Internal Dialogue

It appears that the construction worker that approached me has deleted (some of) his own posts. This, combined with me ‘going public’ (this sounds too big, sorry) with his request, brought the issue of unsafe situations in construction photos to the surface.

I must admit that I was way too quick in agreeing with him. I kind of blame myself – did I perhaps feel a little intimidated? – but it’s never too late to change my mind. I’ve now made myself clear that I will not be censoring my photos of the Rabotoren. However, this doesn’t mean that I will actively search for unsafe situations to photograph. Up until now I didn’t even realize I might possibly bring these to light by posting my photos. The close-ups I take are most likely to reveal unsafe situations, and I wonder if by taking these I might invade someone’s privacy a bit too much. For example, if in one of my photos a worker is not wearing a helmet or isn’t following some safety guideline (that I don’t know about): am I not putting him in a unfavorable light by posting that photo?

The thing is: I don’t know if I’ll really be able to enjoy taking photos the next time around. There’s suddenly a lot of pressure. This isn’t the biggest construction site ever, and people certainly notice when someone’s taking photos. I don’t know if I feel comfortable enough to keep doing this. Sounds a bit strange, I know, but I can’t shake the feeling that I expect to feel pressured and uncomfortable the next time I take my photos.