I will admit, I’m not a fan of having my own photo taken. The whole process is very uncomfortable and I’m often too hard on myself when I see the end result, so I am very understanding if someone wouldn’t want me to take their photo. However, as a media practitioner I can recognise that for someone like Vivian Maier who so obviously had an incredibly creative vision and what I believe she often followed Henri Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’ technique, that it would be difficult to snap such amazing photos if she had stopped and asked if it was ok and then try to recreate her initial vision again. The moment would be gone and the potential photo wasted.

 

 

This photo, for example, is one of my favourites. I think the composition and the lighting is stunning and it really tells a story for whoever were to chose to interpret it, but I could imagine the lady wouldn’t be so flattered. She looks wealthy, with her fur coat and dark lips, perhaps she a high-ranking New York socialite. We don’t know. I think he expression is a mix of startled and disapproving and I’d imagine she probably said something to Maier once the photo had been taken. There is no denying that it is a beautiful constructed photo but is invading someones space and privacy ethical? I’m still not convinced. In this modern era with iPhones, social media, memes and cancel culture, the willingness of people to have their photo taken whether is be portrait style or street photography is dwildlling. Lake (2014) referenced a lady in London who had felt “hurt and humiliated” when she discovered a photo of herself eating a salad on a Facebook group called ‘Women Who Eat on the Tube’.  Understandable I think, and the amount of pages like this has only increased since 2014.

For the exercise this week, we were required to go out and take twelve portraits of strangers. I really struggled with this and didn’t feel comfortable approaching strangers to take their photo. I really did feel like I was invading their privacy. I asked maybe three or so people on the street and all rejected me pretty quickly so my confidence lacked even more after that. I decided to head to my work and take some snaps of my colleagues.

They’re not great….

I don’t think that I will be choosing a street photographer or a photographer renowned for taking portraits as my inspiration for the Memesis assignment .

References:

Jessica Lake 2014, ‘Is it OK for people to take pictures of you in public and publish them?’ The Conversation, blog post, 27 May, viewed 16 November 2020, <https://theconversation.com/is-it-ok-for-people-to-take-pictures-of-you-in-public-and-publish-them-27098>.