Street photography

Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding up a mirror to society. This genre of photography is present in contemporary times and is usually done as black and white photographs. Street photography tends to be ironic and distanced from its subject matter and often concentrates on a single human moment, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. Examples include, a stolen kiss on a street corner, a man jumping a puddle, a woman lost in her thoughts in a diner, or a shopping trolley glowing in the last rays of sun. In the 20th century, street photographers have provided an exemplary and detailed record of children's street culture in Europe and North America.

Many classic works of street photography were created in the period between roughly 1890 and 1975 and coincided with the introduction of small 35mm, rangefinder cameras. Classic practitioners of street photography include Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Alfred Eisenstaedt, W. Eugene Smith, William Eggleston, and Garry Winogrand.

Overcoming shyness

Shyness and street photography seem to be mutually exclusive. However, most successful street photographers have started as shy photographers.

Some photography instructors have recommended starting out by trying to be stealthy and using long lenses. Others suggest bypassing such crutches, instead leaping into the "deep end of the pool" and heading into the street with a normal or wide-angle lens. Sometimes using an extreme wide angle lens and appearing to be pointing the camera somewhere other than at the subject can help, but at the expense of direct involvement with the action. Other photographers stand at one spot on the street and wait for the proper subject to appear. This was done most notably by Philip-Lorca diCorcia, who actually has set up elaborate strobe rigs on street corners in advance of unknown action. Magnum Photos photographer Bruce Gilden 's famously-direct method, of just suddenly walking up to people in New York at close range with a powerful strobe shows that the demeanor of the photographer before and after the moment of exposure is a key element to interaction on the street, with the latter more important. Gilden has claimed to have never suffered an aggressive response.

Invisibility

In candid photography, being caught by the subject can be an embarrassing experience.

It is said that Henri Cartier-Bresson would wrap a large handkerchief around his camera and pretend to be blowing his nose while he took the picture, or would wrap the camera's body in black tape. There are many variations to the stealthiness theme, some involving the use of waist-level finders in cameras, but the general idea is to keep the subject(s) from being aware that he is being photographed. Another aspect of invisibility involves "blending in" with the crowd. Dressing like an archetypal foreign correspondent, wearing a Trilby hat, photographer's vest and over-the-shoulder camera bag generally will guarantee that everyone is aware of you. Observe the ways of the crowd and try to dress and behave in an inconspicuous manner, according to the circumstances.

Some photographers, however, thrive on directness. Martin Parr, for example, is typically quite open and direct about his business, and photographs using a hard-to-hide ring flash unit on a large camera. Street photographers who are fond of wide-angle lenses will often work so close to their subjects that they will almost certainly be seen. Each practitioner must find his own balance.

While exceptions such as Beat Streuli do exist, in general, street photographs made from a distance, with a long lens, are considered flat and uninteresting -- the dominant aesthetic has stressed the photographer's presence "in" the scene, potentially interacting (subtly or otherwise) with the subject(s) but nearly always from a nearby, almost tactile, distance.

Since the days of Paul Strand, some photographers, such as Helen Levitt, have also used trick lenses which shoot to the side, rather than directly in front of the camera. Leica and other manufacturers have long made such mirror attachments.

Photographing without permission

In the United States, anything visible ("in plain view") from a public area can be legally photographed. This includes buildings and facilities, people, signage, notices and images. It is not uncommon for security personnel to use intimidation or other tactics to attempt to stop the photographer from photographing their facilities (trying to prevent, e.g., industrial espionage); however, there is no legal precedent to prevent the photographer so long as the image being photographed is in plain view from a public area.

In recent years, some building owners have claimed a copyright on the appearance of their building -- such landmarks as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Pittsburgh's PPG Place, etc. United States copyright law, however, explicitly exempts the appearance of standing buildings from copyright protection.

Publication

In general, one cannot publish someone's image to endorse a product or service without first acquiring a " model release," which is usually a contract between the publisher or photographer and the subject.

Invasion of privacy

In 1890, Samuel Warren and future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis published The Right to Privacy, which made their case for recognition of invasion of privacy as a legal tort.

Fifteen years later, in the case Pavesich v. New England Life Insurance Company, a Georgia court was the first to rule on the balance between the right to privacy over freedom of the press, when it found that Mr. Pavesich had been wronged by the appearance of an unauthorized advertisement in which his photograph appeared. The court at that time ruled that commercial usage did not have the same press protections as other forms of use.

Earlier, in 1893, the case Corliss v. Walker had set the related precedent that non-commercial use, in this case an unauthorized biography, was indeed an example where press freedom's inherent public interest could not be overruled by the right to privacy. These two cases along with the aforementioned "The Right to Privacy" have become the basis for almost all US law with respect to the balance between freedom of expression and individual privacy.

In 2006, a New York trial court issued a ruling in a case involving Philip-Lorca diCorcia, who had set up elaborate strobe rigs on a New York City street corner and had photographed people walking down the street, including Emo Nussenzweig, an Orthodox Jew who objected on religious grounds to deCorcia's publishing in an artistic exhibition a photograph taken of him without his permission. The photo's subject argued that his privacy and religious rights had been violated by both the taking and publishing of the photograph of him. The judge dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the photograph taken of Nussenzweig on a street is art - not commerce - and therefore is protected by the First Amendment.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Judith J. Gische ruled that the photo of Nussenzweig--a head shot showing him sporting a scraggly white beard, a black hat and a black coat--was art, even though the photographer sold 10 prints of it at $20,000 to $30,000 each. The judge ruled that New York courts have "recognized that art can be sold, at least in limited editions, and still retain its artistic character... First Amendment protection of art is not limited to only starving artists. A profit motive in itself does not necessarily compel a conclusion that art has been used for trade purposes." See Nussenzweig v. diCorcia.

