Photographer’s Rights And Responsibilities – 28/09/2020

Today I learnt about photographers rights and responsibilities, due to it being linked to my next fortnightly project. I have a list of street photographers which I researched. I chose my favourite photo from each of them. I learnt about the morals and ethics of street photography. also what rights photographers have and what they don’t have. I think this was helpful for me to understand where I am able to take photos and where I’m not allowed to. This will help me in future projects.

Photographers I looked into – first one being Robin Maddock

This photo stood out to me because of the bright orange filling the whole frame. The Way that Maddock captured the orange glow with someone’s dog running through, makes the photo look more creepy because the dog looks like a wild beast and is sprinting through the orange mist. This photo does look very apocalyptic to me and it looks like it could be out of a horror movie. This photo had to have been taken in the early hours of the morning or late at night where the orange tinted road lights are on. Another way he could have taken it was if he had an orange tinted cover on his camera lens. Either Way the way the photo turned out to me is incredible.  To me this doesn’t look like this could have been taken in the uk let alone plymouth. If someone showed me this photo I would have thought it was taken in a desert due to its orangey, sandy glow.

The second artist I looked at – Martin Parr

This photo stood out to me because everyone in the main part of the photo is in the middle horizontal line mainly in the middle third with the emptiness of the beach framing them in a way. I like the way they are all in a single file waiting to get an ice cream from the really bright blue ice cream van on what looks to be a hot day on the beach. This photo was taken in Wales and as they don’t have the nicest weather the majority of the time, it makes the photo seem a lot happier. I think that the colour of the ice cream truck does stand out alot more due to the colour of the sand. It just makes the ice cream truck look a lot brighter especially with the people wearing dark coloured swimming costumes except a few. I like that Martin didn’t crop out the people in the corners of the photo.

The next artist I looked at – Balaz Turos

This photograph was taken by Balaz Turos who moved to Plymouth from Budapest at 22. This photo stood out to me because of how dull the photo is. it lacks loads of colour due to the houses being very grey toned. The only colour in this photo is the odd patch of green grass from the gardens but that is only in the front of the picture. the more you go back and you can see some trees, they don’t have any leaves on them so they are still making the photo look dull. It is very different from the more urban areas as it’s packed with dull coloured houses. This photo does look very busy due to the amount of houses there are stacked on the roads. as the population is going the more houses we have to build meaning we won’t have loads of space between houses.

the next artist I looked at was – Il Massimo

This photo was taken by Il Massimo. he uses instagram to share all of his work. He is an international photographer to capture the beauty of the world. This photo caught my eye because of the amount of white/ negative space. I like how he tried to make the small village look like it is on the horizon. As the photo is on a horizontal line my eye was drawn straight to the church which looks like it’s exactly in the middle of the frame. Looking closely into this image I can see what looks like the sunrise or sunset on the top half of the trees, with the white/ light colours makes the village/ the orange light look brighter.

lastly I looked at – Matt Hart

This photo was taken by Matt Hart. He has been taking photos for nearly 50 years. He mainly shoots in black and white, he thinks it’s because he grew up watching black and white tv. He also finds that colour is quite distracting. The way he uses the black and white makes the photos so striking. This photo is striking to me because the people in the image aren’t even looking below eye level, this is completely avoiding looking at the woman who is on the floor asking for money. The message I’m getting from this photo is about how toxic our society is. als o how society treats the less fortunate. The black and white makes the photo feel more devastating. I feel like a lot of people do this regularly but don’t even realise they are doing it, due to them being below eye level.

When shooting in public:

Don’t shoot in quiet areas of a city on your own

If someone confronts about taking pictures try to diffuse the situation or otherwise walk away

Don’t keep expensive equipment on show while walking around in public

Don’t do anything to provoke people into confronting you

Be aware of your surroundings when shooting

Know where you are allowed to shoot and ask permission if needed

Know your rights that you are entitled to as a photographer

The rights of a photographer:

The police have no right to stop and search you or seize your equipment without a good reason

Security guards cannot force you to leave a public area

It is illegal to take or own images that may be useful to someone planning or committing an act of terrorism