Opening an Instagram account doesn’t make you a photographer.
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- Never knowingly make someone look bad. Unless that person is a public official who’s doing something fraudulent (e.g., a politician accepting a bribe, a police officer beating up a little girl, etc.).
- Christians say it’s useful to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” before you act in the world. Thinking along similar lines, I believe it’s instructive to ask “What Would Terry Do?” before you take pictures of your fellow human beings. Seriously, if it looks like something Terry Richardson might do, don’t do it.
- Don’t bring your camera to the public pool.
- Don’t take pictures of dead animals. It’s profoundly disrespectful. I don’t care how many times you’ve seen American Beauty (1999). Don’t even care if it’s your favorite movie in the world. Bury pummeled pigeons and squished squirrels with reverence and care. Don’t photograph them. It’s gross.
- Unless you’ve got the right equipment and the requisite skill, please don’t take pictures of your food. Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it looks great to you. But on Facebook, not so much.
- Pietro’s Rule: Opening an Instagram account doesn’t make you a photographer.
- Felicity’s Rule: Just as skydiving once or twice doesn’t make you a parachutist, taking your camera to the Mountain once or twice doesn’t make you a photographer.
–John Faithful Hamer, From Here (2015)
Originally published at Committing Sociology. Reprinted with permission.
Photo courtesy of Danielle A Faribault.