Appreciate that you clarified "street photography" as doing art. I thought you were referring generically to simply taking photos of people on the streets without their permission--and I was reacting to this
"It's very stealthy... I can palm it in one hand and hit the shutter with my thumb very easily. Nobody can even tell I'm taking pictures."
That sounded creepy.
For many of us, someone stealthily taking photos of us without our permission is both bad manners and creepy. Posting of those photos without people's permission
is even more troubling. It has nothing to do with perversions, but protecting civil rights and privacy rights.
The
Humans of NY is a great project. However, it is not "street photography" nor were the photographs taken surreptitiously! Here's an excerpt from a news story on it!
"There’s something about the guy leaning on a post and checking his phone that catches Brandon Stanton’s eye. So he stops, asks if he can take a photo, clicks and continues on his way.
Stanton’s been doing this for the past half an hour, walking the streets of the city, looking at the people he passes, stopping some and asking for a photo. And, surprisingly, in a city known more for its hurried pace and less for its patience, most people he asks say yes.
“New York, there’s a lot here, so why not be part of it,” said Angel Ramos, the 49-year-old man whose photo Stanton took, when asked why he had agreed. “If you’re going to freak out with things like that, you’re going to have a problem.“"
Note: "he stops, asks if he can take a photo, clicks and continues on his way" and "most people he asks say yes"
Nothing surreptitious
about that at all!
If readers go to his site
http://www.humansofnewyork.com they'll see that his latest project expanding on the first, features photographs and
stories of individuals and, no doubt, Brandon Stanton asked for and secured their permission! Tellingly, the full title of his second book is
Humans of New York: Stories. See
http://www.humansofnewyork.com
Neither fits the notion of anonymous "street photography" at all, with stealth photography instead it's focused on capturing the city, creating portraiture, and story-telling from the found individuals.
It's highly doubtful that Stanton took photos with a hidden iPhone or iPod Touch!
So, please keep in mind that many of the people you're photographing will want to know if their picture is being taken and will want to give permission before it's going to appear somewhere! Depending upon where you are, there may even be laws pertaining to doing it!