Some other restrictions on photography exist in the US, but most have to do with either commercial use of a space, such as forbidding photography inside a private building, or national security, such as restrictions on airport security areas or military installations.


Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a kind of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or some other scandal. De Burgh (2000) states that: "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and closely connected to publicity".

An investigative journalist may spend a considerable period researching and preparing a report, sometimes months or years, whereas a typical daily or weekly news reporter writes items concerning immediately available news. Most investigative journalism is done by newspapers , wire services and freelance journalists. An investigative journalist's final report may take the form of an exposé.


Voyeurism

Voyeurism is a practice in which an individual derives sexual pleasure from observing other people. Such people may be engaged in sexual acts, or be nude or in underwear, or dressed in whatever other way the "voyeur" finds appealing. The word derives from French verb voir (to see) with the -eur suffix that translates as -er in English. A literal translation would then be "seer" or "observer", with pejorative connotations.

Also, the word voyeur can define someone who receives enjoyment from witnessing other people's suffering or misfortune; see schadenfreude.

Voyeuristic practices may take a number of forms but their characteristic feature is that the voyeur does not directly interact with the object of their voyeurism (often unaware that they are being observed), instead observing the act from a distance by peeping through an opening or using aids such as binoculars, mirrors, cameras (including camera phones and video cameras), etc. This stimulus sometimes becomes part of a masturbation fantasy during or after the observation.

The key element behind voyeurism--and the factor that distinguishes it from paraphilias such as mixoscopia --is the occulted nature of the voyeurs themselves. Part of the thrill of voyeurism may lie in almost being caught. For some, the closer the voyeur is to being discovered, the larger the thrill. This form of non-consensual voyeurism is considered an invasion of privacy.

Voyeurism may be tolerated or even appreciated if the people viewed are exhibitionists . This relationship is typically role-play where the exhibitionist pretends to not know of the voyeur's presence.


Downblouse

A subset of voyeurs derive sexual pleasure from looking under articles of clothing, an act known as an upskirt. This can be accomplished by camera or simply by a chance viewing up skirts. Some voyeurs also derive pleasure by looking down shirts and viewing breasts, particularly when a person is bending over. This is commonly referred to as a downblouse.

A downblouse is a form of voyeurism enjoyed by those who are attracted to women, in which they seek a view of a woman's breasts down her shirt or blouse, particularly when she is bending over without regard for the fact that her shirt is loose around her neck. To the voyeur, downblousing is often considered most successful when the breasts being viewed turn out to be bare; i.e., when the woman is not wearing a bra.

There are many websites that promote downblousing as pornography, but in real life, taking photographs of someone surreptitiously is illegal in some countries. Some people consider this brand of voyeurism to be a form of sexual abuse and an invasion of privacy if it is done without consent, which it often is. Others argue that women in public areas can claim only limited privacy expectations if parts of their unclothed anatomy are suddenly visible to onlookers, or even to photographers. The wide availability of camera phones may be the reason for a recent surge in downblouse photographs.

An alternative form of this type of voyeurism is the upskirt - similar to downblousing, but with the intent of viewing up a womans skirt to see their panties, buttocks, or genitalia.


Upskirt

Upskirt is a slang term usually referring to up skirt photography, images of the view up a woman's skirt (as seen from underneath), including shots of a woman's underwear, or of a woman exposing either her vulva or buttocks. Alternately, an "upskirt" may be a video, or an illustration. While these images may be captured consensually, many viewers seek upskirt images taken surreptitiously (and presumably without the subject's consent). The creation and viewing of this type of upskirt are considered forms of voyeurism.

Upskirt images have also been a driving force behind a wave of State, local, and Federal legislation that began shortly after the advent of the camera phone in the year 2000.


Exhibitionism

Exhibitionism (also known as Lady Godiva syndrome and Apodysophilia) is the psychological need and pattern of behavior to exhibit naked parts of the body to other people. In exhibitionism the individual shows a tendency to an extravagant, usually at least partially sexually inspired behavior to captivate the attention of others in a display of a body part, or parts, that would otherwise be left covered under clothing in nearly all other cultural circumstances.

The part(s) of the body exposed can be the female breasts or the genitalia or buttocks of either gender.

Exhibitionists who view exhibitionism as a lifestyle as opposed to a rare thrill carefully select their target audience and make the exposure brief, inconspicuous and apparently unintentional. It is a fetish, and many such practitioners see it as an art form. Many night clubs and goth bars encourage mild exhibitionism to enhance the venue's atmosphere. This contrasts with non-sexualized social nudity, in which the exposure is not connected with sexual expression, such as sunbathing or swimming at nude beaches or other participation in public nudity events where nudity is the norm.

Some exhibitionists wish to display themselves sexually to other people singly or in groups. This can be done consensually as part of swinging or group sex. When done nonthreateningly, the intent is usually to surprise and/or sexually arouse the viewer, giving the exhibitionist an ego rush. Some people like to expose themselves in front of large crowds, typically at sporting events; see streaking. Some like to use the internet to distribute their stories and pictures. A similar phenomenon is when, at the conclusion of a sporting event, a woman may flash her breasts while sitting atop someone's shoulders in a dense crowd of people.

Forms of exhibitionism, usually by females, that are captured by various forms of media have proven highly popular among the Western male market.

Quoted from Wikipedia.