The pictures I couldn't take...

Last week I set out in the back of an ice-cream van with Bruce to do the final shoot in the 'people at work' brief. I was hoping it would be the best shoot yet however it didn't quite turn out that way. Partly due to the fact that light was failing by the time we went out but mostly due to the fact that I felt I couldn't take the photographs I wanted to. What I failed to predict (although it seems obvious now) is the fact that 90% of people who run out of their houses to buy an ice-cream are small children who's parents keep an eye on them from the living room window. Great pictures were there but were inaccessible in modern times.
Likewise, as I wandered the streets yesterday for the 'street photography' brief a small child dressed in a full police uniform decided to direct human traffic in the streets - another photograph I felt I couldn't take. I have two small children myself and I start to wonder how I would feel? Are we brainwashed into thinking everyone who takes pictures of children does so for unspeakable reasons? Then I think about Bert Hardy's photographs of children on the streets of Glasgow - I saw some original prints once, amazing, and I think: 'I cant even attempt to make my version of those photos.' Very sad...