What Are Street Photography Ethical Issues

Street photography morals seem to be a blurred. Numerous street photographers “seem to leave their values at home as soon as they head out to photograph strangers,” displaying a lack of empathy and respect to their subjects (Goodden). The action is validated by stating it is not illegal to take street photographs. The legality of street photography may not be questionable, but ethics behind the photographs being taken do not follow this simple process.
Street photographers tend to possess many ethical issues, one is how they approach the process of taking the photos. The photographers can lack judgement on the situations at hand, approaching groups or taking a photo disrespectfully. One such example is when a man “ran across the street towards a group of friends and shoved his big camera and flash in their faces,” leading the group to proceed to beat the man up
Goodden explained many different types of street photographers he had seen and come into contact with, the first being a street photographer who took photos from the hip, acting like a normal pedestrian. Goodden explained how this photographer acted creepily, avoiding confrontation with him and walking away quickly. Next, Goodden explains about street photographers who took 40 photos of the same person, essentially making the subject “pretty pissed off,” yet not confronting the subject directly (Goodden). Finally, Goodden expressed his feelings about street photographers being provocative, then trying to leave without confronting the subjects they had just provoked. Goodden talked about confrontations with these street photographers, and how they lacked communication with him, or others, as the subjects of their street photography. Consequently, Goodden talks about how the lack of confrontation brings about a sense of being “dishonest, creepy and a bit disgusting,” lacking morality and