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26 Mar 08

Street photographers fear for their art amid climate of suspicion - Times Online

Here's a sobering article on the general hysteria over "terrorism," which has resulted in getting street photographers arrested or detained or questioned. Anyone seen taking photographs, especially covertly or seemingly so, is likely to get in trouble these days. But how can you be a good street photographer if you don't conceal just a little bit the fact that you're taking photos in the first place? You want that candid moment, right?

entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/...article3574763.ece - Preview

freedom paranoia photography public_space street_photography terrorism

Matt Stuart photographs the unscripted drama of the London streets. Entirely
spontaneous, his pictures are made possible by a combination of instinct,
cunning and happy coincidence, revealing the beauty and significance of the
everyday - what the rest of us see but don't notice, moments that vanish
faster than the blink of an eye.

For his efforts, Stuart has picked up a little collection of pink
stop-and-search slips, souvenirs of practising a century-old art form in a
city increasingly paranoid and authoritarian.
After 11 years, Stuart is
something of an old hand. Using the street photographer's traditional tool
of choice - the discreet and near silent Leica camera - he knows how to make
himself invisible, make an image and move on. He rarely runs into trouble;
when he does, he knows his rights.
9 more annotations...
- a new poster campaign by the Metropolitan Police is inviting Londoners to
  call a hotline if they don't like the look of a photographer. “Thousands of
  people take photos every day,” runs the text. “What if one of them seems
  odd?” The poster states that terrorists use cameras for surveillance.
- “People need to understand the context,” Stuart says. “We've been mistaken for
  paparazzi and attacked since Princess Diana died. As far as the public's
  concerned, if you're a man with a camera you're probably a paedophile. And
  now, if we look ‘odd', we're also more than likely terrorists.”
- To some, the very idea of covertly photographing strangers might seem “odd”,
  even distasteful. And yet a proportion of those same people will own a print
  of Robert Doisneau's Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville, or have sent greetings
  cards showing 1930s Paris, as recorded by Brassai. Street photography has
  given us a lot. More, perhaps, than we know.
- Street photography doesn't just document what our environment used to look
  like; it shows us how it really looks now, freezing the moment to reveal the
  weirdness and magic of the split second ... Stuart's photograph of a young
  dancer, in mid-air, upside-down, in Trafalgar Square ... Mermelstein's of a
  woman out walking her pet iguana. These images reveal the surreal in the
  real, force us to appreciate that our city spaces are collages of constantly
  shifting, surprising juxtaposition.
- I ask Mermelstein whether he's ever hesitated before recording a complete
  stranger. He says he has ... “but I believe firmly that if something's in
  the public domain then one has the right to render them photographically.
  That if you're out on the street, you're in public.
  - - interesting, how that compares to France... - on 2008-03-26
  Add Sticky Note
- But aren't there times when he'd rather not be photographed? “Living
  in London I'm filmed 300 times a day by CCTV, so I've got over that
  quickly.”
  - - touchE! - on 2008-03-26
  Add Sticky Note
- “In France, traditionally one of
  the great centres of street photography, the law now says you own the rights
  to your own image, so street photography's become a dead art. In London
  there's a growing community of photographers, using digi- tal technology,
  not just cameras, but blogs, too, to document the city and give each other
  instant feedback.”
- “I'm not going to belittle the issue of terrorism, but this is paranoia. And
  unfortunately, since Lady Di and now this link with terrorists,
  photography's seen by many people as something that's a little ... cheap.”
- Street photography on the net
  www.in-public.com
  
  A showcase of contemporary street photographers, including work by Matt
  Stuart, plus a “masters” section, featuring the brilliant and influential
  Joel Meyerowitz.
  www.seconds2real.com
  
  An international street photography collective, with a newsletter, and links
  to interviews by and films of masters of the art.
  www.public-life.org
  
  A German-based collective, including galleries, news and book reviews.
  www.billcharles.com/merm/jeffmermelstein_1.htm
  
  Work by Jeff Mermelstein, chronicler of New York.
  www.magnumphotos.com
  
  The world's most famous photographic agency includes work by some of the
  pioneers and masters of street photography, including Henri Cartier-Bresson
  and Elliott Erwitt.