Secret photography involves a person or persons being unaware that they are being intentionally photographed. It is sometimes called "covert photography", but this is a term used mostly among professional investigators.
This type of photography may happen in a variety of situations, such as:
Sometimes normal cameras are used, but the photographer is concealed. Sometimes the camera itself is disguised or concealed. Some obvious element of concealment (or great distance) is generally needed to make such photography fall under the category of 'secret photography' rather than street photography or documentary photography.
It has been in use by British police since intelligence gathering on the suffragette movement in the 1900s.1 Some classic early U.S.street photography - such as that of Paul Strand on the Lower East Side2 - was obtained by fixing a second "dummy lens" to the camera, whereas the real shot was taken from the side. Although spy cameras small enough to fit inside a pocket-watch had existed since the 1880s, since the 1950s advances in miniaturisation and electronics has greatly aided the ability to conceal miniature cameras, and the quality and affordability of tiny cameras (often called "spy cameras" or subminiature cameras) has now greatly increased. Some consumer digital cameras are now so small that in previous decades they would have qualified as "spy cameras", and digital cameras of 5 megapixels or more are now being embedded in some mobile camera phones.
There are various laws in different countries on secret photography of individuals, and on the publication of any resulting pictures. France for instance, has very strict laws against publication of such images,3 while the British tabloid press will publish a variety of secret photography. Examples of the British situation include the publication of photos of Princess Diana secretly taken in a gym,4 and the publication of secretly taken photos of Naomi Campbell which led to a major court case.5
News gathering organisations and media trade unions issue ethical guidelines to their members on the use of secret and telephoto lens photography.6
^Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art - "Strand set out for Five Points, the heart of the immigrant slums on the Lower East Side, with his camera rigged with a false lens to distract attention. Approaching a potential subject, Strand turned ninety degrees away and aimed the false lens in the direction he was facing. The real lens, on an extended bellows, stuck out under his arm toward the person ..."
