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Posted: August 9, 2012

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Photographing Strangers

~KIMB00P Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Do you take photos of strangers? I feel nervous about it, and today I came across some hippy/hobo looking fellows deep in concentration while playing chess in a square in Seattle. I wanted to take the photo so badly, but I was afraid they may not like it. I didn't see, but my brother said he saw a few people around the area smoking weed.

Do you think they may be indifferent to having photos taken in fear of getting in trouble with the law?

So, what is your take on it?

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~photomark Sep 10, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I have had a few run-ins with people on the street but in Australia there is nothing they can do about it , when your in public you have no right to privacy ,that's what makes it a PUBLIC place. This excludes public restrooms and toilets where you would expect privacy.

If you wish you could set up a video camera on the street and broadcast it all over the world and there are many of them in every city anyway .

go into any major city in the world and you are being videoed and photographed almost every second you are there anyway .

My gallery is full of street shots that have strangers in them, I even sell the prints and I know I can do this totally legally

*JackMolotov3 Sep 10, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I think people call this "street" photography.

After a few awkward conversations, I had some business cards made up to hand people when I do photography so I don't look like a total creep. These contain my email and deviant art page's address.

Despite what the law says, my rule is that "no means no", if someone tells me they don't want their picture taken, then I don't take their picture. If they say "no" after I take the picture, it doesn't get published.

I also don't take pictures of people that I think would appear to be either compromising, embarrassing, or slanderous. I like to capture the world as I see it. I like to make art. I'm not in photography to be a creep, grind axes, or "bring anyone down".

I also don't allow pictures of people who haven't given explicit consent to be downloaded or sold from my dA page. They are still available to be viewed on my page as examples of my work. With street this means I haven't talked to many of these people.

Now with business cards, hopefully subjects of new shots will choose to email me/visit my dA page and work out some consent agreement.

My rules also change, if I were to do photojournalism for a news source for a news/media publication. The rules would be that pictures of people directly involved with the story will be published in news publications, with priority given to accurate representation of the story, to the fullest limits of the law and good taste.

~LeeBailey Sep 10, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I'd like to take shots showing poverty, a few people here have given examples of 'sad' photo opportunities of the homeless.

However, the thing holding me back is that I don't want to offend them. I don't know, I'd feel like I was being disrespectful, not allowing them any dignity if I just snapped pictures of them because I saw them on the street. I mean, it's bad enough they're already homeless, but I don't want to make them feel like animals in a zoo for us 'normal' people to gawp at. Even if my intentions are good and it's because I care about inequality, they don't know that.

Has anyone else felt this way? Or had any good/bad experiences they can share?

~KIMB00P Sep 10, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

These are the kind of photos I'd love to take as well,
but I don't want to offend the people. I have heard though
that homeless people love to have their pictures taken, haha.

*PixieAndHerPixels Sep 9, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I really need to work on snapping people and I've wondered for a while, 'can I just photograph strangers in every day life?', how do I go about it? Ect. Interesting thread

nice to hear how others go about this!

~Haupia Sep 8, 2012 Student Photographer

I don't usually take photographs of strangers, I don't like rejection, which is something I must build over. I did it once and got some interesting people.

If you want to take pictures of them, go ahead. However, if anything, after you take the picture, you should ask if it's OK to keep it. Or ask them beforehand if you can take their pictures. If you want to sell these people's pictures, that's a different story, as already mentioned, it goes into the law with what's legal and illegal.

~Bittisifoni Sep 8, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

I follow the "if it is in public, and is intended to be in public, then it must be public"-rule. I snap photos of street artists, musicians, and wild cosplayers with no second thoughts, if they happen to walk across in an obviously public location. I believe that they give implied consent for being photographed by presenting themselves in public

. _{Be sure to donate to them though! It is only fair for them.}

However, I avoid selling photos with people in it, mostly due to the legal fog that these photos have. I have an automatic right to photograph them, but here in Finland, I cannot sell them without potential trouble from identity protection & photography rights laws. Check your local laws however.

Also, I'd avoid photographing random strangers, unless I must for some strange reason. They might not react well to being photographed, and my style is to be candid as possible, and I wouldn't really care for a scene.

I'm not sure about those chess players though

, but if they don't look dangerous, snap a shot and see if they react badly.

`FallisPhoto Sep 9, 2012

Generally speaking, if it is okay for the general unrestricted public to look at it, it is okay for you to take a photo of it. That said, in some locations, like some parks, you need a permit and in others there are local ordinances that say that it is harrassment.

~Bittisifoni Sep 10, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

That probably applies in the U.S.

In Finland, there are no general restrictions on photography per se in public places, but there are severe restrictions on distributing, or even sharing the taken photos. The personal identity law does not distinguish location in many cases, so unless the subject is definitely a street artist, you are on shaky legal ground publishing photos of them. Also, the subject, bar separate agreement, has a privilege to his "person", AKA you can't make profit out of him if he can be identified from that photograph.

There are some exceptions though - you have an expectation of privacy at home or workplace, which means you are not allowed to shoot happenings there from public places. Also, there are exceptions for matriculation books, etcetc...

Finnish law is annoyingly murky on this one though.. so I might be somewhat wrong

~RestInMotion Aug 22, 2012

I take almost exclusively candid shots. A lot of them are of people I know, but I still have a good amount of people I don't know. Just go for it.

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