Is it right?

Will you take photos of beggars and handicapped people?


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y would you wanna take a picture of them in the 1st place?

if its justifiable by yourself then you take, if its not, & somehow prick your conscience or anywhere else, den dun...

so which part is justifiable? hmmz... i think have to see the purpose... educate or humiliate.. very thin line...
 

i will take their photo ONLY if it's for educational purposes...meaning taking their photo if i think it could move others to help. it must have a story...not a blind snap and go thing.

however, posting it and learning on how to take a better picture abt it seems overwhelming. I think, there'll be lots of different perspective abt it.
 

I'll take pics of anything or anyone that capture my mind of thoughts.
However, the rights of pple will come into pic when you are talking abt taking pics of them for publication in printed media.

p/s: i'll take pics of them without them knowing though.
 

A charitable organisation that runs old-folks homes was sourcing for volunteer photographers in Clubsnap a few months back and had a special clause for the pool of volunteer photographers; the volunteer photographers are not allowed public display or web-publish of the photographs taken without the charitable organisation's permission.

This is to protect the identity of the old folks' being photographed. not all of the old folks are picked off the streets. Some of them may had reservations about themselves being known to be in an old folks home. Most importantly, their children or relatives who arranged for their stay there do not fancy such publicity involving their relatives.

It is the same for some of these old people, destitute, beggars and other people who are down and out. They would certainly not like to be seen as a mascot representing their lot.

However, the other line of argument is also correct in that images of them might be useful to aid social movements that can help them finacially or politically.
 

Yah,

When I was in Hong Kong, I took some photos of the beggars there as it was an interesting sight. To me, it's just like any other street photography and I have no intention to humilate and embarass them. On the contrary, I felt bad for taking their photos or when passerbys saw me taking their photos coz I have this idea that they will say," So bad one, people already so poor thing he still take photos of them!"

But on the other hand, as a photographer (though I am just a newbie) I thought its an interesting photo to show the contrast between the poor and the passerbys and it's no different to me taking an old run-down shop and shop keeper in the midst of modern civilisation.

So, I guess I will still take photos of interesting sights regardless of their situation but I would certainly try my best to stay low profile and try not to attract any attention from other passerbys.

:)
 

icer said:
Is it morally right to take photos of beggars and handicapped people? Am we doing the right thing? Will you take such photos?

Got the idea to post this poll from this thread.
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=793778&posted=1#post793778

Personally, it's just like asking if it's right to flim/watch R(A) shows. :dunno: Before, one jumps to conclusion that 1 is taken with knowledge and profit and the other, most likely on the sly. It actually depends on individual style of photography and wether if the society, by large, accept it.

However, 'cheers' do bring out a very valid point in our local context, but that may not apply golbally. So, lets not impose our context on other culture and observe objectively.
 

OK - just be sensitive and considerate in handling the process of photography and the publication of the photos.
 

roygoh said:
OK - just be sensitive and considerate in handling the process of photography and the publication of the photos.
i agree... it's all about personal ethics & responsibility. there's nothing wrong with such photos if handled in a sensitive and mature manner. there's no hard-and-fast rule about this.
 

But the sad thing is that people take one look at Nickmak photos and began judging him.:(
 

jbma said:
But the sad thing is that people take one look at Nickmak photos and began judging him.:(

I was the first one to comment on his post after I moved it from Streets and Candids to Reportage upon his request. So I am not sure if I have anything to do with triggerring the other negative responses.

My issue with his post is the apparent attitude, whether it was intentional or not. He posted a few pictures of a beggar in Bangkok, with the comment "Enjoy", which made me uncomfortable, so I made a comment about that.

I am not against his choice of subject for the photos, and I am not judging him. I only wanted to remind him to be more sensitive and considerate when handling such subjects.
 

roygoh said:
I was the first one to comment on his post after I moved it from Streets and Candids to Reportage upon his request. So I am not sure if I have anything to do with triggerring the other negative responses.

My issue with his post is the apparent attitude, whether it was intentional or not. He posted a few pictures of a beggar in Bangkok, with the comment "Enjoy", which made me uncomfortable, so I made a comment about that.

I am not against his choice of subject for the photos, and I am not judging him. I only wanted to remind him to be more sensitive and considerate when handling such subjects.

