Is 'street photography' exploitative?

boliston said:
so why have sub forums for each genre - just ask the mods to merge all forums into just "photography"?
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If it was up to me there'd be one big forum and anyone who wanted to post in a genre subforum would be banned. :D
 
boliston said:
so why have sub forums for each genre - just ask the mods to merge all forums into just "photography"?
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Because then you wouldn't know where to find the bit you were interested in ;)

Plus, you might come across a bug anywhere, at least all those suffering from arachnophobia or similar feel relatively safe with it like this :)
 
simonblue said:
None taken,i think it's more to do with me,it's tempting to be drawn into the thread again while it's still open,when maybe it's time for me to move on :)
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You could always ask a staff member to ban you from the thread so you can't contribute any further... We accept bribes of Jaffa cakes ;)
 
boliston said:
so why have sub forums for each genre - just ask the mods to merge all forums into just "photography"?
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Because if all the photo sharing was in one place, thee would be so many new posts in the same place, if you didn't have a reply in 30 seconds it'd drop off the front page and never get seen...

We basically split the genres up as little as we can, while still allowing a decent turnover of images in a given area.
 
Interesting interview with Louis Theroux in the Guardian yesterday. Not a photographer, but cetainly an analogous sort of artist. And a person who has, at least latterly, made a career documenting often vulnerable people.

He said "my biggest fear is that I'm not helping". That kind of sums it up.

For what it's worth, I think Theroux is helping. Or at least earnestly intending to.
 
ghoti said:
Interesting interview with Louis Theroux in the Guardian yesterday. Not a photographer, but cetainly an analogous sort of artist. And a person who has, at least latterly, made a career documenting often vulnerable people.

He said "my biggest fear is that I'm not helping". That kind of sums it up.

For what it's worth, I think Theroux is helping. Or at least earnestly intending to.
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Or in some cases make things worse :(
 
boyfalldown said:
That's the rest of the Theroux quote from his interview yesterday
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Ah, okay. Yeah, it was a worry of his that he could have made things worse.
Sorry, I thought *simonblue* was suggesting there was a specific time where he thought Theroux had made things worse. My mistake.
 
ghoti said:
Ah, okay. Yeah, it was a worry of his that he could have made things worse.
Sorry, I thought *simonblue* was suggesting there was a specific time where he thought Theroux had made things worse. My mistake.
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No i was speaking in general :)
 
Bythesea said:
Because then you wouldn't know where to find the bit you were interested in ;)
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I'm interested in photography. If someone is only interested in, for argument's sake, wildlife photography, then IMO they're not really interested in photography at all.. they're interested in wildlife, and cameras. Not photography.

I hate all teh sub-forums on here.... it's s**t. Photography is photography. If you love photography, you would love looking at everything so long as it's good.


Bythesea said:
Plus, you might come across a bug anywhere, at least all those suffering from arachnophobia or similar feel relatively safe with it like this :)
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Well... I might also come across some crap HDR images... and that shizzle scares the crap out of me..., but no one gives a crap about me :)
 
Pookeyhead said:
I'm interested in photography. If someone is only interested in, for argument's sake, wildlife photography, then IMO they're not really interested in photography at all.. they're interested in wildlife, and cameras. Not photography.

I hate all teh sub-forums on here.... it's s**t. Photography is photography. If you love photography, you would love looking at everything so long as it's good.
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Er, no.

It's perfectly possible to be interested in for example bird photography and to be disinterested in pretty much everything else. That doesn't mean you aren't interested in photography, it just means that your passionate about one aspect of photography and disinterested in others.

Equally it's perfectly possible to be almost completely disinterested in pictures of birds. Like me. I can look at a shot of a humming bird and I can appreciate the picture and even the skill that was needed to take it but I'm not going to stare at it for any length of time and I'm not going to try and get a similar shot and if I don't see another bird shot all week so be it.

I like photography but I'm not interested in some aspects of it. Just like I love cars particularly sports cars but I'm not interested in F1 or Volvo estates.
 
Pookeyhead said:
I'm interested in photography. If someone is only interested in, for argument's sake, wildlife photography, then IMO they're not really interested in photography at all.. they're interested in wildlife, and cameras. Not photography.

I hate all teh sub-forums on here.... it's s**t. Photography is photography. If you love photography, you would love looking at everything so long as it's good.




Well... I might also come across some crap HDR images... and that shizzle scares the crap out of me..., but no one gives a crap about me :)
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Disagree strongly, I can look at a macro shot of a fly and think it's a technically good image but it does nothing for me. In the same token yet another bird on a twig taken with. 600mm lens is the epitome of tedium. It may well be technically very good but holds little interest. The same could be said for any well exposed or technically good image. It either captures your imagination, inspires or it doesn't. However, that does not mean that the photographer is not interested in photography, it's just s snapshot in time. You can't possibly know what a photographers interest is from just one or more image. The only thing you can determine (if exif data is present and assuming the date and time is correct) is that the photographer took it on that day. I've lost count on here the number of times I've said 'one mans marmite is another mans jam'
 
I'm with Pookeyhead on this. Being interested in taking photographs (of anything), is not the same as being interested in photography. There's so much more to the medium of photography to be fascinated by than making photographs.

I was going to have a rant, but I'll restrain myself.:D
 
simonblue said:
Or in some cases make things worse :(
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It's the intentions that matter... which is why such a person would fear making things worse. The kind of people I've been taking about wouldn't think anything of the sort.. they'd just think about what a great image it makes.



