In this episode, we talk with Jesse Alexander about creative sustainability. Jesse discusses the nuances of rurality and place making as well as the urban bias present in landscape photography. He also explains how idealised images of agriculture are disconnected from their polluting impact. Jesse shares his ethical approach which focuses on the general messaging of his work and lowering his own consumption. He speaks on the ethical framework at Falmouth University, which invites reflection and innovation while allowing students to learn without shame.

What you’ll find inside: 

“There is I think a very very inherent urban bias in landscape representation. It sort of links to other things like enclosure acts and a very distorted appreciation of the land in a very broad sense.” (9.11)

“These images are really really pervasive I think, particularly around agricultural actually and its very disconnected. Unfortunately, the majority of agricultural practices are really bad, really polluting… the dominant narratives are quite different.” (12.06)

“Does it increase consumption basically in a bad way? That’s sort of my core fundamental approach, the priority has to be about thinking about the messaging.” (16.24)

“I do think if ethics are so far at the front and in such big bold letters then I think it can be a bit kind of restrictive. So, I think the thing I say is the MA course is a safe space to make mistakes.” (25.47)

“At the time I kind of had a distinction between ethics and sustainability and then since that time I’ve really realised that actually they are two sides of the same coin.” (32.17)

What does photography ethics mean to Jesse? 

“I think it is ultimately what your practice says, and what it says about you as well. Whether it is in like the really obvious messaging of the work or actually the kind of very subtle ways of how you go about working. I think it really does actually filter into all of those choices you make as a practitioner.”  (43.35)

Links:

David Campany

Paul Seawright

Paul Graham: Troubled Land

Clive Landen

The Digging Season

AdGreen

Albert

Jesse Alexander

Alice Cazenave

Dawn Woolley

Tamsin Green

In this episode, we talk with Heather Agyepong about embodiment and the self. She explains what reimagination means in her practice when representing black women in history ethically. Heather also explores the gatekeeping present in art and how this drives her to make her work visceral in order to transcend linguistic accessibility. She reflects on her decision to focus on self-portraits after witnessing the exploitative and distorted depictions of e-waste in Ghana.  Finally, Heather talks about self-exploration through art and balancing this with establishing boundaries.

What you’ll find inside: 

“It’s more about what I’m feeling and what sort of medium I need and then I fall into these different dimensions of making art.” (4.10)

“I think the reason I make art is to trust myself and rediscover myself. I think for a long period of time there was just so many different layers of who I was which were just kind of projected on to me… my quest in making art is to start removing those layers and I guess whilst I’m removing the layers I’m trusting myself more.” (4.41)

“There was something about looking back which helped me to understand my present circumstance, using these women from history to explore myself.” (6.22)

“A violence sometimes happens with these women where because of the lack of knowledge, they are created as like caricatures or their lives are reduced in some sort of way. So if anything, it feels like I’m trying to kind of repair some of the violence that happens in those old images.” (7.55)

“My work is not really about perfection it’s the intent and the intention of making something accessible.” (12.14)

“There’s something about giving it up to the camera and trying to make the camera not a critical viewer … more like a witness or an observer. So you kind of take the power back from that gaze it becomes less of a critical observer more of just like someone witnessing you.” (16.40)

“I think that work is always like the last chapter of something. Healing is a constant thing but in terms of that specific thing I’ve processed it I’ve got a revelation of something that’s happened, it doesn’t belong to be anymore.” (25:34)

What does photography ethics mean to Heather? 

“An empathetic ear, selfless reflection and progress. I think the history of photography has been ethnographic, anthropological and I think that often haunted photography for a very long time. The progress idea is that we need to evolve from this idea that its truth or about othering. I think that photography at its best is about connectivity and I think that it’s the responsibility of the photographer to engage with those three things.” (36.08)

Links:

Raymond Thompson Jr.: On speculation

Heather Agyepong: Yaa

Heather Agyepong: Through Motion

Heather Agyepong: The Body Remembers

Authentic Movement: Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow by Patrizia Pallaro

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

In this episode, we talk with Nana Kofi Acquah about the complexity of consent. Nana speaks of the importance of prioritising understanding in order to photograph complex stories authentically. He also discusses how the coronavirus pandemic illuminated the lack of empathy present in the photographing of illness in Africa.  Nana highlights how images of poverty and opulence are often juxtaposed and that more understanding is needed to create nuanced images.  He explains how captioning is critical to remove bias and depict the original substance of the photo. Finally, he explores the capacity for consent in relation to people in vulnerable positions.

