I'm .....I don't know what, changed? Yes.I looked at many pictures of mine with people in them,thought Iknew what they were about.
Now I'm not so sure.
It's like seeing with new eyes.
All of the people either knew my cameras (3 different across these 4) were watching them, or saw the result afterwards, so not exactly strangers.
But............
Nuno & Edwin advised telezooms for discretion, but I know that. 2 of these were with a fixed 135 mm, perfect for portraits, 1 with a 70-300mm, great for public events
And one was with a tiny magic box.
Are they safe? I don't know anymore. Right now, in my head - after reading all the comments so far
& after an intense discussion face-to-face on every angle of all the issues raised yesterday - I see it all differently. So much thrown up by what started out in innocence. I am grateful to those who voiced openly candid views that opened updoors on something sinister, abhorrent related to all this, but not directly involving the pictures concerned. I have to find a way both to summarise the discussion (which I feel did a lot of good) and to close it. I'll wait a while.Fears, prejudices, knee-jerk reactions, acquisitiveness, fashion,consumerism, exploitation, more fears, hatreds, terrorism, massacres, fascism - where does it start? I know there can be no solution. We're stuck with it all, folks.
Meanwhile take a look at Nowhere Man, who desperately wants to be Somewhere Else Man for a little while, but can't.
8 comments:
I suppose there's no sollution on this problem. I read some Steinbeck's momories of the time he went to the soviet union in the 50's with the briliand photojournalist Robert Cappa and there's a part in which he says something like this:people with cameras will always be seens as a threat, much like people with guns. So here the problem is the end to which are used pics, and if now there's a more easy way of using them for imoral ends, this is the problem that need to be attacked, and not the ability of shooting portraits, which remains in the sphere of individual liberties.
The law domain i talked about in the former post is just like a objective element in this egg and chicken discussion. Not that your concerns are not valid (they are, really), but the source of the problem is the post photographic use, not the picture taking or the photographer.
That's much better!
I remebered now of an interview with an old Portuguese photographer(can't remember his name) and when asked about this issue he said on his entire life only had problems with rich and middle classes(the fear that portelini talks), poor people replies always with a smile.
About ethics on telezooms i never said it is the right attitude, just said that to remember and continuing to remember this "dangers" there are hundreds or thousands of video cameras in our cities from different companies and organizations, if we think in all this hidden eyes as a threat it's better to stay at home.
Wise of the old photographer Nuno. and very wise of you to pass it on.
I subscribe to this view generally, as there will always be exceptions. I also think it's (a)a generational thing & (b)somehow related to geographics.....excuse my inarticulacy,it has been a long, over-full, intense kind of day. But what about the portraits?
I won't get involved in the discussion about photographing children -- I"ll just respond to the photos you posted today, which I like very much - you captured expressions, personalities, wonderful texture and light...just excellent.
Ah, nothing beats black and white, really. Lovely pics.
OK, I'll try to be articulate here, not knowing if I can achieve it, since it's really late and I'm really tired. My father is a photographer. He doesn't do it professionally anymore, but I was first photographed when I was 15 minutes old, a real feat in 1966 in Alentejo. There are thousands of photographs of me and my sister, and I photograph my children virtually everyday. As any mother, I think they are absolutely adorable and consider it an honour to everyone to set eyes upon them - yes, that's me. I LOVE photography, so a world without photos, and especially of photos of children is unimaginable to me. My reflection on Stewart's previous post was one of sadness for not being able to enjoy, without second thoughts, the fact that a stranger might want to photograph my kids. I'll even go further, at the risk of being considered a freak. Every mother knows, consciously or not, that there is an inner sensuality in the contact with her children. Most fathers today must feel the same. They came out of us, they nurse from us, to them our skin is but an extension of their own. It's a terrible terrible shame that even for a second those lovely moments of intimacy should be soiled with the thought that for some people that sacred bond between a child and an adult can be less innocent and pure. (I realise that, as I try to explain this, it gets more and more confused, but I can't do any better, sorry.)
In short, it saddens me that I can't, without any fear whatsoever, show the world how lovely my kids are, through this wonderful thing called the internet.
There is an answer but that will only come if stop pointing fingers and start accepting the faults that lie within. Only when we truly know ourselves can we take a step forward. Am I making sense?
As for the zoom discussion, I'd like to state for the record it is not my M.O. I agree though, better portraits are taken 105mm and above. Being someone in the limelight, I know how it feels to have my picture taken without permission and as much as I can I ask first and shoot.
The paranoia people have nowadays, especially in this part of Asia, is half superstitious and half whatever else issues they have personally.
Are we safe? Yes and no. It's up to the individual to decide. Of course, mob mentality doesn't help matters as with all that you mentioned in your post.
everyone wants to be Somewhere Else (no offence to you Stewart) but why can't we just accept, learn and most importantly see all that is in and around us and be I'm Here Man?
Yup, a chicken and egg discussion. However, it fuels the imagination and answers begin to appear.
ps. Photographs are just that, still images. But your words are what make them tell your story. And perhaps, through these wonderful posts, you will be Now and Here. Everyday.
Thank you Stewart. You've made this young man worry a little less about the world he's growing older in.
Ana, I'm with you - my children are gorgeous. Do you know the photographer Sally Mann? She has courted controversy her entire career for the very sensuous photos (and gorgeous) she takes of her children. I do post pictures of mine - I don't see any harm in it, though if I started getting weierd or creepy comments on the photos I might change my mind!
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