I snapped this candid pic while on a work-related trip in Hanoi, Vietnam.
No, I wasn’t skiving! It was a coffee break. I was just having a smoke-o at a little cafe across the road from the hotel. It served the local coffee, the thick stuff you can almost stand your spoon up in. I love the rich chocolatey effect of the uber-sweet condensed milk that comes with it.
Anyway, I’m enjoying my coffee and can’t help but notice this woman who’s pretty pregnant. Indeed, she’s both pretty and pregnant. Very pregnant, in fact. “Glowing”. She’s listening to a mobile phone (right ear, obviously), which lends her an air of abstractedness. I take a couple of candid snaps with the little digicam I’m carrying, and I carry on my merry way.
That’s about it, really … I go home, process this pic, stick it on my Flickr account …
And it turns out to be my most viewed pic! That’s not saying much, though. Very rarely does an unwary netizen stumble through the backwaters of my Flickr account. But this pic is the only one that has attracted anywhere near triple figures! Why? Dunno! Maybe people enjoy images of glowing women.
Moving along. The point of this post are the following questions:
What’s the right thing to do when it comes to candid snaps? Is publicly posting pics of people acceptable without their express permission? What do professional and enthusiast photographers do? Do they always ask their otherwise unknowing subjects before publishing? Does the intrepid travel photojournalist carry release forms everywhere? Is there a double-standard where what’s unacceptable at home is considered fair game on foreign shores?
Please! A penny for your thoughts …
Waiting the baby and thinking…..hopeful to be lucky and happy…..daughter maybe of 1975 and surely daughter of Vietnam’s war parents!
Vietnam today is the second Asian emerging market only after China!
The challange of the XXI siec.
For sure granted the emerging economy, the future will be better than the past and the borning one will have better educational chance!
My understanding is that there are different laws in different countries, but that unless the picture is used for specifically commercial, non-news purposes, no release or permission is required in many jurisdictions (including Canada).
I agree with Bert….my thought wasn’t caring about! I strongly believe as Henry Matisse said:
“what are you struggle to undersand loking at my paint……there is nothing to be understood…just your feeling, the simple feeling coming from your sensibility”!
So, was the meaning of what I have written….doesn’t matter the law….more important is what a painting or a beautiful pic inject you..enthusiasm…sadness…happiness…and so on and figure out which is the message!
Sorry if I wrote somenthing out of the essay!::))
Hi Dave,
I sure wouldn’t like my pic posted anywhere without my permission…..feels weird you know. Even if the law allows it I think it would nice if one could ask his/her permission.
There’s a quality to the light in this photo. Being on the phone produces a pose, so the whole thing is quite painterly. Beautiful picture – I can see whay it would be popular.
Thanks, Robin. And after taking a look at the pics on your quality site, alotofwind.com — double thanks! You’ve got a good thing going there. It’s kind of what this site is meant to be — sort of. My excuses about lack of time are really just a lot of hot air on my part …
Cheers!
My understanding is unless used for some kind of commercial gain It is legal but agree with what was previously said that it depends on the country. Despite legal issues I have seen people get in trouble by taking photos of people especially women in certain countries. If I take a photo of a specific person I always make it a point to ask whether it is for my personal use or otherwise.