NZ Visual Diary - entry 448

candid portrait of a bus rider

There are layers of biography and explanatory text associated with this image.

Let’s start with the ethics of candid street photography. Is a candid street photograph, one taken without the knowledge or permission of the subject, a form of theft or at least an invasion of personal space? I have not fully formed an answer to that question and, in not doing so, I have resolved to forego any commercial profit from this stealthy practice. I won’t sell a print of a person from whom I have neither obtained permission nor offered compensation. And my Substack, by intent, was never meant to be a commercial endeavour.

As to the question of why I was attracted to his profile, photographically speaking, my answer is rather subjective and speculative. I am fascinated by how people present themselves in public places - from styles of dress and bodily or jewelled ornamentation to facial expressions and postures of engagement or withdrawal.

In the instance of this bus rider, I was keenly interested in the intensity of his facial expression; and therein lies the speculative rub. Perhaps it is the learned habit of someone who needs to say ‘don’t mess with me.’ Or the assumed expression of someone lost in deep thought. Lastly, and more simply, it could be the countenance of someone grateful for a moment’s respite on a bus.

I know this much: I love the endless trail of his beard.