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Advantages and disadvantage of snatch shot photography

Some perhaps most governments allow snatch shot photography, on the grounds that it improves national security.
The police practise it on the above grounds and also on the grounds that it helps to prevent crime.
Sometimes its allowed on the grounds that it helps to strengthen democracy.
For example, these photographs were taken at a British local government meeting.
They aren't true shatch shots because the people in them were aware that they were being photographed.
They are more an example of how `semi-snatch shot photography' can be used to strengthen democracy.
The people on the right are local government councillors, and they wanted people to see that the council was a democratic organization.
The people on the left are citizens who are asking questions about some of the decisions which were made by the council.
Snatch shot photography raises ethical questions concerning the rights of the citizen to privacy.
Governments and police departments might argue that citizens have to sacrifice a certain amount of their privacy to safeguard their freedom.
Some - maybe most - people might accept this, but others might consider it a little `1984', the George Orwell novel in which a powerful government controlled the thoughts and actions of its citizens.
(continued on the right)
Male citizen expressing opinion at British local government meeting

Paul Gooch Images

Press photography

Cheapskate newspapers or greedy Press photographers?

This photo is of a page from a local newspaper.I took the pictures and wrote the `story'. I sent six photographs to the newspaper and it used three of them. It enlarged these three photos to a pretty large size. Most newspapers pay their press photographers for each of their pictures that it uses. It's obviously more economical to use three big pictures rather than six smaller ones (click on the photo to enlarge it, it will make the pictures look even bigger lol.)

Profile of a snatch shot photographer

What kind of photographer takes `snatch shots' , or photographs of people that are taken without their consent?

I've taken quite a few of these pictures for various newspapes and magazines and I think I was motivated:70% by the urge to make money,

20% by the thrill of the chase, and 10% by the belief that I was doing the right thing.

But in legalised snatch shot photography, defined as when governments or police departments practise it, the motives are probably different.

Creating a newspaper story
(click on the photo to enlarge it)
A photo like this could help create a newspaper story.

Creating a newspaper story

A sense of curiosity is pretty important in freelance press photography. A freelance who isn't interested in what is happening around him won't get very far.
It's also important to have an instinct for what is newsworthy, or rather what could be newsworthy.
The above poster was stuck in the window of a British bar when the football (soccer) World Cup was being held. Almost the entire country is obsessed with football, but here is someone that apparently can't stand it. At this point the photographer's sense of curiosity should kick in. Why? What kind of a person is he?
Also at this point, his sense of what is newsworthy should kick in, he should realise that there could be a story here. One more thing, he will have to approach the bar owner first, to interview him, and this is will require good interpersonal skills, so we'd better add good interpersonal skills to our list. Phew, when will it all end.
If the bar owner has a story to tell, and if he can be persuaded to tell it, and if it's interesting enough, a picture like this will sell. A photo of the bar owner standing in the doorway of his bar, arms folded defiantly, with a scowl on his face, with a poster like this in shot, would be even better.
Who would buy a photograph and story like this? Perhaps surprisingly, just about any newspaper around the world might be interested in it, including the `serious' press and the tabloids. The reason for this mass appeal can be summed up in one word - eccentricity. The bar owner is probably an eccentric, and the media loves eccentrics.

Do pretty girls make pretty newspapers?

These photos of pretty girls were taken for a newspaper. that used them to boost its circulation. The 'paper would place a circle around the face of someone that was in one of the photographs. This person could then take a copy of the paper to the bar, nightclub or pub where the picture was taken and claim a free drink.
Naturally, they had to buy a copy of the newspaper first., otherwise there would be no point in doing it, duh.
(click on a photo to enlarge it)

It's very unusual to have this kind of content in a local newspaper. But maybe the newspaper is just being realistic. Maybe it realises that the local news isn't usually that exciting, that it has to be brightened up a little.
So although pretty girls might not make pretty newspapers if the criteria for a local newspaper is that it should just contain local news, they do make pretty newspapers if the criteria is more flexible than this.

Legalised snatch shot photography

(continued from the left)
The images were originally press photographs which were taken for a Skegness local newspaper.
The council did not allow flash photography in case it distracted the citizens and inhibited them from speaking openly.
The disavantage of this from a photography viewpoint is that the photos are `grainy.' My guess is that police or government snatchshot photographers are motivated 80% by the belief that they are doing the right thing, 10% by the thrill of the chase and 10% by the urge
to make money (the overtime pay is probably pretty good)
. Councillor expressing opinion at British local government meeting