Introduction

So I have been into photography for quite some time now, and with a majority of my days spent in cities, I couldn’t miss the subject of street photography. To make it simple for the unaware, street photography is the photography of life in an urban setting, from people to architecture.

However, in the street photography sphere, a big part of the photographers do not see architecture as street photography. Most seem to define street photography as the photography of people in the streets.

Being a privacy advocate, I, of course, have issues with this idea of street photography. I decided to make this post not only to expose the issues I have with it but also what the solutions could be, with the goal being to open a discussion around this subject. So please email me to discuss this post when you are done reading it and if you have anything to add.

Expectation of privacy in public ?

One of the main arguments brought up is that there is no expectation of privacy in public because it is legal, so taking pictures of people without their knowledge or against their will is okay. While from a legal standpoint I’m sure this makes total sense, from a moral one I don’t think it does. I also think that hiding a lack of ability to discuss the issue behind a legal standpoint is too easy and not really productive.

Even though in the modern age most people don’t care that much about their privacy, I am sure a lot would not like to have a picture of them taken without their knowledge. This can be seen as more and more people getting into street photography post on forums complaining about their photography ‘subjects’ being mad at them when seen.

Taking advantage of specific moments or peoples

First, I think there is a time and place where this is for sure not adequate. For example, I see a lot of pictures of people in their most vulnerable state. Imagine this: you are in the street, you receive a phone call, you learn that you lost someone close to you, you cry, 2 days later you find out on social media that a photographer took a picture of you crying in the streets and it has 4 gazillion views. I can understand the importance of emotions in photographs, but I do not think the mental impact on the involuntary subject is worth the picture.

I also think some people are at risk by having a picture of them taken and therefore shouldn’t be photographed. By that I mean children (just go on random websites where photos are uploaded online and see the views on kids in swimsuits…), protesters or people at the beach for instance.

Posting those pictures online

There are two different levels of street photography privacy issues. While we have discussed some issues with taking photographs of people, the biggest issue I have is with those pictures being posted online.

Photographing protests

When following forums and content creators in the photography space, most seem to think that taking pictures of people’s faces at protests and posting them online is fine. While I am sure that sometimes it adds character to an image, I also think that endangering someone’s security, private life, and privacy for views on the internet is obviously wrong.

I also see a lot of photographers saying that protesters should have just worn a mask if they wanted their face to not be seen. To that I would respond that in most countries it is illegal to protest with a mask.

TLDR: Do not make the job of the surveillance police for free please.

Yes but I cannot wait for everyone to get out of the background?

Was not sure how to name this part, but basically I wanted to talk about pictures you take of a place. You cannot expect to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower without any faces showing up. This is why I think that if someone is in the background of a photo and not in an inadequate situation, it is okay to take the picture. Even then, I would prefer for a picture of myself in the background not to be posted online, but I would not be mad about it because, sadly, people HAVE to post pictures online nowadays.

Buuut, there are cameras everywhere?

Sadly there are. However, I like to believe that most security personnel do not like to capture and publish what the cameras see and that most cameras are not accessible online. This is also a reason the difference between taking pictures and posting them online is very important.

Uploading to the cloud

Even if the photos are not posted online, most photographers will backup their pictures into the cloud of their favorite phone or computer maker corporation without any kind of client-side encryption. This means that pictures of you could be used to profile you, your movements, your interests, and train AIs without any way for you to know.

But journalism

This argument is the only one I can’t really find any counter argument to. The most famous pictures have what I warned against before. Some have kids, some protests, some vulnerable moments, some death, and some all of those. Those pictures without those elements would not mean anything and for sure would not have had the same effects on the world. Also, for those pictures to become what they became and have the impact they had, they had to be shared in public, so not posting them online is not really an option.

When I think of that, I think of the “Napalm Girl” picture. This picture is everything I do not want in a picture: a suffering and naked child. However, it is also what makes this picture what it is.

I don’t think most of the photographs I see online that are against the points I made before are anywhere near journalism, and most are for sure just for the views, for shocking’s sake, or rage bait. However, I don’t think limiting photojournalism to people with an accreditation should be done either. That’s why I don’t have anything to say against this argument; I think it is valid, just not applicable for most of the photographers I have an issue with.

How to do it morally (from my point of view)

I understand that asking someone before taking a photograph of them can lose the moment and character of a picture. However, I do think that at least, after taking the picture, the subject should be let known of the picture and asked if they are okay with it or if they prefer you to remove it. I know a lot of people might not do this because of a fear of being confronted but as I said before, if you can’t handle someone being mad or creeped out that you took a picture of them without asking first, maybe you shouldn’t be doing street photography.

Also, in most cases, I think the main problem is not really taking the picture (as long as those are adequate photos). The main issue is posting those pictures online for everyone (including AI and social media companies) to see.

In some cases, for example during a protest, I would also blur or remove people’s faces (warning: the blur has to be done right for it to serve a real purpose, do your own research). I don’t think the face is the subject of a protest photograph most of the time anyway. Plus, this might even add some character to your images.

Discuss…

This post was made in an attempt to write down my chain of thoughts and change this post as my position does. I also hope to develop my thinking with your help. If you have anything to add or something you are in disagreement with, please email me (I can quote you on this post).