Posting To FaceBook

It’s fun to post your images to FaceBook. How harmless can that be?

Well once you start posting very soon you’re going to run into the “FaceBook Photo Police” and I expect you’re not going to find the encounter to your liking.

Case in point this morning a photographer in Britain posted an image of a woman begging on the streets of London. The image was stark and real and technically well done. There’s no doubt it is hard to look at and will cause a reaction in some viewers.

Sure enough the very first comment was from someone who asked whether or not the photographer had “permission” to take the photo.

Now as we have discussed generally in democratic nations you do not need permission to take anyone’s photo in public so long as you’re not using it for commercial purposes and then you need photo release and perhaps a payment might be in order.

Shooting for yourself and publishing in a non-commercial way is totally ok.

But it’s often not okay according to people who are no longer commenting about the image but their opinion about the ethics or morality of even taking such an image let alone publishing it.

It really doesn’t matter what your opinion is and whether or not you would take such an image as any comment about someone else’s image is just a projection of your own uncomfortableness with seeing an image of this type.

So when someone asks “do you have permission?” like most questions it is really a veiled statement that says “I don’t like seeing this image”. And since the commentator doesn’t like seeing this image they turn themselves into the photo police and now you’re being shamed (“Do you have permission?” is a shaming statement.).

Personally I think you should just ignore these comments and if they persist just block the person. Shoot what you will. Let your own good sense and the artist within guide you. There are some months when my blocked list exceeds the number on my friends list.