Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I think you guys should just lighten up. Obviously the "commandments" are somewhat tongue-in-cheek and as with the real thing, there is room for interpretation. I do agree with Kyle that photographing sleeping homeless people is like shooting fish in a barrel. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with photographing them after establishing contact. Here is a picture of me doing it in London back in 2001, courtesy the late Sal di Marco: http://www.nathanfoto.com/sal.html and here is the picture I took: http://www.nathanfoto.com/paw/12.jpg I do not believe that this situation violated the PLUG commandment. As for Kyle's credentials on this list: he, more than anyone else, is responsible for the fact that we now post pictures on a regular basis. I joined the list in 1998, and back then its main focus was on equipment. At that time, I was getting into Leica, so that was extremely helpful to me. The LUG was (and continues to be) the best source of information on all things Leica. But there was precious little posting of images, and not much discussion of photography. Partly of course this was due to technological limitations: many people back then were on dial-up, so posting and viewing images was not as pleasant an experience as it is today, with everybody on broadband. But back in 2000, Kyle was the one who suggested the Picture-A-Week project, created and made available a simple template that people could use, and generally spurred us on to share our images. This, in my book, makes him one of the heroes of the LUG, along with (obviously) Brian and a few others. As for the substance of the discussion--the issue of exploitation is as old as journalism itself (not just photojournalism)--consider the debate about the Migrant Mother image, or Capa's image from the Spanish Civil War. Even Tina can be accused (not by me) of "exploiting" the people in Central America she photographs so well, although in her case the "exploitation" is designed to benefit these very people by raising the profile of the charities that help them. Nathan larry.k@rcn.com wrote: > Bravo Adam! I also found myself wondering why anyone should listen to > this > guy and his rules! Who made this guy the philosopher king of photography? > > Let's see, from reading the LUG for a while, I see it is ok to fly to > remote parts > of the world and photograph the poverty but it is not ok to photograph the > poverty under your own nose, in your own country. Ah, I get it now. We > wouldn't > want our politicians to be held responsible for their lack of policies to > alleviate > homelessness or for other people to be forced to see how many people in > this > country live in poverty, without access to decent housing or health care. > > I find it interesting that Omar gets alienated more and more by the > community, > probably forcing him further into desperate circumstances. Maybe the > policy > should be "Some Omar" instead of "No Omar"! Maybe a nice lawyer should > file a > lawsuit on Omar's behalf for being denied service by these establishments! > > I think all people are tolerable in small doses, probably even this Kyle > guy. > Maybe. > > > Larry > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands Opportunistic Image Acquisition General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com and http://www.greatpix.eu Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507 Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog SUPPORT FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BUY DANISH PRODUCTS!