Thief of El Born

The decisive moment of a pickpocket

Photographs freeze a moment in time. This happened on one of my endless evening wanderings during the rainy autumn days in Barcelona.

There is this never really discussed 'non-intervention policy' in street portrait photography, where the photographer always acts as a neutral observer, like an invisible person. The moral dilemma of any award-winning Wordpress photo exhibition is that how far could it / should it be pushed?

On this picture a pickpocket was almost in action. Just right before my eyes as I was capturing this perfectly lit scene, the sneaky guy was trying to pull the lady's purse or phone out of her open bag - just a very common everyday situation on the streets of Barcelona, the pickpocket capital of Europe (or any bigger city with tons of naive tourists). He didn't succeed because of me passing by and unknowingly of the scene just raised my camera, but as i realized what was happening, the wild reality of this event hit me in the face.

The guy saw me, the lady realised the guy, the lady closed her bag quickly, i nodded, and the pickpocket was acting like nothing happened, everybody walked away, keeping their role, drama cancelled. All was just a fleeting moment.

What would have you done?