALAFOTO, 2010. Henri Cartier-Bresson quotes [online]. Alafoto. Available at: http:// alafoto.com/?p=1137[Accessed on 17 January 2011].

DYER, Geoff, 2005. The Ongoing Moment . Great Britain: Abacus.

JOHNSTON, Philip, 2006. Britain: the most spied on nation in the world. The Telegraph [online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533054/Britain-the-most-spied-on-nation-in-the-world.html[Accessed 15 January 2011].

LAURENT, Oliver, 2010. Young photojournalist detained for army cadet pics. The British Journal of Photography [online]. Available at: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1719526/photojournalist-detained-army-cadet-pics [Accessed 20January 2011].

Matt Stuart ̓ s street photography , 2010. [Video interview]. England: British Journal ofPhotography Online [Used with permission from Spine TV]. Available at: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1800918/matt-stuarts-street-photography

[Accessed on 15 January 2011].METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE, 2008. Met Launches New Counter-Terrorism Campaign 25.02.08 [online]. Avaliable at: http://cms.met.police.uk/news/ publicity_campaigns/terrorism/ met_launches_new_counter_terrorism_campaign_25_02_08 [Accessed 20 January 2011]

OʼHAGAN, Sean, 2010. Why street photography is facing a moment of truth. The Observer [online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/apr/18/ street-photography-privacy-surveillance[Accessed 12 January 2011].

WNYC Street Shots: Bruce Gilden [online video] [c. 2005]. New York: WNYC Culture.[Produced by Benjamen Walker.] Avaliable at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=IRBARi09je8[Accessed 15 January 2011].

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http://alafoto.com/?p=1137



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http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1800918/matt-stuarts-street-photography




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533054/Britain-the-most-spied-on-nation-in-the-world.html










BibliographyALAFOTO, 2010. Henri Cartier-Bresson quotes [online]. Alafoto. Available at: http:// alafoto.com/?p=1137 [Accessed on 17 January 2011].

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JOHNSTON, Philip, 2006. Britain: the most spied on nation in the world. The Telegraph [online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533054/Britain-the-most-spied-on-nation-in-the-world.html[Accessed 15 January 2011].

LAURENT, Oliver, 2010. Young photojournalist detained for army cadet pics. The British Journal of Photography [online]. Available at: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1719526/photojournalist-detained-army-cadet-pics [Accessed 20January 2011].

Matt Stuart ̓ s street photography , 2010. [Video interview]. England: British Journal of Photography Online [Used with permission from Spine TV]. Available at: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1800918/matt-stuarts-street-photography[Accessed on 15 January 2011].

METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE, 2008. Met Launches New Counter-Terrorism Campaign 25.02.08 [online]. Avaliable at: http://cms.met.police.uk/news/

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OʼHAGAN, Sean, 2010. Why street photography is facing a moment of truth. The Observer [online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/apr/18/ street-photography-privacy-surveillance[Accessed 12 January 2011].

ORWELL, George, 1949. Nineteen Eighty-Four - with an Introduction by Thomas Pynchon and A Note on the Text by Peter Davidson . London: Penguin Books Ltd.

WNYC Street Shots: Bruce Gilde n [online video] [c. 2005]. New York: WNYC Culture.[Produced by Benjamen Walker.] Avaliable at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRBARi09je8 [Accessed 15 January 2011].

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