The photos in this post are very unique! They were all made in Oslo, between 1893 – 1897, by a Norwegian mathematician and astrophysicist named Carl Størmer. Mr. Størmer purchased a tiny camera that he could hide in his clothing to secretly take photos on the streets of Oslo.

I do have an ethical dilemma related to these pictures. I’ll show you the pictures first, and then if you care to talk philosophy, read on!

 

 

 

Because I write  books and stories about real people and events, I’ve frequently faced an ethical dilemma.

I really value privacy. I think it’s disrespectful and invasive to take pictures of people without their knowledge and permission. If you want to take a picture of someone, you should ask them first. Only do it if they’re okay with it. Our culture rewards people for baring every detail of their lives and thoughts. That’s fine for those who want to do so, but it has taught us to disregard others’ right to privacy.

But I have a conflict of interest. My goal is to make the turn of the century as fascinating to other people as it is to me. It’s a time period that most people don’t know much about and it’s endlessly interesting. History that we don’t purposely preserve gets eroded and forgotten quickly.  I write books and stories that are about real people. Not royalty or stars who deliberately put their lives on display but ordinary people who found themselves in some extraordinary situation. They all lived around 1900 and aren’t with us anymore but they were real people and I expose their private lives. I do a lot of research to find things like pictures and letters.  My best-selling book is Cold Heart and one of the things people are always shocked by are those brutal letters Ed and Alice exchanged as they argued about getting a divorce and Alice’s affair.  I feel uncomfortable about it at times—obviously not uncomfortable enough to shut down this site, but somewhat.

I usually pacify my discomfort about potentially invading the privacy of the dead by reassuring myself that at least the subjects knew they were being photographed and were okay with it. This post is different because these people definitely did not know that Størmer was photographing them, but eventually he exhibited the photographs himself.  I’m going to guess people were okay with it. I love these candid photos and seeing how people actually looked when they were out and about, as opposed to posing for a photographer.

Whatever you think of this and other ethical dilemmas, subscribe and join our discussion on this and other stories from the turn of the century!

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