I parked with plenty of time alongside this wondrous square, right next to our meeting place, but first I wanted to shoot the square in this glorious, intense 5.30 light. Suddenly,the little boy in pic.1 bottom left appeared.
He became my subject, as he played with water from the fountain. He came over & started chatting.
He is Miguel, aged 9. He then asked if he could take a photo, the result
you see in pic.2. Not at all bad! I had to hold the camera, as it was a first time for him, but he did the rest. I couldn't start lecturing him about framing the statue head against the sky, could I?Next, looking around, I saw his two
smiling grandparents, watching all this. "Come on, Miguel", I say. "Let's get 'em!" And we did. They loved it, especially seeing theresults instantly.I asked for some portraits of the 3 of them
and these were undoubtedly the best of the bunch.Lastly, I put myself into a shot with them, which totally amazed them, but didn't come out as I'd intended. You can see that I have at least 1 blue eye, though!
Such warm, human shots; such great, uncomplicated people. i watched & shot them as they walked away,only sorry that they had no pc/net/e-mail. I always ask strangers for an e-address, as it's right to share the pics with them.
So, Pedro, now you know why I was late. Forgive me.
One last note: I could never do this in my own country, because at the start, the adults would have got into a rage, screaming for the police to get the paedophile - which I am certainly not!
Here, it is different, people know more about how to love children, their own, anyone's. Kids are, as a result, much more open, relaxed and just kids. Sad country, England.
17 comments:
It's ok, the wait wasn't long. Anyway it's great you can talk with everybody. It's hard to find someone like you, a very polite person and with a high formal education, but still talking to everybody with no signs of prejudice.
This is maybe why you can relate life and picture-taking so easely and perfectly. Of course they're always together, but you have an unique way of putting them together.
I love these. Here's one of the things that teares me and saddens me the most about Portugal: it's almost a common trait in every foreigner I've ever met to observe the local kindness towards children. As the mother of 2 small children, I witness that first hand. Everyone smiles at them as we pass, everyone says nice things to them. An then, like a neutron bomb, on come the pedophile scandals and the stats on abused children. And I suddenly think where am I?
And Stewart, just because I don't leave a comment, it doesn't mean I don't visit. In fact, I'm here everyday.
In the spirit of honest critique - I'd like to see one with just the grandparents -- or even a portrait of just the grandma - what a wonderful face she has! But it's fun to get a peek at you, NWM!
I do not agree with the relaxedness of the people in portugal towards taking pictures of there kids.
As I worked for these parenting magazines and took thousands of pictures in kindergartens many parents tought if there kid got in the magazine everybody would reconise them and do them harm in some kind of way. Sorry my opinion, ofcourse there is a big pedofile scandal at the moment in portugal that scarse the parents
I must reply briefly (today is becoming truly horrible)in particular to Ana & Marjan:
Dear both, I seriously welcome the input of both of you on this,which is immensely relevant and pertinent as both of you are mothers and Marjan a specialist photographer in the domain in Portugal. I certainly can't - & don't want - to argue with your views, rather I endorse them. That isn't to be hypocritical. I must think more deeply & will clarify to you here in this post,WHEN I HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME! Not today, or the next days, sadly. Maybe my words were too simplistic + I am not a parent, but I look at the general attitudes to children in Portugal & England (sure, there are all kinds of faults & defects everywhere!)& I'm telling you, my native society has long had deep problems with the ways it perceives & treats children, which with each generation gets worse. And not only children, of course. This is always revealing about the pscho-social state of the adults too. Lord, we need a seminar already todiscuss this. From my heart I thank you for your views. Wiill return!
PS (How could I have overlooked you two? Sorry):
Pedro - I'm touched, thank you for that.
Jenny - Agree entirely. Hey presto...they exist already, but no space. (Granny was visibly shy; Gramps,not the least!)As for the 'peek'...Cheeky!! I never anticipated opening up a can of worms, but you can probably guess I dig it!
afotografia: that is precisely what I'm talking about. As I was reading Stewart's post, I wondered how I would have reacted to an adult, a stranger, taking pictures of my kids on the street. The answer is: I would not like it one bit. But that's because of everything that's happened recently. I have this sad feeling of lost innocence. Nowadays it's inevitable, automatic. But it didn't use to be like that. And it's sad that this (justified) fear has taken over us.
Before anything else, I only just saw that Blogger did indeed 'steal'pic.1,with Miguel near the fountain,d****t!
Unexpectedly(stealing 1 minute from a truly catastrophic work day!), this is turning into a serious issue that merits discussion, hopefully with some input from beyond Portugal too. It is also important to me, on my side of the camera & as such, I value what you just added, Ana. Marjan (Afo)is about to flee o país for 2 weeks, but she'll stay in touch & clearly as a pro, shemust have a lot more insight. Although I shoot on the streets, which is a very different domain, calling other aspects into question (legality, for one). I still know I would hate it to become in Portugal like it has become in England, where there is an atmosphere greater than just suspicion - it is hysteria, poisoned, vicious, open rage. It is much easier to be a 'stranger' here,which is me. I know it's hardly all sweetness, light, joy & pure naivety;I believe that, like elsewhere, the poison that infiltrates childhood is strongly linked to increasingly rampant materialism/consumerism & the fact that the kids -from age 6 months upwards - are seen by business & the marketing/advetising industry as a market. The have to be 'activated'. It cannot be healthy, & the whole spectrum of results is taking hold of children & parents here,with all the concomitant consequences, e.g. lost innocence.That is truly sad. And bad. But I loved it when you wrote that you are always visiting! Thanks again. And how's Joana?
