What’s Privacy? Street Photography in 1982

Street photography is about capturing a subject in an open public space, it’s in the moment and as it happens. The rangefinder has been the tool of the trade, being small and compact a photographer could take the camera almost anywhere….or could they?

Privacy has seen street photography banned from many locations around the world including the much discussed Vermont Bill covered on PetaPixel.  So what was it like back in the day? Was privacy always an issue or has the internet changed the laws and the way we view each other in public life?

Take a look at this snippet from a documentary by Michael Engler Filmproduktion about “Contemporary Photographie in the USA (Spring 1982)” and watch how photographer Mark Cohen interacts with his subjects.

Do you think you could get away photographing people in Cohen’s style today? How long do you think it would take for someone to report you? I’m guessing 10 seconds…what do you think?

The full documentary can be purchased here.

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