Ethics

Millions of images are captured and shared between people everyday. The the amount of image recording devices is growing at an unstoppable rate. There are cameras literally everywhere, phones, computers, homes, cars and even in wearable items eyeglasses. As this phenomenon has developed so rapidly people on occasion have overstepped the barrier between when an image shouldn’t be taken.

Just because something isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it is ethical

Ethics

Noun

1. Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.

2. The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

When taking photographs it is important to keep ethics in mind so no one is hurt or offended by your work. It is important to keep in mind:

• What are you exposing?

• Does it need exposing?

• What is its purpose?

• Is it for a competition?

• It is to empower?

• Is it for art?

All photography is exploration

- Walker Evans

It has been said that terrorists create a theatre of death and destruction. The media provides them a stage at no cost.

The media spreads the word of what they have done creating fear that wouldn’t be so widespread if not for the extra coverage. The media is spreading their message giving them exactly what they want.

Documenting somebodies story isn’t a photographers right. Just because you are a photographer and you want to tell peoples stories doesn’t give you the right to. If somebody doesn’t want their story told it is their right. Just because you think it will make an amazing series of images, or it will help a lot of people out who are struggling you have no right to tell that persons story without their permission.

There have been many occasions where people have over stepped the boundaries of what is right and wrong. Countless debates have been had over whether a photograph or project is ethical or not.

Most people know about the ethical issues to do with war, death and famine , for example:

• Burhan Ozbilici shocking photograph of Mevlut Mert Altintas who shot Russian ambassador

• Paul Hansen - 15 year old shot dead in a war zone

So I decided to look into one where the barriers between right and wrong are slightly more blurred.

Arne Svenson and his ‘The Neighbours’ series in 2012. He photographed residents in an fancy apartment block across the road from where he live in Manhattan. He hid in the shadows of his curtains with a telephoto lens. Some say that if he thought it was okay for him to take the photos why did he feel the need to conceal himself in the shadows.

“The subjects I photographed were unaware at the time but I was stringent about not revealing their identities. I was not photographing these people as specific, identifiable personages, but more as representations of human kind.”

The people in the images had no idea that they were being photographed and only discovered when he exhibited the work in a nearby gallery. Unsurprisingly, two of his neighbours try to sue, after spotting their children among the subjects. However a court ruled that Svenson’s actions were defensible under the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, and that such art needs no consent to be made or sold. The judge told the parents that he wanted to be able to Svenson guilty as he personally feels what he did was wrong but he couldn’t in the end as no actual laws were broken.

The identities of the neighbours, are rendered with a soft, painterly effect, meaning they are obscured. His choice of framing also creates an added sense of mystery. The images are a really, artistic representation of life in a theatrical way. However I don’t believe this makes the images okay.

“If I had staged these domestic scenes as a collaborative project with the subjects I don’t think I ever would have been able to capture the visual serendipity and unexpected nuances of expressive non-movement.”

I think there are better ways he could have gone about getting permission . He could have sent them all a letter and said between these times/dates I will be taking photos and if you don’t want to be photographed keep your curtains closed. Or I feel he should have at least let them know before the exhibition as they may not have been as outraged. It is not a perfect solution but I feel the way he went about it was wrong as it is invading their personal space. Yes they have huge glass windows meaning people will be able to see into their homes but I don’t think that means people should be allowed to take advantage.

I have always assumed that I haven't been breaking any ethical issues but this lecture has made me think more about what message and reasoning I have for my work. I have created work that taps into issues of mental health, so there could be issues there.