April 2019 31
are “all in” that perfect moment of clicking the shutter
button.
Turning the tables, it’s easy to appreciate why a
person who is minding their own business as they walk
or drive down the street could feel stressed when they
see a person with a camera photographing them – All
sorts of thoughts will pass through their mind; “Why are
they photographing me?”, “Is there something wrong
with me?”, “I’m not in my best shape/clothes/mood
today”, “What’s going on?!”. So what do you do and
how do you behave if you are approached by the
subject of your photo?
TALK
Unless you feel that you are likely to be punched in
the face in the next few seconds, stay where you
are and acknowledge you took a photo of them.
There is nothing wrong with it. The person you just
photographed may simply be curious about what you
are doing, why you chose them, and where the photo
might end up, even where they can access it later as
if they see and like the photo they might want to share
it with friends and family. You never know, you might
have just captured a perfect moment in their life that
they would be thrilled to get a copy of. So tell them
your story, why you like street photography, where you
come from, and perhaps even hand them a business
card or share your social media name with them. In
most cases, what could have been a sticky situation
will end up well and in the best case scenario, it will
also help you spread the word about what you are
doing and hopefully get lifetime appreciators of your
talent!BEWARE OF KIDS
While kids are the most genuine models you can find
(often until they become aware of your presence),
you should never cross the line there. Their parents or
guardians are likely to approach you if they notice
you photographing them to ask to remove the photo
you just took of their child. There may be many
reasons for that and there are many cases where a
random photo of a child at a public place was shared
on SM that then triggered the attention of custodians,
courts and so on so tread with extreme caution where
minors are involved, photography is not about ruining
your own or other people’s lives.BE POLITE & TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
Always be polite and responsible. It is worth
remembering that in such cases you as a
photographer represent the whole photography
community and should something go wrong
and the upset subjects of your photographs take
it to social media or it leaks into the news, the
photography community as a whole is affected. “The
photographers these days have no respect...”, “These
photo snappers need to be stopped” are phrases
we need to nip in the bud. If you are asked to delete
the photo – it is always better to do so, no questions
asked.
Here in NZ, you are legally allowed to take
photographs of people in public places where no
privacy is expected but always check the rules of
other countries and states if you are going overseas.
For general guidelines take a read of
https://nzlaw.co.nz/news/how-private-is-private-
when-taking-photos-in-a-public-place.