A lot of people have chided me for my idiosyncrasies when it comes to being photographed so I thought this would be a good time to put my thoughts out there.
Here’s what I think would be safe to call my ‘101 on photographing etiquette’!
1. If you take my pic, share it with me! This applies to pics of my son and my husband as well! Also, this applies to photographs taken with or without my knowledge (also see point no. 5).
2. When sharing it with me, preferably share it with me personally and not on a larger group or forum. Please allow me the privilege of deciding whether I want people to see that pic of mine or not! Of course this only applies to my individual or family photos and not to pics in which I am in a group.
3. Do share the pics you take (of me) with me promptly and don’t make me beg for it!
4. Don’t send my pics to other people without my permission. Also, don’t post my pics on social media without asking me or, at the very least, letting me know! Basically, just send them to me and let me decide for myself!! I’d like to have the joy of sending it to people I care about and knowing their reactions!
5. As far as possible, please don’t take photos of me or my baby without my knowledge! This is particularly applicable if I’m shabbily dressed, as I often am!
6. Please do not keep my pics as your FB or whatsapp display pic without checking with me first! This particularly applies to pics of my baby! Side note – I’ve never understood why people think it is ok to keep other people’s photographs as their display pic…..without their permission.
7. If you have taken 10 photos of me all in the same pose (as we normally do nowadays), please be nice and share all of them and not just the best one! In fact, I would particularly want a copy of my worst photos so that no one can use them against me!! Basically, what i would really like is that others don’t have a photo of me in their records that i don’t have myself!
8. Again, if you are photographing an event in my life (eg: my anniversary, birthday or an occasion at my place), please be sure to share the entire set of pics with me and not just my photos! They are my memories, after all!
9. I am a very private person and anyone who knows me knows how reticent and passive I am on social media. So, please be courteous and do not post my pics on social media without my consent!
10. If you ask, I will gladly pose for you 🙂
Rest assured that I follow all of the above unfailingly so if I ever take your pic, I will send it you immediately!! I usually promptly share pics with all those who are present in the photo and sometimes with those who were present around at the moment they pic was taken but couldn’t be in the pic itself. Sounds fair, right?
To clarify, this is not a rant post – I’ve often thought extensively about the lack of photographic discretion ever since digital photography took over the traditional film photography. I always felt that with limited space on the digital film, we always rationed our photos and had to wait until much later to see the outcome of our camerawork. We only shared some of the pics with people we chose and that too, after paying for additional copies! Keeping with those principles, I feel giving people the space and discretion regarding their photographs is important.
Let me know what you feel in the comments!
P.S. general note – throughout this post, I’ve referred to “my” pics which also cover my family’s! Similarly, pic or photograph used loosely throughout this post also includes video and/or audio files of ‘me’!
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Random thoughts! 