TANGENTSBy Ihtisham Kabir
Photos Given, <i>Photos Taken </i>
Given or Taken? Mirpur, Dhaka; Photo: Ihtisham Kabir
These days, I see cameras everywhere in Dhaka. Most people face one happily, hoping that the world sees them the way they want to be seen. Whether the photo-opportunity is a gathering of friends, a date, a family outing, or a child's birthday, everyone tries to look their best by fixing the hair, straightening the shirt, and showing the winning smile. Less common is the photo taken without the subject's knowledge. These so-called “candid” pictures have been a holy grail of photographers for decades. The reasoning is this: a subject photographed without knowledge does not change his or her appearance for the sake of the photograph. Therefore, the photo is closer to the “natural state” of the subject and thus to the truth. What about consent? When a subject is photographed with his or her consent, the subject “gives” something to the photo, resulting in a momentary collaboration. Otherwise, the photo is just taken. The law allows wide berth for public-place photography, whether or not people are included (provided basic decency is maintained.) In private places, the law offers strong protection from the probing eye of the camera. Perhaps that's why most candid photos are taken in public places. There is, however, a grey area between posed and candid photos. This became clear when I looked- via the New York Times - at photos from “Eye-to-Eye,” an exhibition by renowned photographer Ed Kashi. These photos were taken over several decades while he was covering different assignments. Revisiting his photographic archives, Kashi has come up with a series of pictures- mostly from war and disaster zones- that have one thing in common: at the instant the shutter is pressed, the candid subject happens to look into the camera. In an interview, Kashi says he had initially rejected these photos, but when events forced him to ponder the relationship between photographer and subject, they became relevant to him. All but one of Kashi's photos shown on the Web are at public places. Often, the eyes of his subjects reflect the stress of war: an escaping Baath party official; police officers in Sadr city, Iraq; a burkha-clad old woman in Baghdad with mouth open. Even a bride going to her wedding (in Syria) wears a hostile look. Looking at the eyes we can guess that many of these photos are not “given.” Nonetheless, the photos stretch the boundaries of collaboration between subject and photographer. The presence of the photographer is felt in every photo, intermixed with the drama of subjects' lives. In this age of superfluous pixels, these photos made me sit up and pay attention. The debate about what is appropriate and what is not will rage forever among photographers. But Kashi's photos open some new, if uncomfortable, roads to understanding photography and its role in uncovering truth. The photos and an insightful conversation between Kashi and James Estrin can be found on the Web at lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/seeing-eye-to-eye.
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