Children in pictures- your views

I'm a full-time professional photographer working primarily with children and teens. I have two websites full of child portraits, including my own. In my eight years of business, I've had only two clients decline to allow me to share their kids' images online; one was a very high profile client, and the other had a sticky family situation. None have declined because of a risk of pedophiles. I always assure the family that I will not reveal a child's name or city of residence. That is, IMO, enough to ensure that no child's well-being is placed at risk.

- CJ
 
Well I have to say that I will never understand these doubts about having your children photographed, which I can observe here in the UK... I think that society overall becomes too stressed and to up-tight in many aspects. Naturally, your kids photographs can be used by some perverts. But in exact same way as anyone's photographs could. And, practically speaking, statistical chance of such event occurring is extremely minimal.

Photographing kids in Eastern Europe, where I came from, seems totally natural and acceptable. Because they're fun, cool and lively. No one sees anything wrong in approaching a group of kids playing in the park and taking some pictures of them, of course with parent's permission - but that is usually given without much doubt. Here obtaining such permission isn't even worth trying, in most of the cases. I have been personally called weird names at least dozen of times, when asking parents for taking a few snaps of their kids playing in the park...

Here, in UK we are facing security cameras all the time. In the shop, at work, everywhere. All kids you know were caught on them more than zyllion times already and they will be in the future.

Do not go insane. Care for your kids, but be sensible. This is a thing I'd like to see more, same as people finally realising that we're living in a world where there is nothing like "protected image".

I think that world changes, and we have to change with it or become boring, obsolete and so up-tight that we'll choke with our own limitations...

Just my 5p. :)
 
its bloody stupid tis what it is, I went along to one of my nieces performances with 50d and 80-200L and stood at the back snapping and my own family gave me funny looks :O I mean I was less of an aggro tan the guys at the front with phones and compacts using flash and having a loud artificial clicking sound grrrrrr

the drama lady didn't mind either (I had a quiet word first) <shrugging smily>
 
seventythree said:
Why can't you just accept the fact that i dont want to post my kids photo's on the internet?
Click to expand...

Nope I've said the same, stuff I post of family generally stays password protected, mostly because I don't subscribe to the 'look at me' generation. It's also why I'm not on social networking ;)
 
All of this extends on other aspects, too - the prudence of modern society, for example, which is shocked when a photographer presents art nude pictures (sooo easy to be perceived a pornographer!), while anyone can observe half-naked, drunk and stoned lasses walking the streets on Friday nights...

Public behaviour and taboo status amazes me sometimes. :)
 
radiantvision said:
Photographing kids in Eastern Europe, where I came from, seems totally natural and acceptable. Because they're fun, cool and lively. No one sees anything wrong in approaching a group of kids playing in the park and taking some pictures of them, of course with parent's permission - but that is usually given without much doubt. Here obtaining such permission isn't even worth trying, in most of the cases. I have been personally called weird names at least dozen of times, when asking parents for taking a few snaps of their kids playing in the park...
Click to expand...

I know, some of my best shots from Sri Lanka were of people, especially the children. Most loved having their photo taken and wanted to see themselves on the screen.

medium.jpg


Actually, it was great fun chatting with them, then getting their photo
medium.jpg
medium.jpg
medium.jpg
 
Byker28i said:
I know, some of my best shots from Sri Lanka were of people, especially the children. Most loved having their photo taken and wanted to see themselves on the screen.
Click to expand...

I am not surprised. In a way, less technically and economically developed societies are... more human. In most ways, in fact. Well, we're so scared of living in Orwell's 1984 that usually we're forgetting that we've passed that point already and it's time to move on.
 
BalSanghera said:
There nothing wrong with uploading to facebook or any other social networking style site as long as you have set your privacy settings right... Alot of people dont even know there is privacy settings :shrug:
Click to expand...

In reality that is worth squat

Doesn't matter what you set your privacy settings to, your pictures could still be seen by people who are not even on your friends list.
 
These people that don't like their children's photos being shown. Are these the same parents that put up a photo of their child naked in the bath in the local paper on their 18th birthday? :lol:
 
bass_junkie83 said:
These people that don't like their children's photos being shown. Are these the same parents that put up a photo of their child naked in the bath in the local paper on their 18th birthday? :lol:
Click to expand...

Exactly! This is it. The "oh no someone can see my child" approach in the connection with kids watching violent tv, using mobile phones as portable sound devices in buses or parents sitting in the pub and drinking to death.

A real cultural twist. Degradation of values, or rather - a total switch, where no one really knows what's good or bad anymore, and the easiest is always to point a finger at something we don't understand... Hence every photographer being a pervert and every Facebook user looking at pictures of your kids - a paedophile.

Insanity compressed and served on a plate of everyday's modern society life...
 
I feel its definitely gone too far in this country and as a society we have been brainwashed and no longer know how to truly risk assess situations we come across.