Please don't take it personally. I am talking about the general response, especially the first few ones. It seems to trigger a flow of similar remarks.
 

jbma said:
Please don't take it personally. I am talking about the general response, especially the first few ones. It seems to trigger a flow of similar remarks.
No offence taken...just want to clarify my position. I too agree that some of the comments are over-rated.
 

Ok,

Understand the "enjoy" context that Roy is referring to.

I guess Nick does not really mean enjoy seeing the beggar in the photo suffering or anything in that context. Think he just post some photos and ask people to "enjoy" appreciating the photos or "enjoy" discussing over the photos.

Anyway, Nick is just a young chap so let's give him the benefit of the doubt that he dun mean it lor. Yah, but it's good that we have people who are sensitive enough around to give us different perspectives on certain inclination. So, we can learn from each other and grow to become sensitive, responsible, artistic and talented photographers together! :thumbsup:
 

icer said:
Ok,

Understand the "enjoy" context that Roy is referring to.

I guess Nick does not really mean enjoy seeing the beggar in the photo suffering or anything in that context. Think he just post some photos and ask people to "enjoy" appreciating the photos or "enjoy" discussing over the photos.

Anyway, Nick is just a young chap so let's give him the benefit of the doubt that he dun mean it lor. Yah, but it's good that we have people who are sensitive enough around to give us different perspectives on certain inclination. So, we can learn from each other and grow to become sensitive, responsible, artistic and talented photographers together! :thumbsup:

Hi guys,

I agreed with icer. I too believe that Nick does not already mean it.

Cheers
 

jbma said:
Please don't take it personally. I am talking about the general response, especially the first few ones. It seems to trigger a flow of similar remarks.

jbma said:
But the sad thing is that people take one look at Nickmak photos and began judging him.:(

i was the second to comment after the post was moved from streets and candids to reportage and sports.

in streets and candids...i got no comments, cos that forum normally contains lots of crappy "artistic" shots (mine included), but when its moved to reportage, i merely questioned his objectives and intentions, and what he want to achieve...
perhaps junyang's comments were just a tad too harsh for an 18 year old ;) ??? harsh comments or not, let the photographer decide.
 

rncw said:
i was the second to comment after the post was moved from streets and candids to reportage and sports.

in streets and candids...i got no comments, cos that forum normally contains lots of crappy "artistic" shots (mine included), but when its moved to reportage, i merely questioned his objectives and intentions, and what he want to achieve...
perhaps junyang's comments were just a tad too harsh for an 18 year old ;) ??? harsh comments or not, let the photographer decide.

Ok, so besides the "enjoy" comment, the category chosen to post your photos do play a role in portray a different message?

I learnt something new! Thanks.
 

I think we all learn something from this today.
 

Hi, honestly, I don't mind harsh comments, but PLEASE give me some pointers to improve. I guess when I posted the photos, I was rushing them out into CS and forgot to take time to explain my intentions. I know that seeing happy faces etc. does not need an introduction while the shots I have taken were not too appealing to some, and :kok: me because I forgot to put in the intro. I apologize for that.

As for junyang's comments, I would like to say that, at first I felt pretty shocked reading that comment because I didn't expect something like that on my short stay here in CS. I was taken aback but soon I realised that, yes, my photos aren't the best by light years but I'm only about 1.5 years into photography and I'm still trying to improve and explore the possibilities of my camera abilities and what the image in the viewfinder can bring. I'm a very serious photographer and I guess deep inside the environment around me (ie. Bangkok) has conditioned me in such a way that I really really sympathise for the poor. I decided to use my camera to document them because I want people, especially the people higher up (ie. Government) to take a look at what is really happening around the country. Apparently the government here is on cloud 9 and I am personally disgusted by that. If you go back to my posting, I have stated my intentions to why I wanted to put the pictures here. I wanted comments to help me get the better shot.

Tell you guys, actually to everyone in CS. I felt a little uncomfortable posting those pictures because I already 'sort-of' knew that the reactions would be strong, because I have seen reviews in other places about photos like these. I don't really know where to place those photos: 1) Streets and Candids: I posted here first but felt something wrong about it. 2) Reportage and Sports: Thanks to roygoh who moved my thread upon my request. I felt that in the forum it would be like a report and a series of what I see everyday in Bangkok, whether taking a cab or walking on the street. They are everywhere. That was what got me going.
 

Mai pen lai kap khun Nick. Mai mi pen ha.
 

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