Confidentiality

So I have been trying to get myself out in the public eye as a photographer recently, and it would seem that some of my efforts have been paying off, particularly after the last photo shoot that I did with Andrew and Adrian.

When I was out tonight, a number of people mentioned that they had seen and loved my photography, and I have one or two possible photo shoots in the near future that came about from people seeing and liking the photos that I took of the couple. I have also gotten a couple of messages throughout the week from people just wanting to mention how much they like my photos. Even better, when I commented on a photography blog that I read earlier this week, mentioning that I was an amateur and linking to my portfolio on 500px, I was informed (by a stranger) that my photography is certainly not of an amateur standard. So, all in all I am feeling very positive about my photography this week.

Tonight I was taking a number of photographs - just silly ones mostly and nothing amazing - and a situation did arise that made me question myself. As I was leaving my friend's house, he asked me to make sure not to put certain photographs of him and his boyfriend on Facebook. He had no issues with me taking the photographs at all, in fact he was one of the people who suggested that I do a photo shoot of him and his boyfriend. He just didn't want his family to know, as they are not particularly accepting. This wasn't a problem - I get requests often from people who do not want their parents to know that they smoke or are in a relationship or are caught in other situations that they do not want people to know about. But it did get me thinking.

If I were to do a photo shoot with this friend and his significant other, he assured me that I could add the photographs to my portfolio. But how far does that allowance go? As readers of my blog know, I tend to do blog posts about the photo shoots that I do, wanting to advertise the photographs that I take for publicity's sake. A lot of the people who know about my photography know about it because of my blog posts and the photos that are shown there. These are also updated on my Facebook page and the Evanescent Photography ZA page (which you must all please, please pretty please LIKE so that I can get more followers). Would his reluctance to have photographs with his boyfriend put on Facebook extend to putting those photos on my blog and having the blog published on Facebook, but without tagging him? How would I be able to get the photos out there without breaking his trust and his confidence? How far should the confidentiality and anonymity go?

These are questions that I need to find answers to, and any advise on them would be greatly appreciated.