I took a fab photo of my friends little boy - she knows I'm trying to improve my photography and lets me snap away. I politely asked if I could post it on this site - and was asked not to with the phrase 'just in case'. This is the same friend who has taken the little boy to a modelling shoot for a very famous baby food manufacturer. When asked where the pics were - she doesn't know - thinks they might be being used in overseas promotional material - but truth is she has never seen the pics other than on the day. My portrait pic of her little boy is no different (well prob not as good!) to that taken by the photographer which could equally be out there somewhere on the net as some sort of promo material, but each is as 'unlikely' to cause any real risk to the kid or the family's privacy - but me posting for critique is best not to 'just in case'.

I will respect her wishes, and those of other people that don't want images on the net. It just makes me sad that the spiral will get worse. The less we do of an activity, the harder it gets to make a good risk assessment for doing that activity till eventually the activity stops.
 
ladysue said:
When I spoke to my daughter in law about it she wasnt keen on me putting the grandchildrens photos on the web at all, even TP ( I could understand if it was Facebook).
Click to expand...

This illustrates half the problem. People fear what they don't understand. You can control access to images quite strictly on Facebook, whereas something posted on TP the entire world can see, anonymously.

It's all just hysteria whipped up by the media to sell papers. Totally irrational. If you're worried about a picture on the internet leading to your child being abused, how can ANY responsible parent ever let their child cross the road!
 
Keith W said:
In reality that is worth squat

Doesn't matter what you set your privacy settings to, your pictures could still be seen by people who are not even on your friends list.
Click to expand...

the kids might even get seen in the street!!!!111111

sorry but your post is a little scaremoungering.. (in my opinion of course)
 
How can someone veiw my pics if

a. they are not my friend.

b. settings set to ''friends only''

c. they dont even know my name.
 
If someone finds out the URL to the location of the image file on one of the resource servers then potentially they could see it. Of course....they would have to be a friend to get the URL in the first place...
 
cjnicolai said:
I'm a full-time professional photographer working primarily with children and teens. I have two websites full of child portraits, including my own. In my eight years of business, I've had only two clients decline to allow me to share their kids' images online; one was a very high profile client, and the other had a sticky family situation. None have declined because of a risk of pedophiles. I always assure the family that I will not reveal a child's name or city of residence. That is, IMO, enough to ensure that no child's well-being is placed at risk.

- CJ
Click to expand...

finaly. the voice of reason.
 
mid_gen said:
If someone finds out the URL to the location of the image file on one of the resource servers then potentially they could see it. Of course....they would have to be a friend to get the URL in the first place...
Click to expand...

There was a cross-site scripting issue discovered within Facebook a while back. This allowed anyone to view images, even in some cases those marked as having been deleted.

The original problem/report had been cleared (which was that deleted images were still visible), but I am not sure that the privacy issue was solved.

If someone were looking for pictures, they wouldn't need to be your friend, they would be searching for the images, then if they were to find one that they liked, they would perform a search to see where it was called from. That would tell them at least who to become friends with, unless your profile was non-private, in which case they could see all of your details as well.
 
I have just confirmed, by using a picture that I know is set to friends only (not even friends of friends), I can access it from a remote machine, without the need to log into facebook.
 
coldpenguin said:
I have just confirmed, by using a picture that I know is set to friends only (not even friends of friends), I can access it from a remote machine, without the need to log into facebook.
Click to expand...

Is that on the basis that your in the same facebook network?
 
Arkady said:
Just do what I do - don't have kids - plus it's much cheaper, TBH...
Click to expand...

Unless you knock one out every 12 months then you can live free for life, Oh just noticed you're not in the UK
 
so start posting kids pic's, forget all the worries and what nots
 
Byker28i said:
Well apart from the picture of you on your redbubble account.linked in your sig... ;) :wave:
Click to expand...

yep, that's what I mean, there's a few of me open for the public to view, I've got one on here of my friend and that's more or less it.

At the end of the day, you're videoed every time you leave your house. It's not THAT hard to get ahold of a security video. The whole issue of posting pics of people is OTT IMHO, I choose not to post many of people (cause I know my stuff isn't that good....doesn't stop my in-laws nicking it and posting it all over the net though :suspect: ) but to be completely honest, I've just taken 2 pics of me with the webcam and uploaded them to websites selling specs - how many people do the same? Facebook, Myspace, forums etc etc...and I do think it's ironic that the people who kick off and scream have x amount of pics of kids in the bath etc - no offence to those that do have pics of their kids in the bath , but I don't wanna see naked kids :gag: be it on forums, facebook, family albums or anywhere else... irony that they do that IMO
 
neil_g said:
the kids might even get seen in the street!!!!111111

sorry but your post is a little scaremoungering.. (in my opinion of course)
Click to expand...


Not scaremongering at all

I was merely correcting the misconception that if you set your privacy settings on facebook to friends only, for example, it does not stop "non friends" from viewing your pictures.
 
jolsterj said:
How can someone veiw my pics if

a. they are not my friend.

b. settings set to ''friends only''

c. they dont even know my name.
Click to expand...

A = You

B = Me

C = your friend + C = My friend

Now you have your settings set to friends only so obviously C being your friend can view them

I, not being your friend, can not view your pictures

However.....

C is also my friend and if C were to comment on one of your pictures this would show up in my friends feed.

