Street photography or voyeurism?

Not sure of any line, but definately there's an element of voyeurism. Yes its my perogative. Sometimes approach an object, usually not. Often the object is moving anyways. I have no simple answer as to when or not to. If I really think someone is going to object or they've actually indicated they don't want to be photographed, I will usually honor that but then, for me, its a balancing test of many factors. I suppose it has more to do of how you identify with personal space. If you believe or are in a frame of mind that "we are all here in public sharing space and time, and I'm going to capture the wonder of it all" then I suppose you won't think of it as being voyeuristic. But if you feel like you are capturing people's private moments even stealing them, like we all must at sometimes, then you are a voyeur at that moment. Do you have a problem accepting that you may be a voyeur?

Just wondering.

In criminal voyeurism cases it is usually a mtter of one capturing an image of another for sexual gratfication without the consent of the other when the other is in a place where there is a reasaonable expectation of privacy (i.e a bathroom vs. outdoors in a public park). Texas has a different and ridiculous law about improper photography.

As I recall, the Texas law in question says that you can't take photos for sexual gratification in a public place- which seems like a pretty good dividing line in response to your question.

There was a news article some time back where they'd arrested a guy here in the Dallas area- made for a lot of discussion here on photo.net. The upshot of it was that the DA saw the photos the guy had been taking and said there was no case to be had.

"Criminal Voyeur case..." YIKES! Ok, not a voyeur, have never been, I was confused...etc blah..

But does voyeurism always denote sex? I thought just watching people was a form of it as well.

Does one need a camera to be voyeuristic? I think not. People look and observe other people all time. I don't understand why SP gets such a bad rap. Maybe if they are using a 300mm perhaps...

Too late, Barry. You are already in the database...

Well, I wasn't very clear about the definition of voyeurism that I meant. dictionary.com define voyeurism as: voyﾷeur (voi-yûr) n. 1. A person who derives sexual gratification from observing the naked bodies or sexual acts of others, especially from a secret vantage point. 2. An obsessive observer of sordid or sensational subjects.

If I took say 20 pictures of someone with interesting feature while following him/her to get that perfect lighting, will that be classified as definition number 2?

I think that "criminal voyeurism" is one of those things that is hard to define. Some call one thing art, while others call it crap (in some cases, literally).

I have seen the portfolio of on PNer that I think crosses that line between street photography and creepy voyeurism. I forget the guy's name (even if I didn't I wouldn't post it), but his photos show very poor technique and consist mainly of good looking women's bodies. No heads, just bodies. No value really, other than to ogle.

voy�eur (voi-y�r)

n.

1. A person who derives sexual gratification from observing the naked bodies or sexual acts of others, especially from a secret vantage point.

2. An obsessive observer of sordid or sensational subjects.

Pick the one that best discribes your proclivity.