Reading Response to thestar.com’s article

Travel photography: the ethics of shooting candid photos

by Bill Taylor

        The article is very informal with a conversational style and personal accounts. Taylor accompanies his writing with four of his own candid shots and captions addressing the story behind them. The main issue is demonstrated as how inconsiderate/rude/unethical is it to take a person’s photo without their permission and or knowledge. Personally, I agree that there’s a vague line of inconsideration that’s easily crossed when snapping a shot of a stranger; photography in that sense definitely oversteps privacy. I honestly think that travel photography can often times be rather selfish– shooting images of different cultures and people not for their benefit but for the benefit of the photographer and his or her facebook friends. On that note I think it is different depending on the purpose of the photo and objective behind the shot. As Taylor stated, “my one hard-and-fast rule is never to take away a person’s dignity or make them appear ridiculous”. I think that is a good rule to follow but who is he, or any photographer, to say when the person’s dignity is preserved or not, when the idea that an image is taken without their knowledge already makes them more vulnerable in some aspects.

Attached is a photo I took in Morocco, one that ended up causing a lot of trouble and regret even though I hadn’t thought twice about taking the photo originally. We were walking along the sidewalk above this boy and his friend, and I casually snapped a shot without permission. The boys ran towards us when they realized, demanding money for the photo. Clearly I hadn’t been the first to take their photo, and especially in touristy parts of Morocco, people did everything possible to get money from tourists (and I don’t blame them). I didn’t have any bills small enough to give the boys and we walked fast enough so they gave up before reaching me. I felt horrible about it, and spent a lot of time contemplating the occurrence. Mostly in photojournalism, the photo is taken candidly and the subject is afterwards asked permission. Since I was taking photos just for myself, I didn’t go to the trouble of asking, even though it was inconsiderate and disrespectful of me. It’s a difficult issue but, ethically, I think it’s always best to get permission if possible, and if not, to reevaluate the value of the shot and whether it’s worth the subject’s dignity.