Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Seamus Murphy reflects on one of the most uncomfortable questions in documentary photography: when does taking a picture become intrusion, and when is it simply part of bearing witness? We live surrounded by cameras, yet the photographer is often the one asked to justify the act of looking.
For Murphy, “thieving” doesn’t mean stealing. It means accepting that photography sometimes enters a complicated space. Not to exploit, not to invade, but because some images cannot exist without friction.
Watch the full interview on YouTube, or listen to it on all major broadcasting platforms.
Seamus Murphy reflects on one of the most uncomfortable questions in documentary photography: when does taking a picture become intrusion, and when is it simply part of bearing witness? We live surrounded by cameras, yet the photographer is often the one asked to justify the act of looking.
For Murphy, “thieving” doesn’t mean stealing. It means accepting that photography sometimes enters a complicated space. Not to exploit, not to invade, but because some images cannot exist without friction.
Watch the full interview on YouTube, or listen to it on all major broadcasting platforms.
