Street Photography: Art or an invasion of privacy

Type into google ‘street photography’ and this is the result;

“Street photography, also sometimes called candid photography, is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.”

So we all know the general theme that photographers try to photograph real people in public under completely natural conditions. Doctoring images and staging scenes in street photography is a complete ‘no no’ and detracts away from what the photographer initially sets out to photograph.

New technology in cameras has given street photographers more options to capture candid moments like never before but does this pose ethical questions? Is it ‘street photography, art or an invasion of privacy’. I set out to try and answer this question with a few days in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

Over three days I used a Fuji XT2 linked up to the Fuji I-phone remote app and a GoPro camera. I purposely concealed the fact I was photographing people so as to capture ‘candid moments’ whilst walking the city.

With the XT2 camera I slung it over one shoulder and positioned it whilst I took photographs using my phone. To the subjects I was photographing I must have looked like a lost tourist frantically searching for mobile signal or looking at Google Maps. The GoPro was more haphazard and involved me hiding the camera in one hand as I awkwardly ambled near the subject pretending to look anywhere but in their direction.

These are the images and the question is “Are these images street photography, art or an invasion of people’s privacy”? I should also state that any homeless people were subsequently compensated for their photograph being taken.

In the image above, late at night this man working on a cigarette kiosk stood out as an interesting image. If I had approached him and asked to take his picture it is likely that he would have told me to ‘go away’.

The same thing with this security guard who pulled a late night shift guarding the National Assembly. I could tell from his expression he was not in a good mood so pulling a camera out on him could have been the final straw that night and really hacked him off.

A homeless woman asking for spare change is a normal sight in any European capital, but was it wrong of me to position myself like a limp marionette and bob up and down flicking away on my phone until I got a decent picture? Granted she was thrilled by 10 lev but still she was unaware I took her photograph and just thought I was a strange guy.

This disabled gypsy woman in the picture below was again pleased I gave her some money but does that excuse covertly photographing her with a GoPro as I approached her?

Bulgaria is struggling economically and many people are without jobs. This man is searching through bins in Sofia looking for scrap metal or cardboard to sell scrap vendors. A man in a difficult situation in life being photographed without his consent! Perhaps a window into the struggles of a fellow European in one of the EU’s poorest nations, but on the other hand recording something this person would potentially rather not have seen doing.

An old man relaxing in the park on a sunny day, taking a moment to cool down in the shade. While it may be a candid photograph of someone cooling off and people watching at a public park, he was unaware his photograph was being taken.

The next two are interesting cases, the first is a traffic police officer early in the morning who was just directing traffic around the Alexander Nevsky Cathederal. The second is a police officer looking bored and leaning about on some street bollards near the National Art Gallery. Both men doing their jobs, photographed without their knowledge or consent! The ethical conundrum is stark, is it fair to photograph someone without their knowledge even in public places?

Personally I wouldn’t be too happy if someone stuck a camera in my face without asking and in the same vein I’m not sure I would be happy with people covertly taking my photograph without my consent.

So the purpose of this article is to stimulate a discussion. Is it wrong to covertly take peoples pictures if it’s for ‘street photography’ or ‘art’ and does the use of new camera technology detract from the ethics and culture of traditional street photographers?