From late 1997 into 1998, my photographer friend and I focused our attention on a publishing project. We gained a contract to write and illustrate an oral-pictorial history of the Kalgan River catchment area near Albany. The resulting book, called Long Pools of Silence, was published late that year.
Most of the photos were taken by my friend, and very well at that. I did the writing, but I also contributed a couple of photos taken at times when he was unavailable. One of mine tells a story. It is a photo of a wine press competition, taken at the Porongurup Wine Festival. It shows a young woman and a young man stomping grapes in a half wine barrel. I wanted a photo from down low, showing the grape juice flowing from the barrel outlet. She was wearing a short dress, and it kept riding up and revealing a bit too much. But if you could look at the series of photos I took that day, none of them are too revealing. I only fired the shutter when her dress was in a covering position.
Was I mindful of her modesty, or just saving film? Both, actually. There was no point in taking revealing photos. Such a photo would never have gone into our book, so taking one would have been a waste of film. But I am also committed to caring for the human needs of people that I photograph. I would not want to offend a fellow human by taking a potentially hurtful photo without the subject’s agreement.
I have taken quite a few photos of people in public places and there is no legal requirement to get their permission. However, if there is something revealing or titillating about the potential photo, the personal ethics change pretty quickly, even if the law is slow to follow. If you plan to publish, it is always a good idea to get the subject’s consent, as we did for all the photos in the book. Of course, posting on social media is a form of publishing, so you should gain permission when you want to post a photo of another person. How often is that piece of photographic etiquette breached?
Few people visiting the annual Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia, would be aware that the first Western Australian Sculpture by the Sea was in Albany, in 1998. It was part of an arts program in the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I was part of the organising group and helped to promote the event. It provided some great photo opportunities, even though I was one of many taking similar pics.