Club Photographers

HarveyCanal

Remember how there used to every now and then be the event photographer who would roam through the club and politely ask people if they'd like to have their picture taken. If the answer was yes, he'd exchange info with the subjects so they could then order a copy of the photo? That was all nice and acceptable, no?

Well now, we've got these "professional" photographers who get hired by the venue/event-hosts to roam randomly through the club taking candid shots of people doing who knows what. And then without any permission whatsoever, they take all of those photos and post them right up to facebook/etc. Even as someone with really nothing to hide, shit is mad fucked up. AMIRIGHT?

Jimster

You are right.

Youngsters are all about that social presence, doe. Dem no gives a fusk.

"Youth-is-wasted-on-the-young"-R.

LaserWolf

I remember the photographer who would set up in the lobby with appropriate props and take pictures of couples they could then by. Common at big R&B shows in the 80s and 70s. It was a romantic thing.

RAJ

batmon

if all the club goers are immediately putting themselves online, what the issue w photographers doing it. what the diff btwn u and the next dude w a camera?

i remember in high school a funky punky lady friend was talmbout suing a magazine for placing an image of her in their book. one on side she wanted the attention, but cried when it wasnt on her terms. i haff sympathize, but in 2015 w cameras everywhere, you are not special.

HarveyCanal

I'm vowing right now to do some 1977 shit to the next 2011 photographer I see in a club pulling this 1984 bullshit.

parallax

RAJ said:

LOL at the "photo gloves".

b/w

Dat azz doe...

Lemme holler etc etc

JectWon

HarveyCanal said:

I'm vowing right now to do some 1977 shit to the next 2011 photographer I see in a club pulling this 1984 bullshit.

Well, damn...that was beautiful.

billbradley

Hey Harvey, I saw that you went out to The Boogie last Friday on Facebook in the photos. It was fun right? LOL

HarveyCanal

billbradley said:

Hey Harvey, I saw that you went out to The Boogie last Friday on Facebook in the photos. It was fun right? LOL

I'm saying.

There's like a full documentation of my entire night there in those photos. Really, I'm not going to do anything crazy, but next time I see that photographer dude, I'm definitely going to call him out. Shit is endlessly wack.

billbradley

BTW, your Inbox is full.

HarveyCanal

billbradley said:

BTW, your Inbox is full.

Says it's empty. Hit me on fb instead.

Rockadelic

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2954539/Glitz-glamour-infamous-excess-Dizzying-photos-inside-Studio-54-reveal-star-studded-debauchery-world-s-famous-disco.html

pickwick33

batmon said:

if all the club goers are immediately putting themselves online, what the issue w photographers doing it. what the diff btwn u and the next dude w a camera?

I think the real issue is...what if you're creeping around in a place you shouldn't be, and/or you're with somebody you shouldn't be with? At least the photogs from back in the day asked if you wanted to capture the moment. Now...???

Jimster

I recall clubbing in the 90s and folls would be wandering throught the crowds with a video camera, to best capture the sea of gurning, saucer-eyed faces. A friend of mine is on one such video shot at Cream in Liverpool.

His dance-stylings are still heavily mocked to this day. No verbal insults required.

DocMcCoy

HarveyCanal said:

Remember how there used to every now and then be the event photographer who would roam through the club and politely ask people if they'd like to have their picture taken. If the answer was yes, he'd exchange info with the subjects so they could then order a copy of the photo? That was all nice and acceptable, no?

Well now, we've got these "professional" photographers who get hired by the venue/event-hosts to roam randomly through the club taking candid shots of people doing who knows what. And then without any permission whatsoever, they take all of those photos and post them right up to facebook/etc. Even as someone with really nothing to hide, shit is mad fucked up. AMIRIGHT?

This is a fair point, certainly as far as documenting behaviour that may or may not be legal. But I have a feeling that if you stepped to the club management/promoter about it (who are the responsible parties rather than some smudger who probably isn't even getting paid), they'd make a few vague noises about right of admission and how, by entering their establishment or attending their event, you hereby consent to blahblah and yadayada for the purposes of whatever. It's a standard disclaimer on concert tickets and I've seen it on club flyers as well as on open display in some venues - if it isn't, then it ought to be. While I imagine most nightclub photographers aren't going to take or post pics of drug use, which would be bad news for the club in question, they're not likely to know who is or isn't violating parole or breaching a court order by being in [location X] on the evening of [date Y].

