Ethical question of the day

Today I visited the San Francisco Chronicle with my photojournalism class and we decided to take a walk around the downtown and snap a few photos. We shortly made our way into the Tenderloin and I immediately stopped taking pictures. Was it okay that I was taking pictures of the less fortunate, who have very little, so I can learn how to take a good photo? Snapping a fancy digital camera into their face didn't seem right. To say the least I took a few good photos but I did have to question whether it was right of me or not.