What you’ll find inside: 

“I think the secret of good photography when you’re dealing with very nuanced very complex issues is to not focus on the photograph just focus on understanding. Focus on getting to this place where the people can truly be themselves in your presence.” (9.18)

“To seek to disappear, to seek to not get in the way of the story. I think the pinnacle of all art is invisibility.” (10.51)

“When you photograph a child who is starving and dying maybe they lived maybe they became president of their nation, but nobody remembers that all we ever remember is a poor starving African child.” (16.29)

“People are more than just a moment you witnessed.” (18.38)

“In the effort to make exceptional images we tend to distort history especially for those who come after us … and the ability to see that the mundane is a story.”  (21.55)

“Captioning is the secret recipe that gives a photograph true longevity it’s that important. Captioning is crucial because captioning helped me step out of my bias to hear the original observer’s voice.” (23.45)

“Consent for me is a complicated matter especially when we are working with vulnerable groups.” (30.03)

What does photography ethics mean to Nana? 

“If I can go back show them the photographs and not have to worry about how they will feel about it. It may not be their greatest photo but they say at least that’s how I was feeling that’s the way I was. I don’t want to remember that part of my history again but that photograph is honest it speaks to that moment in my life.” (34.39)

Links:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

The Baggage that Lives with You Forever

Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats

Nana Kofi Acquah on inequality in Ghana

Immediate Family by Sally Mann

Kadir van Lohuizen

In this episode, we talk with Hernease Davis about empathy in the darkroom. Hearnease opens up about her use of photography to process, heal and take care of herself. The complexities of exhibiting work relating to vulnerable issues is explored as well as the topic of protection. Hernease discusses empathy in relation to trauma and the place of empathy in art history. The metaphor of walking in someone else’s shoes is deconstructed in order to depict empathy in a more nuanced way.  Hernease also gives advice about using photography for the pursuit of self-knowledge.

What you’ll find inside: 

“For the past ten years I’ve been crafting my practice to be a place where I can take care of myself. So like a psychological space and a safe place to imagine things that are metaphysically impossible in order to try and render a healing process for myself.” (3.20)

“Empathy actually started as an art historical term… empathy was started off as a way of appreciating art.” (25.23)

“You’ll never truly know what it is like to walk in their shoes or to be them and it’s ok to bring yourself in this idea of what empathy means.” (28.06)

“For me what it means to be seen is what you think of me as my surface is just the beginning. Ask me some questions, spend some time do a little bit of relating. It is also the way that I try to think about others as well.” (32.17)

What does photography ethics mean to Hernease?

“In my experience I have had the realisation that some people take photography personally, like too personally where it becomes their identity in some kind of way… I just approach it as it just is, it is and this is what photography has done. I can talk about it as a tool that has honestly saved my life but also has been a tool that has led to so many atrocities like genocide. That also has led to how we misread each other, how we misunderstand one another.” (37.24)

Links:

A Womb of My Own (Mistakes Were Made In Development)

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Hernease Davis

In this episode, we talk with Jai Lennard about opportunity versus access. Jai discusses how part of his ethical considerations include deciding if he is the right person to tell a story.  Additionally, his founding of Color Positive was part of his drive to diversify the stories which are told by aiding young black artists. Jai outlines how his mentoring role at Color Positive puts him in a place of access to talent enabling him to connect photographers with projects that they are aligned with. Access is also explored in relation to opportunity as Jai discusses how both are needed for artists to succeed.

What you’ll find inside: 

“I think that a lot of the subjects that I used to be more head on with dealing with actual people, dealing with survivors, dealing with people who are on the ground trying to change the world. Those same stories get told in entertainment… everyone wants to tell stories different ways.” (7.08)

“If I’m being approached about a project, is this a topic that I want to dive into? Should I be telling this story?... It’s always case by case for me, I take everything individually I don’t really have blanket answers.” (8.12)

“I just kind of always knew I needed a mentor and I think maybe that’s also back to just my background. Growing up as a young black man in a mostly white community – despite how diverse my area was – I just always knew that if I was going to succeed, I wasn’t going to do it on my own.” (18.52)

“You can be asked to do a job that sounds amazing and when you get there, you have not been set up to succeed and that is the difference between having access and not having access…there’s so many different kinds of access, an opportunity is just an opportunity and without access it’s not a lot.” (36.23)

What does photography ethics mean to Jai? 

