Yesterday I went out to this photography meetup, and typically I ended up with speaking with two photographers that just happend to be there, actually not part of the group I went to meet up with.
We got to talking and they were documentary photographers planning a trip to New York City to take photos of a protest where most of the people were homeless.
They said that they dont edit their photos at all. Only thing they would do is convert to black and white in some instances.
I questioned that - because sometimes there is a piece of rubbish or something that just totally distracts from the actual subject. They said no, that would be lying. But then I asked, you just beeing there, interacting with the person does that not lead to you manipulating the situation?
I brought up this photo below. It was taken with a Canon 400D with the kit lens. So yeah - the real basics - nothing fancy. And I was in a taxi that was driving through Mumbai. He said that I should have stopped the taxi, get out to get the shot.
I said that odds are that this man sitting here, with a look in his eyes that all hope is gone, would have looked up, and the honesty of the moment would be gone. I would have changed the situation. The man behind who is obviously heading for a pee on the wall there in the corner would have stopped and looked. And the subject himself would have changed. It just would.
So sometimes the honesty lies in taking a "bad picture" from a taxi, -- in my opinion anyways...
We got to talking and they were documentary photographers planning a trip to New York City to take photos of a protest where most of the people were homeless.
They said that they dont edit their photos at all. Only thing they would do is convert to black and white in some instances.
I questioned that - because sometimes there is a piece of rubbish or something that just totally distracts from the actual subject. They said no, that would be lying. But then I asked, you just beeing there, interacting with the person does that not lead to you manipulating the situation?
I brought up this photo below. It was taken with a Canon 400D with the kit lens. So yeah - the real basics - nothing fancy. And I was in a taxi that was driving through Mumbai. He said that I should have stopped the taxi, get out to get the shot.
I said that odds are that this man sitting here, with a look in his eyes that all hope is gone, would have looked up, and the honesty of the moment would be gone. I would have changed the situation. The man behind who is obviously heading for a pee on the wall there in the corner would have stopped and looked. And the subject himself would have changed. It just would.
So sometimes the honesty lies in taking a "bad picture" from a taxi, -- in my opinion anyways...
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