On ‘Exploitation’ in Photography
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Loading... - Alejandro Colombo
- 03 Apr 2023
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I recently wrote about the importance of discourse on the ethics around photography, where I offered my perspective on why rules and doctrines around decision making can diminish your ability to stand behind your work, justify your decisions, and really take responsibility and ownership over your vision.
My conclusion was that the discourse itself on these topics matters because it will bring them to the foreground of consciousness so that even if you make a decision others condemn, you do so deliberately rather than unconsciously.
Within discourse about ethics in photography, there are many areas of discussion, and the diversity of language use means that these discussions often become about semantics, the words we use to serve the discussion, rather than about the actual merits of the issue being discussed – point, counterpoint towards mutual understanding and possible perspective change towards the stronger argument.
What is Exploitation in Photography?
The problem of exploitation in photography is a topic I see trending particularly toward dogmatic and cyclical patterns. Exploitation in photography is broadly the photographers’ “unfair” use of depictions they include in their photographs (people, places, events, etc) for their selfish benefit or at least a benefit that does not reach their subjects.
This view of exploitation in photography positions the subject of a work as visual material, i.e. a resource, and the photographer as the gatherer of these materials. These roles imply a power imbalance; however introducing balance can be as simple as a friendly conversation or as complex as decades of research, development, and investment of time, finance, and effort.
Exploitation in photography is not always as morally straightforward as in other areas, as with the exploitative situations of corporations siphoning water from a reservoir, or deforestation. Some photographs are straight-up literal crimes, but those aren’t where discussions on exploitation usually take place – nor should they be, just the same as when a photograph may lead to visceral harm.
It is most frequently in photographs made via questionable practices, or ones communicating uncomfortable or unorthodox ideas, or which communicate a message that the subject may not actually represent. As I’ve written about before, there’s a difference between sharing a joke and ridicule, but when there is a power imbalance even a good-natured and respectful observation can be perceived as exploitative. Read More…
