Jon Betts
"Love's Fleeting Embrace"
Explored on June 8, 2012
Alternate titles: "Couple Sucking Face", "Dilbert's Secret Rendezvous with Colonel Sanders", "Intimacy Unlocked!", "Private Moments on Public Display", "How to Secretly Photograph People in Unguarded Situations and Post Them Publicly In Order to Further Your Career", "Slice of Wonder Bread", "Asphalt, Cracked Paint and Rocks".
I caught this couple going at it on the IRT Flushing Line. It was late, they thought they were alone but the lighting was perfect and they happened to be in front of an ironic ad. That's all the incentive I needed! Click, title, post! But wait…
Due to some electrical issue with the tracks ahead, we were stopped in a cellular dead zone which made posting the photo immediately, impossible. Damn rain! But this gave me time to reflect on what I had done. I had essentially just captured the intimate moment of two complete strangers with the intent to broadcast it to an international network of voyeurs.
Normally, I would be feeling great knowing that, once the photo was posted, my "camera" would soon be chiming with the comforting notification sounds of retweets, likes and favs. My followers and I would be able to live another day vicariously through the moments of others. "I'm just like them!" "I'm glad I'm not just like them!"
But instead of the usual warm feeling of accomplishment and self satisfaction, I felt a nagging pang of guilt. No wait, that is impossible. Lets call it, "uncertainty".
It occurred to me that I certainly value my privacy. I don't like it when others steal my "moments" and claim them as theirs. I don't think I would be cool with someone posting my…um, habits in a "public" restroom for all to see. Is the public subway any different? How is it different? Both have doors. Both are under the same unwritten "laws" of public decency. Where does one draw the line?
After smiling quietly to myself at the irony of questioning privacy issues in public restrooms while on the Flushing line, I came to the realization that I just didn't care, or perhaps it didn't matter. After all, as far as I'm concerned, the world revolves around me and my ability to use a camera to take pictures for public display. This is a unique skill shared only by millions of others and must be preserved at all costs. But how?
For the most part, I know nothing about the people I photograph, their thoughts, motivations, dreams. Frankly, I'm sure most of their expressions are due to being pissed off that some stranger is taking their picture without permission. Caught! LOL! That, or they are just too exhausted from trying to make ends meet that they just don't feel like metaphorically holding hands with their fellow "man" and singing Kumbaya on a crowded subway. Then there are the shots of "freaks on streets". Strange people are funny!
But this is NYC. These moments are as uncommon as a soccer mom in a suburban shopping mall or a pair of shoes on feet. But one can't just post average photos of common occurrences without a hook. How would people know just how great I was at capturing the extraordinary if I posted ordinary images and left it up to the viewer to interpret them?
That's when I noticed the newspapers strewn all around me. Stories. Of course! Through the respected art of storytelling I could not only present my work in a greater light than perhaps it deserved, but I could simultaneously reduce the potential for the viewer to question my act of exploitation. In hindsight, I realize this was probably a silly concern. After all, this is the age of the "Social Disease"; a time when everyone knows where everyone is and what they are eating. Boundaries are continuously being opened, blurred and homogenized. And this is great, right?
So "Love's Fleeting Embrace" it is! Simple, sappy, saccharine. People will get it and be able to apply it to their own experiences within an "Instagram second". I don't know if these people love each other. For all I know, one or both could be prostitutes! I don't know how fleeting this moment is, but unrequited love sells product! And lets be honest, misdirection and misrepresentation works. Don't believe me? How many of you looked at this photo and had even a passing concern for the privacy of its subjects?
That's what I thought.
Another in my "Street Photography" series where questions about questioning are brought into question; questionably.
"Love's Fleeting Embrace"
Explored on June 8, 2012
Alternate titles: "Couple Sucking Face", "Dilbert's Secret Rendezvous with Colonel Sanders", "Intimacy Unlocked!", "Private Moments on Public Display", "How to Secretly Photograph People in Unguarded Situations and Post Them Publicly In Order to Further Your Career", "Slice of Wonder Bread", "Asphalt, Cracked Paint and Rocks".
I caught this couple going at it on the IRT Flushing Line. It was late, they thought they were alone but the lighting was perfect and they happened to be in front of an ironic ad. That's all the incentive I needed! Click, title, post! But wait…
Due to some electrical issue with the tracks ahead, we were stopped in a cellular dead zone which made posting the photo immediately, impossible. Damn rain! But this gave me time to reflect on what I had done. I had essentially just captured the intimate moment of two complete strangers with the intent to broadcast it to an international network of voyeurs.
Normally, I would be feeling great knowing that, once the photo was posted, my "camera" would soon be chiming with the comforting notification sounds of retweets, likes and favs. My followers and I would be able to live another day vicariously through the moments of others. "I'm just like them!" "I'm glad I'm not just like them!"
But instead of the usual warm feeling of accomplishment and self satisfaction, I felt a nagging pang of guilt. No wait, that is impossible. Lets call it, "uncertainty".
It occurred to me that I certainly value my privacy. I don't like it when others steal my "moments" and claim them as theirs. I don't think I would be cool with someone posting my…um, habits in a "public" restroom for all to see. Is the public subway any different? How is it different? Both have doors. Both are under the same unwritten "laws" of public decency. Where does one draw the line?
After smiling quietly to myself at the irony of questioning privacy issues in public restrooms while on the Flushing line, I came to the realization that I just didn't care, or perhaps it didn't matter. After all, as far as I'm concerned, the world revolves around me and my ability to use a camera to take pictures for public display. This is a unique skill shared only by millions of others and must be preserved at all costs. But how?
For the most part, I know nothing about the people I photograph, their thoughts, motivations, dreams. Frankly, I'm sure most of their expressions are due to being pissed off that some stranger is taking their picture without permission. Caught! LOL! That, or they are just too exhausted from trying to make ends meet that they just don't feel like metaphorically holding hands with their fellow "man" and singing Kumbaya on a crowded subway. Then there are the shots of "freaks on streets". Strange people are funny!
But this is NYC. These moments are as uncommon as a soccer mom in a suburban shopping mall or a pair of shoes on feet. But one can't just post average photos of common occurrences without a hook. How would people know just how great I was at capturing the extraordinary if I posted ordinary images and left it up to the viewer to interpret them?
That's when I noticed the newspapers strewn all around me. Stories. Of course! Through the respected art of storytelling I could not only present my work in a greater light than perhaps it deserved, but I could simultaneously reduce the potential for the viewer to question my act of exploitation. In hindsight, I realize this was probably a silly concern. After all, this is the age of the "Social Disease"; a time when everyone knows where everyone is and what they are eating. Boundaries are continuously being opened, blurred and homogenized. And this is great, right?
So "Love's Fleeting Embrace" it is! Simple, sappy, saccharine. People will get it and be able to apply it to their own experiences within an "Instagram second". I don't know if these people love each other. For all I know, one or both could be prostitutes! I don't know how fleeting this moment is, but unrequited love sells product! And lets be honest, misdirection and misrepresentation works. Don't believe me? How many of you looked at this photo and had even a passing concern for the privacy of its subjects?
That's what I thought.
Another in my "Street Photography" series where questions about questioning are brought into question; questionably.