Paris Gay Pride

Last weekend’s Marche des Fiertés LBGT was a joyous event. Start with a large and very talented gay population in Paris, add a very large population of straight clubbers plus everybody who wants to get dressed-up and party on the streets with no cars (like me) and that gives you 700,000 people.

This year I wanted to get away from the sensational side and do some real people. Here are some of the people who were there, gay or straight I don’t know, but it was nice being with them.

All pictures D300+18-200+SB800 BBL.

Looks like everyone was having fun.
I'm going to try to get a heterosexual pride parade going somewhere.

Why do you digitize or whatever you call it some faces? I've noticed it in some of your other posts.

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Originally Posted by Frog

Why do you digitize or whatever you call it some faces? I've noticed it in some of your other posts.

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That is a good question Frog.
to me it draws my attention away from the subject(s) at hand.
And also looks like it was a fun day.

And now I have to wonder if he got his free hug?

She didn't give me a free hug. A boy came along and did it instead.

I'm glad you asked the question about pixelising faces. I did this for non-participants. I ensure that my subjects see me and preferably strike a pose. This means I have tacit agreement to do the picture and perhaps publish it. This is not the case for people in the background, who might just have been passing and not want to have their picture published at Gay Pride.

I also put my name in these picture close to the subject, to avoid having someone copy the pictures and use them elsewhere. I thought carefully about the text, and I don't want the pictures to go without it.

Some years ago I was showing some pictures of Gay Pride to friends at the gym. Suddenly one of them - who is also a Colonel in the Riot Squad - said "Look - it's Gerald!". And yes the figure 50 yards away in the background with dark glasses, cap and false moustache did look horribly like one of the quieter members of the community. The trained eye had seen straight through his disguise. I had unwittingly done Gerald's coming-out, and it was quite unnecessary.

Fun shots! Thanks for sharing. It's interesting that Prop 8 is being addressed internationally.

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Originally Posted by megan

Fun shots! Thanks for sharing. It's interesting that Prop 8 is being addressed internationally.

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I think the people with the Prop 8 banners are Americans living in Paris. I never heard of Prop 8 till I saw them.

Let's throw in a few fun shots. After a while I reverted to my normal self anyway and started going "Yes.. YES! Give me another one. Oh go on. YES that's right".. etc. I did 423 pictures of which 131 I consider to be excellent which is good.

I wonder why you blurred some people faces and not others?. Did they request that from you?, or just because they didn't look gay enough to you to exist there?. Its a public street event, isn't it?. When I exist in public I become part of the public scene, I have no right to ask not to be photographed among others in the same scene. Unless you're ashamed of the Gay Pride Parade scene as a whole, and thats a different issue.
This picture I took in the Gay Pride Parade in Vancouver, Canada. I didn't care for blurring any one's face.

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Originally Posted by Asmarlak

I wonder why you blurred some people faces and not others?. Did they request that from you?, or just because they didn't look gay enough to you to exist there?. Its a public street event, isn't it?. When I exist in public I become part of the public scene, I have no right to ask not to be photographed among others in the same scene. Unless you're ashamed of the Gay Pride Parade scene as a whole, and thats a different issue.
This picture I took in the Gay Pride Parade in Vancouver, Canada. I didn't care for blurring any one's face.

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Well in France you need to blur the faces or you could get sued if you posted or displayed the images in public, or on a forum like this, but in the USA and Canada the laws are different.

freygr, How do you know that those with sharp faces including the drag queens wanted to be seen on the internet either?. "In France", would you blur faces in shots taken in a park or in this same street but without the drag queens?. If your answer is "NO", then the problem here is the "Gay Pride Parade".
In one of the shots I can see that the faces of two Japanese tourists who are posing for photos WITH the drag queens are also blurred, which tells me that the problem is not in the parade's audience but only in the photographers head.
I can tell you for sure that the law in the US forbids the use of public faces in shots used "COMMERCIALLY" but not in a friendly manner such as this one. I believe the law in France is the same.

Franglais,
I forgot to mention that I like your photos and apologize for the off topic talk. I found this is an excellent opportunity that matters to people who like photography since public photographing is a part of "Freedom of Speech" and If every photographer needs to go through the trouble of seeking permission of everyone appear in his/her snapshots, there won't be public photography at all and a website such as this one would not have existed.

The “Marche des Fiertés” may look frivolous but in fact it’s political. If you can get hundreds of thousands of people on the streets with “Homophobie kills” stickers then you can probably get a law passed to prevent discrimination in the workplace (one of this year’s goals).

Like any political march there are at least three populations:

1. The militants who are there to be seen and want to have their pictures taken. This includes the drag queens
2. The rank-and-file supporters who want to be counted but not necessarily published
3. Spectators = non-participants. The Japanese tourist who lets her collegue take her picture with a drag queen has not tacitly given her approval for someone else to publish almost the same image

The legal situation is civil rather than penal, same as everywhere. If you publish and slander someone then they may sue you.

I respect people’s wishes. If someone doesn’t want to have their picture done then I don’t do it.

