Everything you do is captured in a photograph. Cameras are everywhere and everyone has one conveniently stashed in their pocket. At the same time, people have become more protective of their photographic images and want total control of them. Remember - the internet is fast and Photoshop is easy. Spanish photographer Oscar Monzón noticed this contradiction and has based his ongoing series "Sweet Car" around it. The title "Sweet Car" is a reference to the old saying "Home, sweet home".

Monzón snaps photos of people in their cars at night while they sit at stoplights in downtown Madrid. Sometimes he stands on the street, sometimes on a bridge, but he always stands with a telephoto lens in hand. Monzón uses that lens to snatch slices of people's semi-private lives. That's the key - at that moment those lives are semi-private. Even though the subjects are in their private cars they are still in public spaces. 

Monzón sidesteps the voyeur issue by saying that he never tries to hide from the public and that he's not trying to steal private pictures. Instead he wants to remind people that photographs are legal in public spaces and cause no immediate harm. "It's definitely about confronting them" I don't think that standing on a bridge at night with a telephoto lens is NOT hiding from public view.

He says the shock value is meant to expand the the conversation and he hopes that by over-doing it the public will realize photography is just like any other medium used to record, critique or analyze the world around us."Say I was a painter in a park, no one would react like that. People should not get so upset."  

We'd love to hear your opinion about "Sweet Car". Let us know in the comment section below! 

[VIA] For additional photos click here.