Personal Space

I am a big believer in shooting the moment. Trying to capture not  the "staged" photo but the actual moment of "impact.". This as you know is not always convenient. So the question arises, when are you in someone's personal space vs a certain expectation of privacy.  I think outside of the obvious  considerations of taking pictures of people in a place where there is an expectation of privacy ( bathrooms, through windows in their home). The photo should be "honest" and not try to give an impression that wasn't there.  I personally believe you shouldn't add "things" or people to a picture as this distorts reality. I do sometimes reserve the right to isolate or to remove things if I feel they distract from what the picture or the mood is all about. I actually don't think this is a particularly good picture as a technician. ( soft focus and  the wrong camera orientation) However there is something about the place that is romantic so I took the shot. Because in the context of the collection I think the picture has merit.

Was it too personal, I never asked permission.  I think that since this was in a public place and the fact I used a telescopic lens so I wasn't standing right on them and I have not tried to identify them exonerates me. However I could never sell this photo  because I never obtained consent. So from that perspective the standard is much higher.  I think there is a lot to be said from capturing what you saw and trying to get permission unnecessarily complicates things so  its something we all need to consider when taking a picture of people that we don't know and make a judgement.