Oh Please, stop the non-sense. I disagree and don't believe you. You sound more like a casting director in a movie whose giving people you have never met before and will never see again a script to play. You are creating situations and thoughts in people's heads and interpreting why everyone in your pictures is on location for, things that don't exist but in your head. The situation is much simpler than you think. "AUDIENCE IN A FUN PARDE HAVING GOOD TIME".
My advise is "Get in the spirit of the parade and be proud instead of blurring faces of people who happen to exist in a snapshot next to you - TO PROTECT THEM". Even if you're asked to by anyone - which I don't believe anyone made that request to you, I would still say "NO". People should not ask for rights and respect of others unless they give them to themselves FIRST.

And what about poor Gerald in post #4? I really felt sorry for him. He was one of these sad, silent types who kept more or less to himself on the muscle machines. He certainly didn't have the self-confidence to be a militant. He carefully disguises himself to go out and be counted and be part of a group (for once) and some idiot (me) who he didn't even see exposes him. If we had been face to face he would have recognised me, refused the shot and I wouldn't have done it

I respect my subjects. I certainly don't wish to do them any harm. I've been doing pictures on the streets for decades and I've had lots of opportunities to talk to people and guage their reactions.

Franglais, Why not shoot holding the camera sideways (portrait style) and zoom in a little closer to crop around people?

And not to go far off topic what was the data for the girl holding the free hug sign?

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Originally Posted by icicle

Franglais, Why not shoot holding the camera sideways (portrait style) and zoom in a little closer to crop around people?

And not to go far off topic what was the data for the girl holding the free hug sign?

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I chose the pictures according to the interest of the people and I was struggling over the text when my friends said "BE CAREFUL" so I did the pixellisation at the last moment. Next time I'll choose only pictures that need little or no editing. I have lots to choose from. It's been an interesting discussion. I didn't realise that people would react so much. You often see details pixelled out in publications here

The girl was part of a small group with "free hugs" signs. She's probably part of a telephone help line called "SOS Homophobie" (the little black sticker in the middle of her sign). Hugs seem completely in context when you're trying to talk someone out of suicide. Their web site is here http://www.sos-homophobie.org/ Give them a call and someone might know her

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Originally Posted by Franglais

I chose the pictures according to the interest of the people and I was struggling over the text when my friends said "BE CAREFUL" so I did the pixellisation at the last moment. Next time I'll choose only pictures that need little or no editing. I have lots to choose from. It's been an interesting discussion. I didn't realise that people would react so much. You often see details pixelled out in publications here

The girl was part of a small group with "free hugs" signs. She's probably part of a telephone help line called "SOS Homophobie" (the little black sticker in the middle of her sign). Hugs seem completely in context when you're trying to talk someone out of suicide. Their web site is here http://www.sos-homophobie.org/ Give them a call and someone might know her

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I meant the exif Data, like F/# and such.

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Originally Posted by icicle

I meant the exif Data, like F/# and such.

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Of course, how silly of me. Here it is. My system is in French but you can recognise the familiar stuff:

Fichier
Commentaire
Appareil photo numérique
Marque NIKON CORPORATION
Modèle NIKON D300
Orientation En haut à gauche
Résolution X 300/1
Résolution Y 300/1
Unité de la résolution pouces
Logiciel Paint Shop Pro Photo 12,01
Date/heure 04/07/2009 08:39:23
Positionnement YCbCr centré
Référence noir/ blanc (0,255,0,255,0,255)
Image
Description de l'image
Artiste
Copyright
Durée d'exposition 1/200 s
Nombre-F f/7.1
Programme d'exposition Programme normal
Vitesse estimée ISO ISO 400
Date/heure original 27/06/2009 17:33:03
Date/heure numérisées 27/06/2009 17:33:03
Éléments de configuration YCbCr
Indice d'exposition biaisée 0.00 eV
Indice d'aperture maximum f/3.5
Mode compteur Motif
Source de lumière inconnu(e)
Flash Flash déclenché, mode flash obligatoire, retour de la lumière détecté
Longueur focale 18 mm
Commentaire de l'utilisateur
Temps inférieur à la seconde 548
Temps d'origine inférieur à la seconde 34
Temps numérisé inférieur à la seconde 34
Espace colorimétrique sRVB
Dimension pixel X 800
Dimension pixel Y 531
Interopérabilité IFD 922
Méthode de détection Capteur couleur une puce
Type de scène Une image photographiée directement
Modèle CFA (00,02,00,02,00,01,01,02)
Rendu personnalisé Processus normal
Mode d'exposition Exposition auto
Balance des blancs Balance des blancs auto
Ratio du zoom numérique 1
Longueur focale en film 35 mm 27 mm
Type scène capturée Standard
Contrôle des gains Signal faible renforçant
Contraste Normal
Saturation Normal
Netteté Normal
Plage de la distance du sujet inconnu(e)
Divers
Version EXIF 2.2
Version FlashPix 1.0
Fichier source DSC
ID de version GPS (2,2,0,0)