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Question: Has there been any discussions regarding photographing children?

guangong said:
I was wondering when somebody would bring this up!
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Just to be clear, I wasn't referring to you in particular. It was just a general warning to others. Private investigators and divorce attorneys are allowed to take pictures in public too.
 
Having read or scanned most of the contributors to this thread, I would like to make several points.
I have never been bothered by anybody when taking pictures of children in a park or in a coffee shop. I usually use a rangefinder camera and a 50mm lens or a Rollei TLR. My am assuming that negative responses from parents may have been the presence of not very discreet SLRs with large long lenses or even humongous DSLR outfits.
Some may just appear to be creepy or perverted to the parents. Or try too hard not to be noticed. For street photography I generally carry one camera, and, maybe, another lens in a jacket pocket. No overstuffed camera bag. I also engage in conversation with parents about raising children, options for schools, pre-school, dogs, cats...wherever the coversation drifts.
But it helps to be interested in the subjects one photographs. I enjoy watching the little ones try to figure out how to climb or work the various climbing and revolving constructions in the playground and how they can create a whole world in their imagination.
Also, sometimes there are wedding parties, family gatherings, young lovers,...plus trees, people pretending to play music (I’m always tempted to tell a guy beating the drums, that Art Blakey told me that the hardest thing is to play drums softly but still be musical).
So there may be reasons for the different experiences reported by some members. Me, I’ve never had a problem.
 
Correction: should read “try to hard to be unnoticed “ Another instance of iPad spell check interference.
 
Alan Edward Klein said:
The babies' heads are disembodied especially the one on the right.
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And what would be disturbing about that? To me, it's the contrast with the gigantic ogre hands that gives it a disturbing touch.
In general, I didn't use to find her pictures disturbing. The over-the-top sweetness was just too much. Some might be cute, but they don't elicit more than a "ooh". Now, when I think about the process it might take to set the picture up, move babies around, pose them like dolls, wait for them to fall asleep (I guess), that's when I'm disturbed...why? Just why?
 
Alex Benjamin said:
...and maybe it's just me. I find some of her photographs, like this one, profoundly disturbing. I'd be very curious to chat with her about it to try to understand what she sees.


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It has a little bit of a Kronos-eating-his-children vibe. But at least she had parental consent...
 

I see no artistic qualities in any of her work. It’s all kitsch not pretending to be anything but, pandering in the extreme to photographic fads of our time.
That’s really a problem if that is how children of “now” are going to be portrayed and immortalized for posterity.
Either through kitschy arranged photos or through the eye of the parents.
 
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Me and my sister Marilyn, who passed away, This was how they did it 75 years ago with BW film and toning in the colors. No disembodiment. Formal shot in a studio. By the way, I didn't need permission to post it here.
 

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guangong said:
Correction: should read “try to hard to be unnoticed “ Another instance of iPad spell check interference.
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I don't care about your mistakes. You knew Art Blakey. From now on I'm a fan no matter what you write.

Moanin' is one of my top ten favorite jazz albums, and now that I think about it, I'll put in one while developing film later...
 
Don Heisz said:
It has a little bit of a Kronos-eating-his-children vibe. But at least she had parental consent...
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Same with Saturn and I will never be able to unsee this now every time I'll see her works...

 
Don Heisz said:
Kronos and Saturn are the same guy
(like Zeus and Jupiter are the same)
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Indeed, aliquid stat pro aliquo, but it's all Greek to me .
 
Alan Edward Klein said:
Just to be clear, I wasn't referring to you in particular. It was just a general warning to others. Private investigators and divorce attorneys are allowed to take pictures in public too.
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Didn’t have any idea about referring to me...I had a wonderful wife. I just thought you were making a timely observation.
 
Alan Edward Klein said:
Me and my sister Marilyn, who passed away, This was how they did it 75 years ago with BW film and toning in the colors. No disembodiment. Formal shot in a studio. By the way, I didn't need permission to post it here.
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I spent a good deal of time and effort learning my lighting to match this style. It was a fun trip and utterly useless in my line of work but I now have another pointless skill up my sleeve. And yes, I'm sure to many of you this is such a simple thing to match. I thought the same until I tried. Turns out it's as much the film format as the lighting.
 
I bet the perfect opportunity will present itself and you'll be able to create something beautiful for someone who will appreciate it!
 
Daniela said:
I bet the perfect opportunity will present itself and you'll be able to create something beautiful for someone who will appreciate it!
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I love this kind of thinking.

I keep my Century Graphic dusted off and ready to go just in case. 2x3 isn't dead!
 
Yesterday I met up with our local Urban Sketchers group for our weekly drawing session. Due to the weather, about 17 degrees F, we went to the public library as it provides lots of opportunities for interior subject matter as well as large windows should someone prefer to sketch what they see outside.

When I arrived I was surprised to find hundreds of kids running around the place for a “Wizardry of Harry Potter” event being held there. The event had numerous booths set up around the library where kids could do all sorts of activities like face painting, building strange animals, etc. I noticed flyers posted around encouraging picture taking and a suggestion to post them at some site.

I didn’t pay attention to whether photos were being taken as I sat down and got to my sketching which did include several children at one of the activity tables.
 

My local library is used as an ad hock babysitter for kids between the ages of 5-15. Parents drop their kids off after school or tell the kids to go there and they take the place over with no supervision until around 5:30pm. I don't go to the library weekdays between 3 and 5:30. Library's fault it's a 'safe place' so they can't contradict themselves. I had a 12 year old kid attempt to get into a karate kick fight with me last week. All I wanted was to pick up a Bill Bryson book but ended up getting challenged by some dork kid kicking into my personal space.

Libraries aren't what they used to be apparently. They are very photographer friendly though, want to take photos of the homeless? Pop into the library. Librarians will even point you in the right direction.
 

Seems to be a fresnel placed top right McCandless style, three five to six meters back, perhaps with a bit of cheese cloth of a dab of diffusion. And then another fresnel placed low and aimed low at the back wall.
 
All i do is "Street Photography".
I have shot dozens and dozens of kids in San Francisco and Sacramento.
I have never had a problem.
I think it is clear to everybody WHY i am taking the photo..............nothing nefarious involved.
 
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