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Thought I'd share a strobist blog post about a photographer in the 90's who used NYC as a public 'studio' mounting flashes in the street to light up strangers as they pass. Thought it might be interesting to hear members take on the concept and as the article raises the possible ethics of it.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2011/05/sidewalk-art.html

Hi Craig

I think this is the crux of it "In his lawsuit, Nussenzweig argued that use of the photograph interfered with his constitutional right to practice his religion, which prohibits the use of graven images." Although he sued for "exhibiting and publishing the portrait without permission and profiting from it financially", what he was really trying to do was to demand that the rest of the world be forced to comply with his own personal religious convictions.

Photography in public places in countries other than France remains for the most part legally unexeptionable, though this is often not what people say. The only thing I wonder about is whether the use of remote flashes might constitute a form of harrassment. He could have set up battery-powered lights or used available light.

Matt. K wrote:Why the bloody hell do people think they have rights over the light that bounces off them!!!

*LIKE*

Matt. K wrote:Why the bloody hell do people think they have rights over the light that bounces off them!!!

Seems simple to me. If you do not want to been seen in a public place stick a paper bag on your head.

CraigVTR wrote: If you do not want to been seen in a public place stick a paper bag on your head.

Or stay at home. I guess the issue here is whether you can setup flashes and photograph them. If you are allowed to photograph people in public places, then setting up flashes wouldn't be a problem in my mind; unless there were OHS issues at hand... Perhaps one could argue that an unexpected flash of light could cause visual problems and perhaps accidents etc.

surenj wrote:

CraigVTR wrote: If you do not want to been seen in a public place stick a paper bag on your head.

Or stay at home. I guess the issue here is whether you can setup flashes and photograph them. If you are allowed to photograph people in public places, then setting up flashes wouldn't be a problem in my mind; unless there were OHS issues at hand... Perhaps one could argue that an unexpected flash of light could cause visual problems and perhaps accidents etc.

If we all stayed home there would be no one to photograph.

There are many sources where a flash of light could get in our eyes. Should we ban the sun from flashing through gaps in the cloud?

CraigVTR wrote:

surenj wrote:

CraigVTR wrote: If you do not want to been seen in a public place stick a paper bag on your head.

Or stay at home. I guess the issue here is whether you can setup flashes and photograph them. If you are allowed to photograph people in public places, then setting up flashes wouldn't be a problem in my mind; unless there were OHS issues at hand... Perhaps one could argue that an unexpected flash of light could cause visual problems and perhaps accidents etc.

If we all stayed home there would be no one to photograph.

There are many sources where a flash of light could get in our eyes. Should we ban the sun from flashing through gaps in the cloud?

Not a reasonable comparison. For one, the sunlit will typically be longer than 1/xxx ths of a second. For another, a reasonable person would not expect a flash of sunlight in a semi-enclosed area (as I understand the nature of the photographs). Thirdly, the strobeloght is man-made and therefore is controlled.

Generally, however, I am still in two minds of the ethics behind it. Is it legal? Generally yes. Should you seek permission or at least inform the subject afterwards? One would think that is the polite thing to do.

I personally don't like it when one's rights trounce all over common courtesy.

CraigVTR wrote: Should we ban the sun from flashing through gaps in the cloud?

CraigVTR wrote:If we all stayed home there would be no one to photograph.

Craig, I assume you are kidding.

Reschsmooth wrote:I personally don't like it when one's rights trounce all over common courtesy.

That's the basis of most ethics. If it feels funny or wrong, it most like is. One needs to exert extra care.

surenj wrote:

CraigVTR wrote: Should we ban the sun from flashing through gaps in the cloud?

CraigVTR wrote:If we all stayed home there would be no one to photograph.

Craig, I assume you are kidding.

Reschsmooth wrote:I personally don't like it when one's rights trounce all over common courtesy.

That's the basis of most ethics. If it feels funny or wrong, it most like is. One needs to exert extra care.

Yes Iam kidding.

But now serious.

If a person goes into a public space they should not expect to be treated the same as if they are in their private space. Courtesy should be extended to everyone and in this case could of been handled by an appropriate sign. However, I do not believe that an individuals rights, whilst they should be shown respect, are greater than the rights of the wider community.

The attitude that the individual rights get priority has seen the demise of live music venues, race circuits and Iam sure many other venues or interests. Will it extend to photography where one day you cannot take a city or urban shot because there are people in the background who's rights are being infringed? In todays society we have security cameras, news cameras, photo licenses/ID's. For a person to go through life in todays society and not expect that their image may be captured somewhare at some time is naive.

I wonder what the plantif would have done had the artist taken either the memory of the scene, or photograph, and then rendered the image by paint on canvas? Would he still sue for lots of money, which seems to be a great motivator, or is that just the cynic in me talking?

Next we will have people complaining about traffic camera flashes capturing their craven (sic) images

CraigVTR wrote:The attitude that the individual rights get priority has seen the demise of live music venues, race circuits and Iam sure many other venues or interests.

That certainly fits. Now, years ago, I had a girlfriend who lived with her parents, not that far from Lakeside Raceway (Qld).

And when an event was running, you'd generally hear screaming V8 supertaxis, all weekend, over probably a 5km distance......

Was never an issue, even though it was a noticeable sound level. Mind you, when cutting firewood, or clearing some of the crappy ti-tree on the acreage block, the old stihl made way more noise.

Or countless other activities

hi thanks for your valuable information