Obtrusive And Uncognized Photographing People In The Streets

In this essay I will be addressing the ethical concerns in relation to my own practice of candidly photographing people, in the streets, a practice that has been considered obtrusive and unethical by many, and this will broadly relate to the ethical notions of; representation, stereotypes, discrimination, harm, and offense.
Representation is the question of how a subject is represented, and of the ramifications imposed by such representations. Stereotyping is the reductive portrayal of a widely known person/people or thing. Discrimination is the unjust treatment of people by reason of age, gender, sexual orientation, or creed etc. Harm applies in the context of damaging the rights of a person or hindering the interests of others, this is based

My photographs are lifted directly and spontaneously from the flow of daily activity where I am attracted to the beauty and the nuances of people and how we intrinsically live. My practice is about truthfully communicating representations of the absurdity, comedy and the sadness in the everyday. Evoking personal and emotional stories without saying anything, much like with the music of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave, I become drawn to these beautifully poetic and poignant lyrical stories that are told. My photos for the most part have an informal quality, a Garry Winogrand, Robert Frank or Walker Evans type snapshot aesthetic with the aim not of reforming life, but to know it, my intention is to take an ironic look at life with a lack of superficial seduction. People who look like me are less interesting and in that regard, I am discriminatory as I look for something more implacable in time. So far, the revelations that I pay attention to are outward, it’s more about my understanding of my surroundings, and people in general, and human nature. My process is that these are efforts of ritual, this is a thing that I do everyday; it’s not something I do to make a masterpiece. I want to make this document of the world, collectively as only I saw it with a body of work that represents a story that only I was there for, which is basically just taking pictures every