Modernal Street Photography arose as a response to David Earl's previous work Candid Street Portraiture. This piece which was heavily influence by the work of Swiss photographer, Beat Streuli, isolated individuals within their private, yet public, daily lives, and a selection of these images went on to be exhibited. This began to raise questions as to the ethical approach of photographing people with a long lens from a distance and exhibiting their image without their consent or even their knowledge of such an exhibition.
David’s current project has since grown to become both a reflexive look at ‘Street Photography’ practiced in a modern society and a portrait of his struggle to come to terms with the issues surrounding 'ethics and representation' within the genre of photography that has inspired him in his love for the camera.
Do these issues arise the moment a photograph is taken or does it depend on the context of the viewing of such an images? Should the intentions of the author be the overriding factor taken into account? Does a solution like ‘Modernal Street Photography’ negate any of the ethical issues associated with street photography or does it in some way suggest the death of ‘traditional’ street photography?
