Photography As A Surveillance Device

As I had difficulty finding books which specifically included references to the practical uses of surveillance photography I decided to look into photographs that had the same visual characteristics as surveillance pictures and connected to the idea of being watched and observed in our society.

One work which I found was Phillip - Lorca diCorcia's series Head which has images obtained by concealing a camera and flash on a scaffolding in New York. The flash was programmed to go off each time someone passed by and then diCorcia would take the image.

 

 Photograph from The Photograph As Contemporary Art, Charlotte Cotton p20

Another work I looked at was City by Beat Streuli which has a similar idea behind it except that these images are taken in daylight with a very long lens usually including more of the subjects body. To me these images have a more personal and voyeuristic feel than the other series as the bright daylight and the other people out of focus and blurred in the frame make them seem like photographs from a private investigator.

Beat Streuli, City

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/disciplinepunish/section7.rhtml