Rodney On Earth

I’m still post-processing gigabytes of images from my current project, as well as editing audio for the audio-enabled slideshow.  Of course, all work and no play is no good for Rodney!  Well, It is a labor of love, but still, I decided to take a one day break to see what has been going on in the photographic world.

Philosophical debates and situational ethics, relative to photography, are endlessly fascinating to me.  I came across a few blogs pointing to a YouTube video about Bruce Gilden, a Magnum photographer.  In the video, Gilden is interviewed while zigs and zags through the streets of New York (Gilden is famous for his NY street photography) and making images.  Gilden talks of how he works, what he things, and so on.  Check the video out before reading further:

Now, I am often quite opinionated about what I think and feel, even though I do not always express it verbally, but this time I must say (or write) “something.”  I won’t comment on the quality of Gilden’s work (if you check his Magnum portfolio, some of his work quite brilliant).  I won’t comment on his guts: the man has a serious set of brass (no, titanium alloy) balls, that’s for sure!  It takes serious courage to do street photography in New York, much less in the way Gilden does it, with a beat-up Leica and off-camera flash suddenly jumping in front of you.  I can certainly agree with Gilden about NY streets being dangerous. From my travels around the world, I can say Americans are some of the least open people for being photographed, and New York is even more tough than most places in the USA.

Did I tell you guys of the time I had my life threatened in New York’s Chinatown?  That’ll be a future post: “Narrow Escapes!”

I am sure there is no one, perfect, way to get candid images, but certainly using surprise ambush tactics is not the way to go!  He does not show any sort of caring, compassion or empathy  for the people he photographs.  Calling the people “characters” dehumanizes them!  He holds certain paradigms about the people he encounters, and does not care what others think (“I don’t care about the question”).  And saying “…I have no ethics…” certainly says volumes about how he sees life, and how he sees himself.  

Gilden’s 4 minute video gave me the deep impression he is purely selfish in his motivations.  Sure, when we work on self-assigned projects, a certain amount of selfishness is involved; we pick topics that are fascinating to us, or we pick subject matter that we feel can be used for stock, or we may even try to shoot photos we feel clients will one day want to use.  For me, I am the former (I pick because the topic or subject matter is fascinating to me: I have no clients and I currently do not sell photos).  But for most, that selfishness for self-assigned work does not mean proceeding in a way where we devalue people!  He treated those individuals like a bowl of fruit being ambushed.  Yet, in the end, a lot of his photos (not shown in that video) are truly amazing.  Do the ends justify the means????

Street photographers have to have a certain level of confidence (or have the will to push through their fear) when they want to photograph people.  Gilden has elephant size balls when it comes to street photography (I envy him in some ways for his confidence).  But, when is too much simply too much?  I am curious what others do to get images.  For me, I tend to take a slower, more gentle approach.  I am a overweight (ok, VERY FATTTT), kinda-tall, black guy in Asia.  I cannot hide even if I want.  I get constant stares as if I am a Sumo Wrestler/Barak Obama hybrid with an American accent.  Add to this I use wide-angle lenses, means I have to be pretty close to people.  I do not speak the language here in Indonesia, or other places in Asia I make images.  

I use all of these unique, Rodney-physical traits as ice breakers: I use smiles, and slow movement when taking pictures.  Kids see me as a teddy bear, and I always have fun with them, which in turn makes adults more open too.  It is quite rare I ask permission before shooting, especially here in Indonesia (why? I have found even when a person wants to be photographed, fixing their hair, and striking a pose, if you gesture or ask permission, they will shyly say “no”, but if you do it, they are happy, or maintain the exact same expression and pose, or they smile after.  I always say thank you (even if they do not know English) or wave, and sometimes try to show them the image in the camera’s LCD, when it is convenient.

Never have I had an issue (so far: keeping fingers crossed) because I treated someone rudely.  When I see a person does not want to be photographed, I smile and keep moving (but very slowly, as I do not want to give the impression I am only there for a photo).  When I leave with no photo, maybe I am still within a few meters of the person, even after being declined.  I want to be part of the moment, not merely passing the moments, and I want that decliner to see that too (maybe it will make the next photographer have better success, if the decliner sees “oh, maybe they actually care, not just want ‘a shot’”).

After watching the video a few times, I have to say Gilden is right: the streat is not owned by any individual, and anyone in public is technically (TECHNICALLY) fair-game to be photographed.  Fine, you “can” shoot anyone in public, but does not mean you should do so?  He even had the nerve to tell some guy “how to act” in his “candid” photo!  I thought a candid image is an image of the person being himself, undirected and undisturbed by the photographer?  How candid can an image be when the unwilling person is told “keep walking!” then complain the person was smiling???

Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t has his ass kicked!  Genius or not, the guy comes across as a total jerk who does not care about anyone or anything beyond getting the photo he wants.

Ok Ok.  It’s just a 4 minute video.  I am sure there must be more to him than what we saw, but I have a feeling there is not much more.  There is another one or two videos on YouTube of him, so I’ll check those out as well.  He reminds me of a character who could have been in “Grumpy Old Men.”  

I ask everyone: Yes, he has some amazing work as a result from his methods, but does the ends justify the means?