Thinking about ethics in photography is so important as anything could class as being wrong or un- ethical if taken too far and not thought through throughly beforehand. As a class we got given a lecture on artists that have caused a stir in the media with their artwork all over ethical issues. The artists we spoke about were some I already knew of and had heard of but others I hadn’t and it was quite shocking and has made me think about what I should consider when taking images and shooting for projects. It has made me think about both my project for my manifesto and my short project for One Planet Living in my Professional Practice module.
I have attached two images that I have the biggest opinion on below: Photo by Paul Hansen The young girl in this photo was shot dead by police for stealing but Hansen took a picture of all the photographers that were surrounding the girl after she was shot. I was stunned by this image becauseI didn’t realise the extremes photographers would go to in order to get the shot in order to get paid. I think it’s disgusting that there were that many photographers there in the first place to witness the girl being shot and they did nothing to help her immediately, I don’t know if they did afterwards but it’s just very selfish and insensitive.
Arne Svenson, The Neighbours, 2012. I had heard of this news story before and I was really shocked when I heard it the first time. Svenson lived in an apartment block opposite to an apartment block in New York and secretly photographed the people in the opposite apartment block without them knowing. He photographed them through their windows when the curtains were open. The first time the residents knew about the photos were when they went up in an exhibition near the apartments. Svenson said because the curtain were open he saw it as an invite in so he didn’t see he did anything wrong and won a court battle because he wasn’t invading privacy, he was however making money from the work. I think this is totally wrong and shoild never have been allowed to happen. It’s creepy and weird end of!!
Since listening to everything in the lecture I have been thinking about the work I have been creating recently and have thought I could have got in a fair bit of trouble if my photos were posted more publicly than they have. For my One Planet Living brief I took images on a train and although you can’t see anyone’s face in the images someone could recognise themselves and get in touch with me. I also took some pictures of my dad for my manifesto project which he was aware of but nothing was written in writing to say he gave permission so if we fell out he could say that I didn’t ask permission and possibly sue me.
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