Integrity or Creativity ?

The clocks have gone back here in the UK and the Street Photography days are getting shorter and this presents a bit of a dilemma for togs who try not to intervene with their subject matter.To flash or not to flash that is the question ?

I must admit I prefer to shoot straight but the shortened days and flat oppressive light is making me think what was previously unthinkable for me !

I went out today in search of moments but captured only 2 frames of the same subject , in short my day was tough and I did think about using flash but resisted, despite my fondness for the work of Marc Cohen I just did not feel comfortable using a light source that is not a natural part of the moment although I am happy to use artificial light sources that belong to a scene.

The question I am wrestling with comes down to integrity or creativity ? as I am convinced that flash combined with blur can produce interesting images, in fact I'm no stranger to the technique but that harks back to a time when I was motivated by the bottom line and in the business of supply and demand. I am increasingly concerned about protecting the integrity of my work, I believe  introducing a light source that is foreign to a scene diminishes the element of truth and brings into question the ability of an image to be representative of a moment .

I think I will shoot with flash on the street at some point but I don't think it fits with my current series , I will use it for visual effect and I will be aware that I have polluted the moment and sacrificed truth for pictorial reasons.

The picture below was taken today, no prizes for guessing where the inspiration for this one came from.     Keep it real !

PS :No ringflash was used in the making of this work !