My photos are taken with IP Cameras (used mainly as security cameras). Accessing these devices allows you to frame, focus and even adjust exposition. In a moment where surveillance is ubiquitous, these cameras become instruments to capture raw, unfiltered moments.

For the last 10 years I've been capturing thousands of images from hundreds of cameras around the world trying to find moments with photographic value, but mainly as part of different series that try to raise their individual questions. Most of this series are ongoing projects.

I would love to be able to stop doing this.

Security cameras, often associated with continuous and uneventful monitoring, capture the mundane and the extraordinary with equal indifference. This equanimity in observation allows for a unique narrative on how time passes in different settings - the slow, almost imperceptible changes in a deserted alley, the bustling movements of a crowded marketplace, or the gradual transformation of a person's private sanctuary.

Legal Considerations and Ethical Boundaries

The legality of using security cameras for artistic purposes introduces a complex layer to this project. While the artistic intent is clear, the legal boundaries concerning privacy are ambiguous. In public spaces, the legality often hinges on the notion of reasonable expectation of privacy, which varies by jurisdiction, however, capturing images in private settings without consent enters a gray legal area, potentially infringing on individual privacy rights, even though this images are publicly available to anyone with a simple google search and no hacking is involved in the process of capturing this images.

More important than the legal issue is the morality when it comes to portraying people in contexts in which they do not know they are being photographed (Something that has happened in photography since its invention, from Bresson to Parr). In this case, one may wonder if the morality lies in the project itself, or in the situation of the surveillance cameras themselves in the first place. The project is therefore testing the boundaries of what is permissible under the guise of art. It provokes a necessary dialogue on the intersection of artistic freedom, legal constraints, and ethical responsibilities in the modern surveillance age.

Other works

Other artists have dialogued with the concept of privacy working with security cameras, or using them as a means of expression for various projects. Some of them are Esther Hovers, Marcus DeSieno or Andrew Hammerand.