Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search][cut] I have personally stolen a few pictures from the hip. They could most probably not have been taken in the honest way I advocate, because of gigantic cultural barriers. I am not proud of that. But some of those pictures are really good and really tell a story. Alan Brussels-Belgium reply The more I read of members' responses on this topic, the more I realize that the title--"sneak thief photographers"--is informative. I the photographer really thinks the subject would not consent, then he or she really is a "sneak thief," by virtue of taking that which would not be given. I'm not being critical of how other's work. I have made my own set of personal rules that work for me, but we must all examine our attitudes about the relationship between us and our subjects. There are also (in the usa) possible legal problems. I took a workshop with Sylvia Plathy, and she mentioned that the parents of a child who appeared in one of her Village Voice photos demanded, and recieved $5,000 because written consent had not been obtained. It's enought to make one a landscape photographer. I once had a homeowner come out and yell at me that her home was "registered with the studios" and demanding that I not take a photo of her wall with a Wisteria growing on it. That's another story . . . . Sincerely, Joe Stephenson