Just one thing, i posted images of my friends grandchildren on flickr. for her to see and send to her friends. the pictures of the kids half(they are 3years old) naked or one trying to put on his pants gets strang vieuwers.
I put tags, boys, this opens a hole pedofiel vieuwing audience.~
And other thing the strang vieuws of pregnancy pictures tell me how in 1 mounth a get over 3500 people looking at the box with these pics. The pictures on the blog are not protected everybody can take them of.
That's scary. Really scary.
I know I did not know it was so bad.
but when i see the pictures of people who put pictures of mine as favorit
i took of the pictures they where interetsed in
I just don't fit on this global paranoia, of course we have to be careful with our kids but don't forget the impulse on fear by the media, fear gives a lot of money and keeps people more controlled and... unhappy. We are always reading news to cause fear, like this last one about Paracetamol, we can't fall on this media tricks.
When i was a kid i didn't need to close the doors of my home when going out and spend all day playing on the streets alone with other kids, now this is impossible because fathers&mothers watch to many tv and all bad cases are brodcasted, it's very sad that my daughter will never had the freedom i had.
But about the photos in the street by strangers i had no problem with that, i do it sometimes myself, anyway with big lens this issue is nothing.
good weekend to all and the best hollidays for those starting today;)
Stewart, did I tell you I like your name? One of my professors was named Stewart. Lovely chap. Took 6 of his classes and he was generous with his grades.
Portraits. My favourite subject. The joy you glean when the expression is captured exactly...priceless. It's seldom people pose when asked nowadays. I agree with Nuno on mega-zoom lenses. People are less aware. Invasion of personal space is a sticky matter. I prefer to get as close as I can when i take portraits. But like you said, people scream blue murder! It's not just a sad England, it's becoming sad everywhere. And the ironic thing is everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. Sad.
Nuno: 'anyway with big lens this issue is nothing.' Well, it's not very ethical either, is it?
I pity my children everyday for not having a childhood as free as the one I had, but the world is different too, and not just because of pedophilia (which always existed, by the way). I went alone to school, but there were 10 times less cars and traffic than today. And true, I never rode with a seatbelt as a child and I'm alive, but that doesn't mean seatbelts are useless, does it? My mother didn't visit the doctor every month during pregnancy, and there were no ultrasounds, and here I am, healthy and alive, but I'm sure glad I have those things today.
How right you are. Kids scream, lost, in our streets and no-one dare help them. It's a sad world we've created for ourselves - in England especially. Beautiful pictures though, of beautiful people.
"But about the photos in the street by strangers i had no problem with that, i do it sometimes myself, anyway with big lens this issue is nothing."
Of course ethically, as Ana says, it can be less good. But it will oly depend on the use we make of the shots. And for a more clear vision with out prejudice, i'll talk about some law statements which treat the matters:
1. For publishing people's pictures is necessary their allowance (article 79th of Portuguese Civil Code. But reading the law carefully, I don't see a strong motive of not to allow the publishing of this shots without allowance since they're not for so called immoral uses of profit. And i strongly believe that the spirit of this law is to protect poeple that feel offended by the publishing giving them some weapons to prevent more harm that the already done.
2. Criminally speaking: looking to the law (Penal Code), it's not forbiden to use a telelens and shoot people. The crime only occurs when the shot is made AGAINST THE WILL OF THE PERSON WHO'S BEING PHOTOGRAPHED. And thats it.
3. So concluding: I don't think MR NowhereMan is doing something wrong about posting this: Of course pedophiliae is scarry. But We need to see that a possible crime only occurs when someone stills his images, and he has nothing to do with it. And above all: concerning the importance of blogs in the development of culture, its very good to have this kind of blogs.
I'm a law student and I i'd become a judge, I would just say he had violated the law if the publishing directly created any harm to the people represented on them. Nothing more, nothing less. And absolutelly, this is not the case.
that last thing portelini is true what I know if the person is portrted in e negative way it is not allowed.
Then for advertisment you always need modelrelease. The problem I had was a mother who always helped me staging photosessions with her daughter. Didn´t like the use of the pictures in an artikel.People change there minds that is the PROBLEM! So from now on I ask every one to sign modelrelease.
This is another discussion but I think important. If you take pictures you want to sell or post on internet just walk around wwith a model release.
Buildings you need propertty release. Tele lens is a great thing in my blog the nice dolphin pictures couldn´t been taken with out. Many people do not mind you take there picture(if it is a good one) as long as they donn´t notice it.
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