Blank_Canvas said:
You can't possibly know what a photographers interest is from just one or more image.
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One, no.... more, yes. If someone just shoots birds, I can be pretty confident they're into ornithology and cameras.

I think many in here aren't interested in photography at all. They just like taking pictures.
 
Would be a terrible idea to merge everything. Flickr is bad enough with everything lumped together. At least here it's easy to choose what I want to look at.

I'm interested in photography but have zero interest in birds on sticks, insects, cars and motorbikes etc. I want to improve my photography and don't see how wading through post after post of subjects that bore me Is going to help....It will be a hindrance keeping me from what I will benefit from.

I would be happy to be proved wrong and if anyone can find a bird on a stick photo on thisite forum that I can learn something from then please post a link.

I'm not knocking wildlife photographers...many of them would be bored rigid with my likes and learn nothing from them either So it works both ways.
 
Steve said:
I want to improve my photography and don't see how wading through post after post of subjects that bore me Is going to help....It will be a hindrance keeping me from what I will benefit from.
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I can't see the need for wading through every post. Do you read every thread in this section or pick out the ones you think might interest you?

I'm sure I miss out on looking at decent pics because I can't be arsed wading through all the different genre forums. I have no interest in birds on sticks, although someone must post pictures of birds that aren't like that - but rather than trawl the bird forum I ignore it all together. I keep on thinking of posting more of my work, but I get confused trying to decide which section it should go in and give up!

However, I appreciate that with the number of members and amount of posts daily on this site such a one-size-fits-all picture forum would become a leviathan.
 
boliston said:
is this like saying I'm not interested in cycling at all, I just like riding bicycles?
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Yes, I think it is.

For example: I do like riding bicycles; but I'm not interested in cycling as a technical or tactical sport (I barely know the names of any famous cyclists that aren't already household names); I'm not interested in thinking deeply about the social and historical context of cycling; I'm not all that interested in different bicycle manufacturers.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
That is cycling by definition !


I'm not interest in "walking" I just like a little stroll ! - you see, same analogy. It's still walking !
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There is an implied difference though between being a cyclist and some one who rides a bike, just as there is a walker and someone who walks to the shops.

Being interested in cycling implies that one enjoys sport, or participates in mass riding events much as a walker would be expected to have a good pair of sturdy boots for a long yomp.
 
steveo_mcg said:
There is an implied difference though between being a cyclist and some one who rides a bike, just as there is a walker and someone who walks to the shops.

Being interested in cycling implies that one enjoys sport, or participates in mass riding events much as a walker would be expected to have a good pair of sturdy boots for a long yomp.
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Just semantics ;)
 
I use a keyboard, sometimes a pen, but I'm not a writer.

My cousin rides a motorcycle, but has no interest in motorcycling.

I'm currently cooking my dinner, but have no interest in cookery.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
How did this thread get so far off the original topic?
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It's not off the topic.
People are discussing the distinction between taking pretty pictures and being interested in photography (using other pursuits as analogies) because it's key to the argument that street photography can sometimes be exploitative.
 
simon ess said:
I use a keyboard, sometimes a pen, but I'm not a writer.

My cousin rides a motorcycle, but has no interest in motorcycling.

I'm currently cooking my dinner, but have no interest in cookery.
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Difference is are you doing any of those thinks as a hobby or a business ?

If you just ride a motorbike to get from A-B then ok maybe yoiu don't have any interest in motorcycling, but if you do it for fun then by definition you do. Likewise if you cook for fun or for a living then you are interested in cookery.

If you take photos for fun or for a living then you are interested in photography (if you just take them because you want to sell s*** on ebay then may be not)
 
Phew - I should think that most angles on this have been addressed by now! Of course there is a range of context and intent for photography in the street involving people.

Maybe I could've put the question in a broader way: "When is photographing people exploitative?" Same thing, more or less, though.

Or even more broadly - when is any kind of photography exploitative - and how?
 
big soft moose said:
Difference is are you doing any of those thinks as a hobby or a business ?

If you just ride a motorbike to get from A-B then ok maybe yoiu don't have any interest in motorcycling, but if you do it for fun then by definition you do. Likewise if you cook for fun or for a living then you are interested in cookery.

If you take photos for fun or for a living then you are interested in photography (if you just take them because you want to sell s*** on ebay then may be not)
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I work in accountancy but I would not say accountancy is "an interest" - it's just something I do as a job which pays the bills and allows me to buy cameras and bicycles (which I have an "interest" in) :cool:
 
boliston said:
I work in accountancy but I would not say accountancy is "an interest" - it's just something I do as a job which pays the bills and allows me to buy cameras and bicycles (which I have an "interest" in) :cool:
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yeah but you're still an accountant - someone could be a proffesional photographer and just see it as a job (admittedly they'd be s*** as its a job that needs passion to do well), but they'd still be a photographer
 
I think that the analogies above don't go far enough. You can be very interested in photography without ever having taken a photograph or owning a camera. And I don't mean that you are interested in photographs just because you like them.
 
boliston said:
is this like saying I'm not interested in cycling at all, I just like riding bicycles?
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You tell me? Do you read about it? Think about it all the time? Talk about it? Do you strive to improve? If so, yes, you're interested in it.
 
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