Jimster

If you are playing your other half / violating your parole, I would doubt the wisdom of doing it inside a club full of people, most of whom seem to want to spend the night taking selfies. And with most venues using CCTV, I guess you have implicity surrendered your "Image Rights" by agreeing to be recorded once you are past the velvet rope.

batmon

pickwick33 said:

batmon said:

if all the club goers are immediately putting themselves online, what the issue w photographers doing it. what the diff btwn u and the next dude w a camera?

I think the real issue is...what if you're creeping around in a place you shouldn't be, and/or you're with somebody you shouldn't be with? At least the photogs from back in the day asked if you wanted to capture the moment. Now...???

Im sure if you let a photographer know "dont point that shit over here!" they would refrain, but alongside club goers takin pics and security cameras everywhere, I would be steppin up my Creep Game© and not even appear in a public space full of smartphones.

batmon

Who remembers Remote Lounge? Had that Spy Camera Theme for the entire space.

12 years later, it’s funny to think how this novelty bar in NYC would so closely mirror our modern experience. Just replace the always connected security cameras with smart phones and opt-in social media. Sometimes I’m shocked at how my experiences at the Remote Lounge would be recreated time and time again by following a hashtag on twitter, to a photo on instagram, to a small conversation online, and finally with meeting someone face to face… all over the course of ten or twenty minutes on my iphone at a local bar.

DocMcCoy

J i m s t e r said:

If you are playing your other half / violating your parole, I would doubt the wisdom of doing it inside a club full of people, most of whom seem to want to spend the night taking selfies. And with most venues using CCTV, I guess you have implicity surrendered your "Image Rights" by agreeing to be recorded once you are past the velvet rope.

Yep, all of this. To which I would factor in the great unquantifiable that is human stupidity.

HarveyCanal

I'd say this is more of a cool/uncool issue than a legal one. Not sure about others, especially nowadays, but I go to clubs to get away from mainstream bs. I want to feel like I'm slipping into some form of an alternate reality where I can be free to do things I might not typically do at work or in front of certain family/friends. It's called letting loose. So for these dorks to come along and treat that space as fodder for their chronic attention whoring on the internet, shit is just lame with a capital fuck you.

Jimster

HarveyCanal said:

I want to feel like I'm slipping into some form of an alternate reality where I can be free to do things I might not typically do at work or in front of certain family/friends. It's called letting loose.

I NEVARR CHOSE THE SOULSTRUT LIFE, THE SOULSTRUT LIFE CHOSE ME.

LaserWolf

Perhaps the first selfie I watched someone take was a group of young ladies who ran out on the dance floor, danced like they were having the most fun of their lives, as soon as the flash died they left the floor and went back to their drinks.

Frank

Used to be that people went to clubs to let go of their inhibitions, dance, drink, do drugs and all sorts of dirt. Today clubs are a backdrop for stuck-up, broke ass squares who will have one drink just to use their idiot-phone and take some pictures of themselves (having a -gasp -drink -wow!) with their friends while acting their amateur idea of a wild party. Then they stretch out the time until bedtime (usually around 1-2 am) by re-filling their glass or bottle with tab water in the bathroom (an act too pitiful to even contemplate for anybody still in possession of any trace of self respect no matter how thirsty).

You could say "forgive them for they do not know any better" but really, just fuck them -fuck them with a barb wired stick.

Back in the 90s we had a strict no camera law at our party in NYC and I can't count how many rolls of film I ripped out and how many disposable cameras I crushed under my heels, accompanied by a cold "please follow the bouncer, he'll escort you out safely".

That said, I have nothing against club photographers who

-act discreet and are participating in the partying

-leave people alone who obviously don't want to be in a picture and/or are involved in any illicit or "private" activities.

-take good pictures


At Berlin's Berghain the bouncers put a sticker on the iDiot-Phones and if one of the amateurs gets caught taking a picture they're out faster than they can say "social networking". Way to go!

BeatChemist

I love that sticker idea!! Props to them!

RAJ

I'm dreading the day these people wear Google Glass to the bar:

Frank

Finally: The ultimate selfie gadget: