Personally, I'd find it unnerving to have someone jump out and take a photo of me walking down the street and then hand me a card telling me where I could buy the photo. If you didn't buy it what did they do with it? And how many people actually bought the photos?
These type of shots are pretty easy to find when you're sorting through bins at antique stores and flea markets; usually they're pretty bad. I had a stack of them a few weeks ago that I considered and then realized they were only worth it if I was crazy about the "walking down the street getting shot by a photographer" category. Often they're of really poor quality. I like to imagine the photographer backing up...backing up...backing right into a light pole. It had to be a crummy way to make a living.
These days we have little control over who is taking our photo or how they'll use it. Whether it be surveillance cameras, street photographers, or just people with iPhones snapping away, you could end up on some photo sharing site without your permission. I have been known to do some serious ducking and weaving to avoid having my photo taken.
I had a drunk sitting next to me on a flight who kept trying to take my photo with his cell phone. If he'd succeeded it would have been an even more unpleasant flight. The thing is, he probably had the law on his side.
I imagine some of the photographers who took shots like these had the law on their side, but how many of them took a photo they soon regretted? I mean, you wouldn't want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and shoot maybe an image of a mob guy or gang member, would you?
Be careful where you point that camera. It's loaded.
This is my Sepia Saturday contribution this week.
Posts
I don't know whether it is so bad now, but I have found that after 9/11 people have been very paranoid any time they see a camera pointing anywhere-- even when it is not pointed in their direction.
ReplyDeleteI think we're all a bit more paranoid. How can we not be with the constant surveillance. It's now a struggle to remain private.
DeleteFine collection!
ReplyDeleteI have a bunch of these too. You are right, they are only marginal quality.
In fact I have two photographs taken by an itinerant photographer of myself. I am glad I have them now as they are the just about the only photographs I have of myself in those years.
That's great that the photos were of value to you. I've never seen one of these photographers. The closest I've come was aboard ship as a child and in a restaurant in Waikiki.
DeleteI can't be certain but I think the cameras used for these snaps had viewfinders held at waist-height so the photographer was looking down, and the image was probably upside down-backwards too. Backing into a pole must have been common. And that last guy, he's a viola player for sure. They're pretty mean when they get wounded.
ReplyDeleteAnd FYI your link on SepSat is a loop back to SS.
Mike, thanks for the link info. I resubmitted.
DeleteThese photos all look to be from the same era - the 50s, I think. I can remember as a teenager whe had a firm called Candid Camera who used to do these street shots in Adelaide. Indeed as we had to do our wedding on a budget, we use Candid Camera and the photos turnes out quite well.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting because we had a tv show called Candid Camera and they would have been the last people you'd have had at a wedding.
DeleteIn 2003 I found one such snap of two of my great aunts so appalling that I simply had to sell it on Ebay, and it sold well to a collector of postcards from that particular coastal resort. I wondered today whether I could find that image used on the internet, and indeed I did, on a blog about the UK economy. Strange place the internet !! See what I mean by appalling...
ReplyDeletehttp://goo.gl/tgBvW
But it's so funny. That alone would have made it a keeper. It's shots like this that make the category. Most give you nothing to react to. You reacted with appalling, but at least it caused a reaction. I hope you got a good amount for it.
DeleteI recently read an interesting classic book that touches on this theme... The Camera Fiend by E.W. Hornung (from 1911) (link to my review)
ReplyDeleteYes we all have snaps like these in the albums; our innate vanity means we can never refuse them.
ReplyDeleteThose street lamps must be one of a kind (but which city?!?)
ReplyDeleteUntil this week's prompt, I was unaware of "walkies" - I don't remember ever encountering them in our family photographs. These are interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting collection of photos. I think I've seen ones like that in my collection, but I didn't know they were taken by rogue photographers.
ReplyDeleteNancy
I love the idea of a rogue photographer. It sounds like a rogue elephant running amok down the sidewalk snapping photos.
DeleteA fine selection of walkies from you this week too. I like the hand-coloured one in particular.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the candid shots - it's the "Smile please" ones that I can't stand.
That's why I try avoiding photographing people at all in my photographs. No lawsuit!!!
ReplyDelete:)~
HUGZ
Oh my goodness, this was rich in pleasure!
ReplyDelete