“Putting the wellbeing of everyone who’s involved at the forefront of your mind when you do a project. When it’s there you’re protective of it and I think that photography ethics is about being protective to what’s important on every scenario. And it may seem like a lot times the most important thing is just to get it but it’s usually not. For me, a lot of the times it’s about the experience. When I focus on the experience as the most important thing for a photography project a lot of other things come into play very smoothly including the images.” (39.25)

Links:

Color Positive

Women Photograph

Color Positive Mentorship

Danielle Villasana: On representation and eq

In this episode, we talk with Lauren Walsh about conflict photography. Lauren first discusses her career trajectory, explaining her shift from English literature to photojournalism due to her sustained interest in storytelling and ethical issues.  She explores who consent forms are designed to protect and stresses the need for ethical considerations in relation to photojournalists’ mental wellbeing. Lauren grapples with the issue of ethical viewership in relation to fast paced encounters of suffering on social media. There is a discussion of perceptions of photojournalism within academia, she also dispels myths that the general public have about conflict photography.

What you’ll find inside: 

On consent forms: “I wouldn’t want a one size fits all form cause I think depending on what’s being documented it can radically shift what you need to protect for… if it is a setting where you think somebody could be at risk because of your work, I do think it is fair to think it through very very deeply and potentially offer them the opportunity to talk to you about it.”(20.42)

“I don’t have hard and fast answers a lot of what I do – and this is how I think of a lot of ethics – winds up in grey zones where it’s really hard to give like here’s the one exact rule you need to follow every time. For me part of the process is advocating or asking photographers to think more critically, in ways that I don’t think that the industry usually train them to think.” (22.37)

“A photojournalist should be paid for their work because it is a job and if they are documenting someone else’s hardship, it brings these two uncomfortable realities together… this is a vital job if we don’t pay into it then we lose what photojournalism or journalism broadly contributes to society. Which is keeping an eye on what is happening around the world particularly where we can’t be, exposing injustices, making us aware.” (26.07)

“Preliminary data is showing 85% of journalists are reporting a traumatic episode on the job, that’s an enormous percentage. About 10% are reporting thoughts of suicide.” (35.24)

“I also wouldn’t ever make the claim that photojournalism matters more than what might be happening locally in a photojournalist’s community. I say that almost from an advocacy position, as at least where I am based in in the United States like local journalism is really hurting here and the smaller newsrooms and the smaller publications are dwindling. I think actually community and local are reporting is so vital to the health of a community”. (39.44)

What does photography ethics mean to Lauren? 

“Thinking through all aspects of the photo, the photojournalist before they pick up the camera, when they’re in front of whatever they’re documenting, before they file the image to an editor and then seeing where the images goes … I think they should operate in a way that should aim to reduce any harm to whatever story they’re working on and I also think the industry has the obligation to reduce any harm for its media workers too.” (40.47)

Links:

The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence by Susie Linfield

Conversations on Conflict Photography by Lauren Walsh

Art Works Projects

Archiving the Troubles in Northern Ireland by Savannah Dodd

Biography of a Photo

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

In this episode, we talk with Santiago Lyon about trusting what we see. Discussing his own work with the Content Authenticity Initiative, he stresses the need for provenance information to be available to consumers.  Santiago highlights the importance of clarifying the differences between photojournalism and stock photography as they entail differing ethical considerations. He also explores the influence of context, usage and intent in relation to ethics.  Santiago invites photographers to embrace AI while also discussing the difficulty it poses to intellectual property.

What you’ll find inside: 

“For me the whole career aspect of journalism was more of a vocation and more of a calling than a sort of 9-5 job. And with that vocation comes the responsibility to adhere to those codes of ethics and to be truthful and transparent and not to mislead people and to be sure that all the work that you’re doing is a faithful recording of what’s going on around you.” (7.03)

“A stock photograph has all sorts of ethical issues from the photojournalistic standpoint, the way it was edited, what might have been taken out of it for stock photo purposes et cetera. And the fact that the captions in stock photography are very different from the captions in new photography. So, the context becomes very important, you know context in news photography is everything.” (15.46)

“Customers know based on the source whether it’s AP or Reuters or AFP that it’s a trustworthy reliable image. So, the basic commodity that they’re dealing with in that world and in journalism at large is the notion of trust, and it’s hugely important.” (19.03)

“We like to think about it like a digital national label… for news content it’s important that people have access to this provenance information so that they can make better informed decisions about what to trust and what not to trust.” (20.50)

“It’s a question of whether you can embrace the power of technology and still be true to your values wherever they may lie. Whether it’s in the journalism world or the creative world or anything else for that matter.” (37.01)

What does photography ethics mean to Santiago? 

