Paul Herrmann of Redeye presents his pick of the photos submitted for the second week of the 52 Weeks at Redeye challenge on Flickr - images responding to the title Anonymity.

We feel anonymous in Market Street on a Saturday, or on a rush hour tube station, but it is increasingly likely we are photographed and recognised. There's an assumption of anonymity in the internet underworlds of Ask.fm and YouTube comments, but with some effort people can be tracked. Most anonymity is relative. Jarret Schecter, in his book that inspired the challenge, suggests that anonymity might be the word that best describes the human condition. He reflects on the tension between anonymity and its opposite, recognition. Many photographers have looked at recognition and surveillance, but that's a topic for another day. Anonymity is an interesting subject to investigate photographically - depending on how we take a photo, we can introduce anonymity by hiding people, or remove it by revealing them.

[img_assist|nid=10686|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/ormestonmcr/12040263403/in/pool-redeye52/|align=left|width=520|height=347]A case in point is how we photograph the hooded sweatshirt, and its relative the baseball cap. They might be seen as tools of [img_assist|nid=10687|title=|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/whatever-happened-to-the-hoodie-cameron-told-us-to-hug-1944065.html|align=left|width=216|height=330]anonymity by the wearers, but the anonymity is not always resistant to the camera. "Probably very innocent," writes Ormeston of his de-focused, hooded youths (above), "but the hoods up on a sunny day does give them a certain menacing aura." Air Adam takes this further, using contrast and burning-in to anonymise a hat wearer. I'm slightly reminded of some of Don McCullin's photographs in Beirut. The fierce top light and pushed Tri-X often hid the fighters' faces. Yet compare that to this famous photo of hoodie (wearer) Ryan Florence breaking cover to mock a politician - he was identified, his family house was smashed, and he left the area after serving a jail sentence. "I'm a soldier round here," he said, when identified.

[img_assist|nid=10688|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/steverouse/11914548806/in/pool-redeye52/|align=left|width=520|height=466]Onto the mask, and its wide connotations of anonymity ranging from bank robbery to the intrigue of the Venetian masked ball. My favourite of these, by Steve Rouse, was altogether more ambiguous. A crude Bertie Bassett face (missing the smile and liquorice nose) with a roughly-made and twisted outfit, a strong, confrontational pose emphasised by the slight angle, the whole partially scribbled out by yellow and black ribbon tapes. An altogether bizarre moment from a street carnival. Slight echoes of the masked hero of Timperley, Frank Sidebottom, soon to be portrayed in a big budget movie that explores the desire for anonymity of Frank's alter ego, Chris Sievey.

[img_assist|nid=10689|title=|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/christolel/8149126983/in/pool-redeye52/|align=left|width=200|height=330]The camera can anonymise an otherwise recognisable individual just with a long-enough exposure. There were several submissions along these lines - Carolemon 2010's running child of Besalu is an irresistible scene, but my favourite was Chris Hands' escalator, nicely composed and probably quite difficult to do at that angle.

Shadows, an endless source of experimentation for photographers, were popular. There were quite a few heads cut off or hidden - some nice images among them but a little too easy an interpretation of the brief. The one that stood out, by Richard (ftwentytwo) was slightly different - a glamorous trio on a billboard poster, but with a strip of their three heads torn off. 21st century iconoclasm, an act evoking the Reformation and possibly driven by similar motives.
[img_assist|nid=10691|title=|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/ftwentytwo/8564235003/in/pool-redeye52/|align=left|width=520|height=347]
[img_assist|nid=10690|title=|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/neeps/12039615464/in/pool-redeye52/|align=left|width=220|height=145]Anonymity has overtones of loss and sadness. I'd be a little worried if I'd stumbled across Shirley Bainbridge's (The Neepster) discarded surgical gloves - what on earth had gone on there? Samantha Young (Cherry_Cola_) had a nostalgic found image of a young woman. Gordon Jackson gave us a glimpse in the dark and difficult world of Alcoholics Anonymous. Most touching of all, a health service gravestone in Bolton for the lost babies of 1992-4 - adorned with 18th birthday cards and a balloon, by Ken Ward (foot of page). A totally plain image that for many will be too painful to look at.

The hand over the face is usually a last-ditch attempt at disrupting a photograph rather than a serious bid for anonymity. There were a couple of stylised versions: LisaMarieGee superimposed an eye onto a covering hand. If you like this, have a look into the weird world of Tony Oursler: http://tonyoursler.com. Adam Spillane's thrust out blank ID badge made me laugh, and possibly could have been taken in a range of directions. My favourite along these lines, and our pick of the week, is Louise Astbury's 'M' (top of page), an ordinary enough setting of a young woman in a garden, but beautifully balanced and with just the right amount of mystery.

[img_assist|nid=10692|title=|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenward/12009494885/in/pool-redeye52/|align=left|width=347|height=520]