Alice Thompson Photography

Where does a subject's right to privacy begin? A "peeping Tom" photographer/artist, Arne Svenson, in New York took photos of his unsuspecting neighbors through their windows. The photos (including those of children) are now featured in a gallery exhibit in Manhattan. Needless to say, the subjects are not pleased. According to the photographer, no invasion of privacy took place because the subjects in the photos can't be identified. I call B.S. on that. While faces may not be shown, I would bet that someone who knows some of the people in the photos could easily recognize them. I do agree that if you want your daily activities in your home to remain private, then you should close your curtains or window blinds. However, you should also be allowed to assume that your daily activities won't end up being turned into a gallery exhibit, raking in thousands of dollars for the so-called artist. And as this article  points out, people don't pay huge amounts of money...

I recently read an article on ways to strengthen the message and story of your photographs. "The subject and story of a photograph must be identified quickly by the viewer. If the viewer can't figure out what the subject is... all interest is lost." Telling a story and providing a message with photos isn't a new idea, but it's something I struggle with in my photography. When I look back at a collection of my photos , each photo does tell a story - to me, anyway. I remember exactly where I was when I took the photo. Who I was with, and oftentimes I can remember how I felt when I took the shot ("freezing my butt off!" or "melting in the summer sun" are a couple thoughts that come to mind frequently). But that story or message isn't always evident to other viewers. For example, a couple weeks ago as my partner and I sat on our patio one Sunday morning reading the paper, I grabbed my camera and my 300mm lens and started shooting bir...