Protect my child from the village

Rue Mouffetard, Paris
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1954

The photo above was taken by the famous photojournalist and street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

This post was spurred by certain commenters who don’t appreciate that street photography is an established and respected art form.

Several of Cartier-Bresson’s most famous photographs feature children. They are easy subjects because they are a lot less suspicious than adults and would not be annoyed at having their photos taken by a stranger. And if the kids in the photo did get annoyed, they look too small beat up Mr. Cartier-Bresson.

Nearly all modern street photography advice warns you against taking pictures of children. Technically it’s legal, but if a kid goes home and says “Mommy! Mommy! A strange man took my picture!” and the SWPL mom calls the police, well it’s a situation you don’t want to find yourself in. Cartier-Bresson clearly operated during a time when people didn’t see other adults as a threat to their children.

This made me think about the phrase, supposedly an African proverb, popularized by Hillary Clinton: “it takes a village to raise a child.” The phrase meant that all adults shared a communal responsibility to raise any children they happened to see under foot. For example, if some other adult in the village saw your kid misbehaving, it was that adult’s responsibility to discipline the child.

Today, other adults are not seen as partners in raising your children; instead they are seen as threats, most likely child molesters or kidnappers. It’s kind of ironic that, as society has become more socialist, parents have become more individualist. Parents used to let their children run around by themselves, as seen in the Cartier-Bresson photo. Today, you hear stories about parents being cited for child abuse for doing stuff like that. Even if a parent takes to heart that other villagers can be trusted to help raise their children, the modern government might punish them for it.

So Hillary Clinton got the title of her book wrong. Parents want protection from the village rather than child-raising assistance.

Comments

[sabril]

Probably "it takes a village" can work pretty well in a small town or neighborhood where everyone is somebody's cousin.

Probably it helps if most of the people in the community either work there or are stay-at-home moms there.

"appreciate that street photography is an established and respected art form. "

Respected by whom? Not by me.

Seems to me you are combing the naturalistic fallacy with an appeal to authority.

[The Undiscovered Jew]

Who are your favorite photographers, Sigma?

[Sheila Tone]

What child? That frog with the wine was 18. Been drinking wine since he was 5 though.

I don't know when you got so sensitive, but my criticism was on the surreptitious nature of your photos, not the fact that you took photos. Mr. Cartier-Bresson and his peers certainly didn't have concealed equipment.

[HS: Cartier-Bresson did indeed hide his camera:

"Overall, though, an atmosphere of discretion pervades much of the collection, which perhaps illustrates why Cartier-Bresson could capture such revealing moments with the click of a shutter. He never used a flash, considering it “impolite”. He would cover the gleaming silver parts of his cameras with black tape, often keeping them hidden tucked underneath his coat. One of the images in the exhibition is of a Romanian couple, asleep and entwined on the seat of a tram, presumably blissfully unaware that they were being photographed."

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090312/ART/837329107/1219/artslisttemplate ]

[bigboy]

Stranger Danger!!

And yet most child molestations are committed by relatives or family friends...

[rightsaidfred]

It seems to me that the Socialists destroyed traditional society so their "experts" (daycare, preschool, teachers, profs, Latino gangs in the corner of the poperty) can have a larger role in raising children.

[not too late]

What is with you prudes? Geez, I am an old woman and I think 1/2∑'s street photos are pretty cool.

[Sheila Tone]

[HS: Cartier-Bresson did indeed hide his camera:
... One of the images in the exhibition is of a Romanian couple, asleep and entwined on the seat of a tram, presumably blissfully unaware that they were being photographed."]

OK. Did he ever take pics of girls just because they were hot? Your pictures of young pretty women, so far, seem to lack the originality of your other pictures. It's like, "Hey! Look, a cute blond!" Perhaps that's why it seems pervy.

[HS: When I look at my photos, strangely half of the subjects seem to be men and half women. Which is the breakdown published--approximately half the subjects shown are men and half are women.]

[Monkey]

>>>>>>It seems to me that the Socialists destroyed traditional society so their "experts" (daycare, preschool, teachers, profs, Latino gangs in the corner of the poperty) can have a larger role in raising children.<<<<<<<

BINGO! rightsaidfred is right fuckin' on.

[Sheila Tone]

"HS: When I look at my photos, strangely half of the subjects seem to be men and half women. ..."

Non-responsive. No criticism as to gender ratio. However, you have yet to provide any photos of young hot guys.

[HS: Maybe there just aren't that many "young hot guys" wandering around Manhattan, because parents are more willing to subsidize the Manhattan lifestyle for their daughters.]

[eh]

"This post was spurred by certain commenters who don’t appreciate that street photography is an established and respected art form."

Dude, just take and post whatever fotos you want, and don't worry about it. It's your blog.

Here are a couple of nice celebrity 'street fotos':

http://annehelenpetersen.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/cary_grant.jpg

http://www.athousandandone.com/photos/0/4493b3a8a4d24_s.jpg

The latter is James Dean (in case you don't recognize him).

[HS: I admire the initiative of the photographer who looked like he had to stand out in the rain for a long time in order to catch that (unless it was a staged shot).]

[Ricky Fitts]

"It seems to me that the Socialists destroyed traditional society so their "experts" can have a larger role in raising children."

Correction:

It seems to me that the Capitalists destroyed traditional society so that they can get richer by making employees, who happen to have children, work longer and harder. Thus, parents must rely on daycare, teachers and their peers for a greater role in society.

[Peter A]

Rightsaidfred is only half right. The family unit has been attacked, and continues to be attacked, but it's industrialization and the emphasis on the individual that has destroyed it. There are very few true communities left in the US, especially for higher income Americans - people move all the time, no one knows their neighbors, usually a person from a small town is forced to move to find a decent job. Add to that the atomization of family and traditional ties caused by immigration, and is it any wonder no one trusts anyone anymore? Socialism is hardly the problem in this area - in Russia people actually looked after each other's kids just like we used to in the US 40 years ago. Family ties are also very strong in pre industrial societies like Iraq or Afghanistan - and look how well they live. Most Americans would probably choose "Socialism".

Rightsaidfred is correct that we have a plague of people with very little talent or purpose trying to carve out niches for themselves as day care providers, school administrators, child psychologists, etc. but this is part of the bargain we as a society seem to have made. If you're a white woman who's gone to college there's supposed to be a job for you and we've structured our economy accordingly.

[Yawner]

"It’s kind of ironic that, as society has become more socialist, parents have become more individualist."

Socialism must destroy the community, the family, and any other human relationship that stands between the individual and the state.

The other aspect of this is that the streets are less safe because liberalism insists that we cannot impose civilized human standards on the feral, savage NAMs that roam our streets. That would be racist, or something.

[Kudzu Bob]

The reaction of several posters to Half Sigma's street photography reminds me of how feminist academics at our local university criticized an artist I know because he prefers to paint female nudes.

What drab, unimaginative, nasty little minds some people have.