This would also show your name and the picture/album that was commented on, now all I would have to do is click on that image in my feed and I will not only have access to that picture but the entire album that picture is in, even though I am not your friend
 
Keith W said:
A = You

B = Me

C = your friend + C = My friend

Now you have your settings set to friends only so obviously C being your friend can view them

I, not being your friend, can not view your pictures

However.....

C is also my friend and if C were to comment on one of your pictures this would show up in my friends feed.

This would also show your name and the picture/album that was commented on, now all I would have to do is click on that image in my feed and I will not only have access to that picture but the entire album that picture is in, even though I am not your friend
Click to expand...



I thought that was only if its set to "Friends and Friends of Friends"...
This I think was a default setting for pictures and unless you change it or realise it needs changing most peoples photos are viewable......
I had tried to view a photo one of "my friends" had been tagged in and it would not show it to me, I actually had the URL for the photo and when clicked on said I was not allowed to view it.
 
Oh gosh. What is the world coming to? :'(

I can't be the only parent who is deeply saddened by this whole sorry state of affairs. We are so concerned about our own paranoia and the thousands of "what if's" that affect our lives that perhaps we have forgotten that lives are for living, not for looking over our shoulders in fear constantly.

And what about all these children in question - they cetainly don't understand why we're so worried about them stripping off on the beach, or why we can't take pictures of them outside their classroom on their first day at school. Should we stop them from being 'children' "just in case" ?

Please please please note that I'm not getting at anyone on this thread, just in case anyone was wondering! We all have a choice to make - we can choose to post pics of our kids, or not.

At the end of the day it's not just on the internet that our lives are 'captured' on film one way or another. I personally have made the choice to post pictures of my gorgeous girl both on here (well, I will when the pics are good enough) and on Flickr and Facebook, with the privacy settings set as the photo requires.

But each to their own, and we shouldn't berate anyone else for their personal choice.

Now, please can we have less of the scare-mongering that this thread is leading to?? I'm off to plant a kiss on the top of my sleeping girl's head, and vow to have a day of being a kid with her tomorrow.

Thanks
Kristy
 
Some (OK maybe a lot) parents do not want a stranger or even someone they know putting pictures of there children onto the internet. We as photographers are educated enough to know whats what.

But what everyone seems unable to grasp is a parents thoughts control when it comes to there own children (esp protection of).. there is no explanation.. there is no rhyme or reason. sometimes you cant explain why you do/think something. its just how a parent is. We are all different and we all have different levels of everyhting.. Thinking all parents should let strangers take pics of there children and put them on the internet is ludicrous... Because thats never going to happen in this day and age..

It doesn't matter why.. You can debate that for ever.. end of day its uninportant why.

It's just the way it is.

The smart photographer understands the way of the world in this day and age.. adapts and moves forward.
 
KIPAX said:
The smart photographer understands the way of the world in this day and age.. adapts and moves forward.
Click to expand...

Erm, I thought that this thread is about the general consensus of putting photo's of your own kids online? and that if one does choose to display such photo's they'll be some horrific consequence.
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
Erm, I thought that this thread is about the general consensus of putting photo's of your own kids online? and that if one does choose to display such photo's they'll be some horrific consequence.
Click to expand...

Having read the thread I can see a heck of a lot of people up in arms about those that dont want to show theres.. I can see lots of people coming at it from a different angle.. and complaining about people who dont want theres shown...

Sorry am I the only person on TP that has to stay strictly on topic Tomas ?
 
KIPAX said:
Having read the thread I can see a heck of a lot of people up in arms about those that dont want to show theres.. I can see lots of people coming at it from a different angle.. and complaining about people who dont want theres shown...

Sorry am I the only person on TP that has to stay strictly on topic Tomas ?
Click to expand...

Please don't start the 'Why am I a victim' stuff again.

All I'm addressing is that it seems you've missed the point slightly.
My sincerest apologies if this upsets you, contrary to your belief, I have absolutely no interest in rubbing you up the wrong way.
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
I have absolutely no interest in rubbing you up the wrong way.
Click to expand...

Strange the amount of times you need to say that :(

I had somehting I wanted to say.. sorry if you dont like my views.. I thought they where valid given some of the input in this thread..
 
MagicMynx said:
yep, that's what I mean, there's a few of me open for the public to view, I've got one on here of my friend and that's more or less it.
Click to expand...

There's only a few pics of me as I prefer to be behind the camera rather than in it :D
 
KIPAX said:
Some (OK maybe a lot) parents do not want a stranger or even someone they know putting pictures of there children onto the internet. We as photographers are educated enough to know whats what.

But what everyone seems unable to grasp is a parents thoughts control when it comes to there own children (esp protection of).. there is no explanation.. there is no rhyme or reason. sometimes you cant explain why you do/think something. its just how a parent is. We are all different and we all have different levels of everyhting.. Thinking all parents should let strangers take pics of there children and put them on the internet is ludicrous... Because thats never going to happen in this day and age..

It doesn't matter why.. You can debate that for ever.. end of day its uninportant why.

It's just the way it is.

i happen to thinkthat this is a vaild point and sums the subject up to a tee

The smart photographer understands the way of the world in this day and age.. adapts and moves forward.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top