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Olli Thomson's avatar

I think the photos you take on the street will reflect the kind of person you are. If you are a respectful person, that will come across in how you choose to photograph people and what you choose to publish. If you're not a respectful person no amount of criticism or advice will help. As our societies give the appearance of becoming less respectful or considerate, while also becoming more aggressive and confrontational it is more or less inevitable that street photography will move in the same direction.

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Caroline Osella's avatar

As an anthroplogist, we have a code of professional ethics around representation, consent etc. I've often been amazed when collaborating with artists (have collabed with people using sketching, live art) or journalists around how little thought is given to that aspect. Fiction writers, too, sometimes chat about how they eavesdrop in public spaces. It's interesting - at last! - to see a post that picks this issue up. Naive question: is there any kind of professional body for pro photographers with a voluntary code of ethics? Lemme drop the link here to anthro examples of ethical codes. (Standard across all of academia to have a code of ethics. You can't apply for any research money without submitting your plans for scrutiny by an ethics committee. This is just banal normal process).

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