Artists, please close your curtains!

Everytime there is a situation where an artist is secretly photographed at home, someone always asks: why didn’t the artist bother closing the curtains? Artists may have 100 valid “reasons” for why they don’t or shouldn’t need to close the curtains in their homes, but unfortunately, the HK paparazzi don’t listen to “reason.” Even if artists want to explain their “reasons”, it’s useless because the artists won’t get the chance to face these paparazzi anyway. In response to reports with secretly taken photographs, it doesn’t matter what the involved artists say, as what’s done is already done – determining right or wrong in the situation just becomes an issue of accountability. Whether the manner in which the photograph was taken is truly “illegal” or not, the only way to find out is for the artist to seriously pursue legal action and obtain confirmation in court. Don’t think that the paparazzi have not already thought about these ‘matters’ – the Media companies that they belong to most of the time have already weighed the legal ramifications prior to publishing the photos and clearly understand the type of legal responsibility they may have to take. This is a ‘normal’ process for the Media.

Artists’ homes have always been a ‘secret photograph hotspot’ for paparazzi – even though today’s paparazzi may not be as ‘crazy’ as they were years ago due to fewer resources available to ‘follow’ an artist all day every day, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. Artists should not let their guard down just because they live in a highly elevated place and there are no buildings or any other piece of architecture nearby that is even remotely at the same level, or there is tight security on the premises. Artists who think that they are ‘protected’ in this type of environment are truly underestimating how far we have advanced in terms of technology, especially in the area of photography. Nowadays, someone standing in Kowloon can point a good camera with a long lens toward Hong Kong island and can clearly (and secretly) ‘photograph’ the object of their desire on that island – and this isn’t even the ‘newest’ technology! Using Google Maps, there is also the ability to photograph via satellite exactly what is happening on any given street. This proves that being a far distance away or not having any buildings near where one lives does not take away the possibility of being secretly photographed. Even if long distance cameras aren’t used, there are definitely other options out there, such as remote control technology (the type used to remotely control toy model airplanes and cars), that can be used to secretly photograph someone – for example, a common device such as an iphone is more than sufficient to remotely control a flying camera. Even simpler than this – someone could ‘hide out’ in units above / below or to the left/right of the targeted residence and figure out a way to take secret photographs. So to protect themselves, why don’t artists just close their curtains? One might argue that an artist should be able to open their curtains or even their windows for that matter, even if it’s only to admire the scenery outside. Sure, of course they should be able to do so – they just need to make sure they are fully-clothed, ‘made-up’ as though they are ready to go outside, and not doing anything ‘unusual’ – as long as the ‘scene’ is not ‘newsworthy’, then that’s fine. [TN: the writer of the article is being sarcastic here]

To decrease the chance of being secretly photographed, it is necessary to think the way the paparazzi thinks. First off, don’t underestimate one’s own ‘newsworthiness’ – whether popular or not, an artist needs to understand that at any given time, he/she could become the ‘target’ for such photographs and thus prepare themselves mentally. Also, understand that reports incorporating secret photographs don’t always have to be front cover / headline news – they could simply be one of the ‘articles’ or ‘stories’ contained within the magazine. Depending on how ‘daring’ the photographs are, a magazine could still decide to publish photos of an unknown or unpopular artist as a front cover story. In addition, just because a particular magazine already published secret photos of a particular artist one week doesn’t mean that they won’t do it again for a second week in a row (or longer for that matter). In fact, there are some paparazzi out there who secretly take photographs and hold off on publishing them because the artist (or situation) may not be newsworthy at that particular time, however later on, when there is no other ‘exciting’ news to report, they could dig up the photographs and publish them at that time to generate ‘news’.

Artists need to constantly remain alert – don’t think that secretly photographing someone is a ‘fad’ that will eventually go away with time. It’s necessary to take precautions both at home, but also abroad as well, even when travelling. Paparazzi know full well that there are many artists out there who let their guards down the minute they leave HK, innocently thinking that as long as they are not in HK, they won’t become targets. Paparazzi are notorious for choosing moments when an artist is most vulnerable to secretly photograph him/her – so the best preventive measure is to lessen the opportunity for the paparazzi to do so whenever possible. Everyone knows that it is virtually impossible to completely prevent a ‘secret photograph’ situation from occurring – federal legislation to address the issue is not going to happen anytime soon. And even though pursuing legal action is an option, there is no guarantee of the results, plus the amount of time, money, and energy spent could be extensive – in the end, the only thing the artist may get out of it (those who are lucky) is a sense of ‘justice’.

If the simple action of closing the curtains can greatly reduce the probability of all these ‘headaches’ occurring, why not take that action? Of course all artists have the right to their own space and privacy, and secretly photographing someone is absolutely wrong – when a situation occurs, the public is usually on the artist’s side and everyone heavily condemns the Media, but yet, the ‘secret photograph’ situations continue to occur. Why not just close the curtains so as not to give the paparazzi any opportunity whatsoever? It’s similar to female artists who constantly cover themselves up or wear layers of clothing to prevent the chance of accidental exposure. Basically, at times when you actually WANT the paparazzi to secretly take photos, THEN open the curtains!

Source: MingPao
Translation: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics

View the original article here

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