This is the splash page for Martin Fuch's New York Photo blog. Martin, a photo student from Austria, is interning at Magnum this summer and is sharing his views of New York with the world. One of Martin's first posts makes me think about the value of building relationships with the people we meet and photograph.
On one of his walks around the city, Martin was called out by a homeless man on the street who thought he had just had his image made. Martin tried to convince the man, Joe, that he was actually making an image of a sign. Martin put Joe's anxiety to rest by sharing his images on the back of his digital camera.
As a ritual act photography is grounded in, according to Goffman's idea of interaction ritual, which suggest the rules in which guide expectations and the obligations people feel toward one another during a social exchange.
What were Joe's expectations of the man with a camera? What were Martin's obligations to Joe as a fellow human being?
Interaction ritual refers to symbolically social acts that are mediated by rules of conduct, as well as expectations and obligations to self and others. Goffman (1957) suggests interaction rituals impinge “upon the individual in two general ways: directly, as obligations, establishing how he is morally constrained to conduct himself; and indirectly, as expectations, establishing how others are morally bound to act in regard to him” (p. 49).
Goffman’s model of interaction ritual provides a rich context for evaluating the complexities of professional conduct and ethical behavior in photojournalism.
For Goffman, “An act that is subject to a rule of conduct is, then, a communication, for it represents a way in which selves are confirmed–both the self for which the rule is an obligation and the self for which it is an expectation” (p. 51)
Martin's narrative adds a dimension to the images he's poster that provide a richer context for understanding the meaning of relationships in the photographic ritual.
After photographing a transparent lying on the ground just a few feet away from him he waved me to come over and just said: "You took my picture". I sat down on the ground next to him and told him that I was just taking a photo of that sign over there. He didn't realy believe me. One of the good things of shooting digital is that you have the possibility to show people the pictures you took on that little screen. I convinced him of the fact that I didn't take his picture and offert him a cigarette.
We where smoking this cigarett together and started to talk. He told me that everybody want's to take pictures of him. He has been photographed a thousend times already. People from the press took pictures of him, people who did books took pictures of him and tourists took pictures of him. Joe told me that he'd like to get some money if people use his photos to earn money theirselfs.
Clearly there are some rules of conduct here between the photographer (Martin) and the subject (Joe). Joe was observing the observer because of past experiences he has had in having his picture made. Did Joe feel exploited by tourists, news photographers, and documentarians?
For many, the homeless are an invisible and undesirable population that are tolerated on the streets of many urban centers as long as they don't call attention to themselves in a negative way or pose a threat to the so-called average person. For some photographers, the homeless become the equivalent of ornamentation and decor that add a sense of color and novelty to the frame.
Joe knows this. Martin suspects it.
As Martin's story goes the two men start talking and by the end of it all, Joe gives the photographer the green light to make as many pictures as he wants.
In the end, I find Martin's story very compelling and revealing. Perhaps it is the start of a friendship that will extend beyond the brief interaction of sharing a cigarette on the streets of New York.
Erving Goffman (1922 - 1982)
References:
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (monograph), University of Edinburgh Social Sciences Research Centre, 1956, revised and expanded edition, Anchor Books, 1959.
Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior, Doubleday, 1967.