The Salford Boys and my changing perceptions of privacy

As a person who values his own privacy I have always been both inspired by the bravery of street photographers, and also challenged by the idea of the genre in general, which often seems to invade people's personal space in taking images they may not be aware of, even though they may sometimes be too far from the lens to notice.
But whether they notice or whether they would care are two different issues, and these were very much at the forefront of my mind as I went into Manchester recently to try to move out of my comfort zone in taking some street images of my own.

A key factor in my mind was something that happened to a friend of mine, who was recently filmed as an unwilling passer-by in a feature on a popular weekly TV show.  Now what bothered her wasn't the context in which it was shown (she wasn't portrayed in a derogatory light) or even the way that her image was used (she was just used as a mere prop in a 'typical' street scene, for just a few seconds at that) but simply that they hadn't asked her permission.  She felt that this was important as a basic human right and that, as such, she had been taken advantage of, which I find perfectly understandable.  In addition, another, real-life consequence was that many people she knew constantly referred to her appearance on the programme and its subsequent repeats several weeks later, which once more as a private person she felt very uncomfortable about.

So ... with this in mind it was with some trepidation that I approached the session.  In fact, I would go as far to say that, after what had happened to my friend, people's privacy was very much at the forefront of my mind and as such my initial intention was to (try) to take images that paid attention to this fact, whatever that might mean.

But what did it mean? How could I take interesting images, directed fully towards finding and depicting that special 'decisive moment' while at the same time protecting people's privacy?  The truth was that I didn't have the answer but was just going to try it and find out, whether that be to decide NOT to take identifiable images of people at all, or simply to take them and be respectful and considerate of their privacy in doing so.  Oh, and I also decided it might be a good idea to not depict them in an unflattering way, which I felt was a given.

So much for cutting edge street photography then!  Armed with my camera (preset for any instant photo op of course) I went about my merry, moralistic way trying to somehow produce something worthy of my photographic idols.

Starting on the outskirts of Manchester, I made my way up to Piccadilly, taking the odd random shot that seemed afterwards to fit in with my agenda i.e. 'respectful' (very safe, not necessarily outstanding) images of the public taken from the hip or distance without invading people's privacy.  In these, I told myself, I was looking for shapes, patterns and contrasting tones rather than character.  So far so (almost good ...

So, mildly happy with my non-invasive efforts so far - and in need of more than a little help from someone, somewhere to prevent the expedition from resulting in nothing more than a collection of pretty (i.e. dull) patterns that would only look good in black and white, I fell so lucky I can hardly believe it now.

Just when I was losing hope and packing my camera away, I walked past a pair of dishevelled mid-fifties men sitting on a bench, only to hear one of them shout over "Do you want to take a photo of Manchester biggest pair of P***heads?"

When I turned around one had started mock-running away, laughing and shouting "He's not taking my picture" as, without further encouragement in the blink of an eye (or should I say "Silent Shutter"?) I snapped him doing so:

I then, dear readers (if there are any yet) spent one of the most blissful half hours of my photographic life, snapping away quite happily as they not only told me about their colourful existences, but also shared wonderful tales of the same part of town that I myself grew up in, which helped immensely in the way they engaged with me.

What a wonderful moment in time. Surely best described as follows ...

The Salford Boys

So, back to my initial fears over how to deal with people's privacy.  Did this experience help or not?  Has it made me formulate an agenda?  An approach to take forward in other street photography shoots?  Not a lot but maybe a little.  

There's one thing it definitely did teach me though, that to be invited to take photos, and to make yourself approachable enough for people to be comfortable with you pointing a camera at them is far, far better than skulking in corners and trying to use them as poignant shadows, or worse still, as ornaments for a tv feature that they have no say in whatsoever.  So cheers for that you Salford Boys, and good health to you both.