Ethics of accidental street shooting

[Wayne]

Not a situation that has a simple answer of course. .

Nonsense. You give the person the same consideration that you would want to be gven IF you were in his shoes, ie homeless, hungry and seeking a private place to sleep undisturbed.

[Paul Sorensen]

Nonsense. You give the person the same consideration that you would want to be gven IF you were in his shoes, ie homeless, hungry and seeking a private place to sleep undisturbed.

I agree. My wife and I got to talking about this thread and had an amazing conversation. It was hard to think of times when I could think of photographing a homeless person for my personal work without feeling like I was exploiting him/her. Even if I offer money in exchange for photographing them, they are not in much of a situation to make a rational choice and turn you down. I understand that a sensitive documentary is a different issue, in that it would be about trying to improve the situation of homeless people in general. However, in my mind, even a sensitive documentary tends to exploit the individuals in it and sort of short change their humanity.

[ouyang]

Question I ponder upon a lot as streetphotography is "my thing"... for now I have decided
that whatever it is I can say with my photo's does not outweigh the discomfort and "dehumanization" I impose on the subject. The person is first and foremost a human being and why should the pleasure I derive from taking a "nice shot" be more important than the respect every human deserves. I like streetphotography because to me it is the most interesting way of photographing emotions (on par with documentary photography), and photographing poor/disabled/destitute etc. people would imho be allowed if it fits into a well thoughtout criticism of society or a part thereof. Like a journalist could do, or an artist with a well thought out body of art who has created a way to open a dialogue with society. not me, showing his photo's to some friends and selling some "pretty" pics every now and then. Maybe in the future, but I would have to grow a lot... In your work (as you describe it) I don't see any justification for taking the shot and I think you did the respectable thing. I must say I did take shots I would now (after having given it more thought) not take.. But you live and learn..

Kind regards,

onno

[waynecrider]

In my fantasy I would give him $50 to let me spray paint him. In real life I'd just continue to shoot.

[Poco]

Yeah, spray painting the homeless has always been a fantasy of mine too. We need Sean to make us a sub-forum.

[Poco]

I went back to the same location last night and was shooting my first sheet when the guy showed up to go to bed. I gave him $5 to get a cup of coffee for an hour and he seemed pleased with the deal.

Problem solved.