Ethics of Photography

This is a great picture from someone's gallery at photo.net . Great picture, but look at the context in which it was taken: "Old Man - Picture taken with a Nikon 80-200... as he was walking towards me. As we passed, as total strangers, I said thank you. He said you're welcome. Such a strange encounter. I cranked off about 8 shoots as I approached. Just a grab shot of a great face."

It seems somehow demeaning in to snap a shot of a total stranger without asking them, but then, how else do you get a shot like that? Granted he did say thank you. But to see someone, not primarily as a person with hopes and fears and feelings, but as a 'kodak moment' seems rude. But I don't know, it's more complex then that.

Not that I havn't wanted to to it, a month ago I was taking some pictures of some pumpkins outside of a grocery store when I saw a ragged, dirty, old man sitting on the side walk. Of course I wanted to take his picture, but I couldn't just walk up and snap it, so I tried pretending to take pictures of things in the foreground, but it didn't really work out.

I get the same sort of feeling to a lesser degree when I'm drawing people in public. People on the bus or in a restaurant or something. You never want to catch their eye. If it's a guy he'll probably think I'm gay; if it's a girl she'll think I'm checking her out; if it's a foreigner, he'll think I'm racist. Or so the back of my mind tells me when I'm caught starring at a total stranger.

I know at least a few of you are photographers, what do yall think?