“I mean to me photography ethics is really about veracity and transparency and accuracy and context and when someone looks at a picture that they have all of that information at their disposal and can trust the image that they’re looking at…. For me it really means photographing things as they are and describing them as they are. Having that level of transparency while at the same time allowing for layers of creativity that can interpret the scene in a way that renders it compelling to the viewer without compromising the authenticity of the scene.” (44.11)

Links:

Content Authenticity Initiative 

Associated Press

Reuters

AFP

Have I Been Trained

In this episode we will talk with Aida Muluneh about authenticity. Aida discusses the use of festivals to manage perceptions of Africa and to globally share different imaginings of Africa through the continent’s own visual language. She stresses the need for a global discourse surrounding ethically photographing the Global South, which is rooted in awareness and respect for the country being represented. Aida’s own work also aims to foster a global discourse while reflecting her own heritage and culture. Aida explains how authenticity has shaped her own career choices as well as how it is balanced with impartiality in photojournalism.

What you’ll find inside: 

“Photographers in Africa have been doing work for a very long time, it’s just a matter of opportunities and you know having also in the international media having sort of diversity within discourse. So right now, for most of us in the continent there’s a level of urgency of trying to balance these cliches that we still see going out and the perceptions as well as it relates to what is Africa.” (5.36)

“My goal has always been to authentically present my thoughts, my ideas and my experiences without having to pretend to be somebody else. So, my work is really a reflection of who I am and this is I think, when we speak about art and creativity that’s the most important thing that we have to focus on.” (9.45)

“For us in the global south we have to educate ourselves to do better than what’s been done before, it’s not just about representation but it’s talking about rights… photographers come to Africa and feel that it’s ok to take photos of kids on the street you know, which they would never do in their own country. So, these kinds of things can only change when we have a global discussion as it relates to the direction of photography, that is not only led by the Global North but it also encompasses the challenges that we face in the Global South.” (11.47)

“As artists we can only present our own truths, this is the key thing. And that truth means whatever is in front of us how we are authentically reacting to it. It’s dangerous when artists come with an answer. So, for me I’m just provoking the questions and these are the things that I focus on; is the questioning part and also my curiosity and the exploration of what I think about certain things. But within it is just to know more and to also get people who are viewing it to go on that journey with me as well, to be curious just as I am.” (20.32)

“Right now, you can open any media outlet any of that and you’ll see sort of a one-sided approach to things, but what we need to be questioning is what is the other side as well. This is sort of the balance that needs to exist you know and to really not be almost like a servant to the industry, a servant to the market. That’s the only way that we’re going to change things.” (28.32)

“Whatever style you choose whatever you wanted to do, just make sure that you live a life of purpose. This is always my goal, this is sort of my contribution to my continent…everything that I do is with the hopes that someone else will carry on what I started.” (35.11)

What does photography ethics mean to Aida?

“The basis of it is about respect in whatever form that you want to talk about it, however you want to look about it. And that respect comes from also having a common understanding that the ethics of photography is not different because the location has changed. We need to all be together on this. So if we’re using the same tools and approaching the same things and we’re fighting for the same things I think that there needs to be a better understanding and there needs to be a global conversation as it relates to that. That the ethical rules are not different because one nation is more developed than another.” (37.34)

Links:

“With Paint And A Camera, She's Forging A New Artistic Vision Of Africa” by Natalie Jacewicz for NPR

Africa Foto Fair

Addis Foto Fest

Simon Njami

Each year since 2020, the Photography Ethics Centre has interviewed 12 photographers, asking them: “What does photography ethics mean to you?” After four years and 48 interviews, we have distilled eight key lessons that we have learned about what it means to be an ethical photographer. These lessons - ranging from the language we use to the intentions we have - can help photographers, filmmakers, and visual storytellers to reflect on their process, develop their practice, and help to build a more equitable industry.

This resource was developed through a thematic analysis of 48 episodes of The Photo Ethics Podcast, Seasons 1-4. This research was led by Dr Savannah Dodd, founder and director of the Photography Ethics Centre, during her Practitioner’s Appointment within the Centre for Creative Ethnography at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in 2024. It was supported by the Photography Ethics Centre’s advisory team and by Luke Strong. It was funded by the QUB Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA).

Thank you to all of the photographers who have contributed to this research by sharing their experiences through The Photo Ethics Podcast. Special thanks to Anthony Luvera, Justin Carey, Rehab Eldalil, and Mallika Vora who also contributed photographs to illustrate this report.

You can download a PDF version of this report in six different languages at https://www.photoethics.org/articles