Ohh you devil you ;o)

This is a great shot, but I wonder about the ethics of lying to people to get the shot you want. I am NOT saying that you were wrong or right to do that. It just makes me think.

I recently took some photos of a man on the street and asked afterwards if he minded. He said he did not want me taking his picture. For me, I now feel that I should not publicly show these images. I do realize that he was in public and I have the right to take his photo, but in this case I feel it is the right thing to honor his wish. Fortunately, the shots were okay, but not great. Would I feel the same way if I captured a great image? I am not sure.

I have been very conscious lately of exactly how I phrase questions when photographing. In the case of this photo that you took, instead of saying that only the African dancer will be in the shot, I would have probably said, “I’ll keep the focus on him, don’t worry”. That way, I am not lying to them.

Is my method just as devious? Perhaps, but there is a little more room for interpretation.

Again, I am not judging what you did and still think it’s a good shot. I am just offering something to think about.

I completely understand your thoughts on this. Under other circumstances I would have kept the students out of the frame.

As in the case you mention it’s something different and I would not have submitted a photo to the paper if it was of a guy on the street not wanting to have his picture taken.

You might argue that it’s sort of the same thing with the students but …….

I didn’t shoot a picture of A student. They just happened to be inside the frame out of focus. Maybe I should have said it the way you mentioned… I kinda said that in between the lines with a smile on my face.

It’s a judgement call and could be a sensitive issue. The reason I didn’t take their “running away from the scary guy with a camera” too seriously was because they were all laughing about it. It wasn’t like they were running to the opposite side of the room. Just a couple of feet away from me so I wouldn’t take a photo of JUST that person. Nobody said anything to me.

Again - a judgement call here… Their body language told me it was ok to shoot their photo as long as I didn’t focus on them alone.

I meet the students every now and then at random assignments. So it’s not like I’m a complete stranger to them.

If I’m singling people out in a photo, I ALWAYS ask before I start shooting.

I shot an assignment in the mall where I wanted to take a picture of an older man getting his blood pressure measured at a stand. He said no problem and I was actually complimented by a bunch of old ladies standing next to me looking at what was going on. They said it was very nice of me to ask before I shot any pictures.

As long as I’m shooting pictures of something where individuals just happens to be in the frame I don’t care. I can’t go running around to everybody asking permission to shoot their picture, or tell them to get out of the way because there’s a chance they’ll be in a picture.

Yes, I completely understand what you are saying and I don’t think you were wrong to do it, especially knowing more based on what you said in your reply to my comment.

Again, this is a really nice image that gives a great view into the class.