Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/04/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This will be my final post, since there's no progress in this discussion. I think we would all agree that we should ask doctors, nurses, and patients in a hospital (public or privately funded) whether we can take their photograph if we're doing a project on them. We can't just go around public waiting rooms and take people's photographs or go to the maternity ward and take all the photographs we want to of all of the cute babies without asking the parents' permission. If you barged in and claimed that you had a RIGHT to take photographs because you were a photojournalist, you'd get immediately thrown out. We'd also agree that we'd feel uncomfortable if our company hired a photographer to come by all of our offices and take our photographs without our permission and without telling us how the company is going to use the photos. Especially if the photographer insisted that we should not pose and wanted to follow us around all day long to get us in our natural condition. I think we would agree that we have a certain right to privacy even in the workplace. If we have that right (many lawyers would call it a moral right to our own image), then what gives us the authority to claim that homeless -- because of their circumstance -- have given up all moral rights to the use of their own image and privacy? Because they are poor? Because they are living on the street? To me, this is class exploitation and a double-standard applied to one class of people (rich people) and another (poor people). If you are happy with that, fine. This is my own feeling and why I try as hard as possible to make sure that I have the consent of the people I photograph, especially those in dire economic straits. Like HCB, I don't like to be photographed myself, I do want to control how my image is used, and I think other people should have that right too. Come up with your own standards and be happy with them. There are variations depending on your profession. Fine art photography is one thing, documentary is another, photojournalism is another. But each profession does have its own best practices doctrine which you should understand. If you don't belong to a professional association that has an ethics standard, come up with your own and be happy with it. Just don't complain if you are asked to defend it. Happy snaps as they say! Karen Karen Nakamura http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/ http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/ --