I’ll be speaking at Social Media Camp in June of 2011, and my topic is “I’ve got an iPhone, now what? Image sharing and photography apps for Social Media.” and I am a HUGE fan of iPhone photography. I do a lot of it, both as an art form, and to promote my business in a FUN way.
As image sharing is becoming more and more popular, I think it is changing the face of photography forever (maybe not in a good way) and in business now, if you are in business, consider yourself “ON All The Time.” There’s no way around it with photo sharing sites like Color. Some are calling Color “Twitter with images instead of 140 characters.”
Whenever I take photographs, I think of a few things. Yes, if you are in a public place, all of us are fair game for anyone to snap a photo. Does that mean you should? In my opinion, no. And should you snap any photo you want and then share it? In my opinion, no.
I do believe we are going to see a lot of ethical, legal and moral issues arise through image sharing, and I don’t like what that is doing to photography, or how it will impact some people in business, and in their personal lives.
Here’s some ways you can think about image sharing, if you are like me, prefer to come from a place of Kindness in Business, and promote Social Good. Photography is a powerful way to send powerful images. Photography is a powerful way to help make the world a better place. Photography is a powerful way to share the messaging of your brand in a creative and unique and fun way. Choose ethics.
- When you are capturing the image, in the moment, think, what is my intent if I share this?
- What are the possible repercussions to someone else, if I share this? Will it do good? Or will it possibly cause harm?
- Am I trying to photograph the other person in their best light? Not everyone is a skilled photographer. It is an art and it is a skill, to capture great photographs. Everyone has a choice as to their intent of who they are taking a photo of and why. And everyone has a choice when taking a photo, whether highly skilled as a photographer or not, to at least TRY to photograph people in their best light. Make people look as good as possible. Take the time to look at the angles.
- If I share this image, can it hurt someone? Their feelings? Their brand? Their reputation? Make the right choice.