A Conversation About the Ethics of Photography

Photo Credit: Emily Bae, Seoul, Korea

 In anticipation of holding our annual Global Encounters photography contest and exhibit this year, we invited faculty from the Art Department and the Smith College Museum to address some of the ethical issues that come up when taking photographs.  Fraser Stables, Associate Professor of Art; Alex Seggerman, Post-Doc in Islamic Art and Architecture; Anna Lee, Postdoctoral Fellow & Lecturer in the History of Photography; and Charlene Shang Miller, Associate Educator for Academic Programs, Smith College Museum of Art came together at the Lewis Global Studies in October to discuss some of the fraught questions that today’s photographer–professional and amateur–must contend with, and to give some guidance to student photographers.

Anna: Coming from a historical perspective I was thinking about the 19th century, and as I mentioned in my vernacular photography class, there was a campaign about whether amateurs could take pictures at the 1893 World’s Fair fair in Chicago. The souvenir photographs that you could get from the fair were taken by professional photographers.  But amateurs waived this incredibly ferocious campaign to be able to bring their own cameras into the fair. And this effort by amateur photographers raises a question for us now:  Why did they want to take their own photos? What did they want to depict? What was valuable about them having their own views represented?

As you take photos now I would encourage you all to think about different ways of taking pictures. You might want to think about your aperture setting or shutter speed, and when you roam through a busy street, you might want to think about yourself in a public space. There’s not only one way to take pictures. The more thoughtful, slow deliberate sensitivity is being lost a little bit, though it is  something you can do with your phone also. You can kind of hybridize the mentality that your photographic ancestors have fought to allow you to do.

Charlene: It’s interesting what you are saying about digital photography, because you do not require a camera; you can take very good pictures with your iPhone. I was looking at Instagram before coming here and looking for travel photography hashtags; there were 17 million images tagged as street photography. To me, it’s about asking yourself questions: What is your motivation for taking the photo? Where is that intentionality? What is compelling about just capturing the moment? There’s a quote (and I’m not remembering the source)  that taking a photo is not the same as publishing a photo. For this photography contest you all have the ability to caption your photos, so you are able to share your intention with the viewer. Remember that there are many different ways that people may and will interpret your images and they may have other meanings you did not initially consider.  

Alex Seggerman: I focus on the Middle East and photography,  especially in the 19th century. So I will say a few words about the origins of photography and about the relationship between political and military power and image making. As American students abroad,  there is always a political implication of us going into another culture, especially when it’s not Western Europe.  

Right after the invention of photography in 1839, people started going to Egypt. As soon as you have the invention of photography, you have photographic studios being set up because there is a real insatiable desire by Westerners for images of Egypt.

Francis Frith took many photos in Egypt in the 1850s and published enormous books with beautiful, large photographs. He had to carry glass negatives on his back to take these photos.

Here is the sphinx with the  pyramids of Giza, still a popular tourist spot. He is composing these views in a particular way; you don’t get a sense of who he is nor of his objective. But he was an interesting person. Below he is dressed in a “Turkish summer costume”.

These are posed architectural photos from the early years. These images of architecture soon gave way to highly crafted images of people in particular types, as in the following image of an Egyptian peasant woman.  But it’s taken in a studio with a painted backdrop.

Hippolyte Arnoux, Egyptian Woman, c. 1870
Smith College Museum of Art But, it’s taken in a studio, so the backdrop is painted.

Francis Frith was creating the world as a picture and trying to encapsulate this other culture in a very nicely framed picture. And through that, the images were grabbing things from this other culture to make it their own. Photography was used in place of colonialism — actually grabbing other cultures. Photographers were going all over the world to take pictures of people being consumed by Western audiences. When one goes out into the world today to take photographs, it’s important to remember this history of photography and how images were crafted and how the composition of images was used to assert power.  

Can one take pictures of local people going about their everyday lives in a slightly less colonial way?  

In one sense there is the tourist gaining control over the tourist sites and in another sense it’s the people of the culture. In these travel photos taken from a Google image search of tourists in Egypt, we don’t see the interaction between the visitor and the local.  

You might want to think about your role behind the camera and how you compose the image to make sure you are implicated in that image and that your experience is part of the image itself.  

 

Fraser Stables: There are contemporary artists who use Google Street View as a database of photographs from which to retract images that have strange moments of theatre or trauma. 

Jon Rafman, from the series “9 eyes”

This prompts questions such as: what does it mean to produce an image, what is the role of technology, and in what way is the subject mediated? Photography can be a way to think about our role and responsibility in society. The use of technology complicates this, and I would encourage you to think about how technology can be used to create images that  wouldn’t otherwise have existed. Regarding the relationship between photographer and subject, an interesting example is The Neighbors by Arne Svenson.  These photographs are taken from the photographer’s apartment in NYC, and show domestic life through the windows of other people’s apartments.

Arne Svenson, The Neighbors

Unsurprisingly, he was sued by several of his subjects for invasion of privacy. These photos raise questions about what rights we have to our own image and what idea of privacy we can expect. In the case of these apartments with large glass windows, the court ruled that there is no reasonable assumption of privacy and the lawsuit wasn’t successful. 

When taking photographs, some questions are legal, some are ethical, and sometimes they overlap. Was it right to do that? Is it allowed to do that? Sometimes you have to figure it out on the fly or you figure it out afterwards. In every situation there are thousands of ways to behave and make an image. In some instances you put yourself on the line. In others, you put the subject on the line.

Another example is a project by Shizuka Yokimizo, who sent letters to people in buildings asking them to stand at their window at a certain time if they were willing to be photographed. If they didn’t want to participate they could draw their curtains or not be present.

Shizuka Yokimizo

The photograph is a result of communication and an acknowledgement of the transaction. Yokimizo sent copies of the photographs to those who participated and if they didn’t want it to be exhibited they could contact her gallery.

Joanna Lowry addressed some of these issues in an essay that defined photography as being monological or dialogical. She defined studio photography as monological: I tell you where to stand, what to do. Photography outside the studio is described as being more dialogical, since it involves more negotiation between the subject and photographer. I would suggest that as you are photographing you ask yourself if there are ways to make your photos more dialogical.

In this last project, the photographer Gabriel Orozco invited people in this building to put oranges in the their windowsills. Without showing the human subjects, the photograph stands as a record of participation.

Gabriel Orozco

Each of these projects invites questions about how we physically and politically occupy space, and the relationship between photographer and subject, even if they don’t meet or the subject is behind glass. I would suggest that it is important to think empathetically about your own subjects. And if you are taking a photograph, reflect on how are you “using” the subject.

Your own ethical compass has to guide you. Things we value in our culture are not always in sync with our ethical values. We can do the “right” thing, but sometimes, the most interesting artifacts we have in our culture come from someone having been unethical. And how do we resolve that?  

Anna: For a working photographer, it’s important to build trust. I think there is a long standing feeling that the best photos are taken surreptitiously.

Charlene: It is interesting to think about the interaction between subject and photographer and respect. And the acknowledgement that there is a transaction between these two people. I’m taken with what you’re saying about what we know of this interaction, and our interpretation of that. What you end up having to do is rely on your own set of values and recognize what they are. If it does not feel right it probably is not right.

Transcribed by Aisha Amin
Edited by Janie Vanpée

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