Tag Archives: ethics

Photography Permission Denied

By Chris Garrett | Published September 6, 2006

Here’s the scenario. You know there is a pretty cool place you want to photograph (non-commercially) but you also know even though the exposure would be good for them they might not take kindly to you “sneaking” some pics without asking so you write off and ask permission.

That’s what Thomas Hawk did, and they said no. Even though there is already a bunch of pictures floating around and he might bring in some much needed attention for the museum.

This place I had never heard of until he wrote about it, The Neon Museum, thinks keeping images of it protected helps with their mission of “cultural enrichment for diverse members of our international community” (it seems they only want to serve the international community of ‘driving distance from the museum’).

I just got back a rather disappointing email from the Neon Musuem in Las Vegas. I had written to the musuem to inquire about taking photographs of some of their neon signs this past weekend while in Las Vegas. I’m not going to link to the museum. You can find them on Google if you want. For those of you who don’t know what the Neon Museum is, it’s a boneyard of sorts of many of the old Las Vegas neon signs. It’s a place that these signs go to die and the non-profit Neon Museum states their mission as “to collect, preserve, study and exhibit neon signs and associated artifacts to inspire educational and cultural enrichment for diverse members of our international community.” Unfortunately their policy with regards to photography does not seem to fit with their stated mission.

What they should have said was “If people can see your pictures for free who is going to visit and put money in our donations box”. Then they would have a point. It would be tempting for Thomas to just go and sneak some pictures like everyone else but then he would lose his moral high ground, I really doubt he will stoop to that.

It’s not an easy thing, on the one hand without publicity no-one will visit so they close, on the other if people can see the stuff without visiting they close any way. Really they should be smart and work out a limited way that he can take some pics and they get good coverage without giving away the whole thing. Until they do that, they are just making their mission a joke.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in Legal Issues, Ethics, Model Releases, News and Commentary, Random Thoughts | Also tagged , , 8 Comments

Photographer Ethics: Should the camera never lie?

By Chris Garrett | Published August 1, 2006

Two stories about Newspapers “doctoring” images, one laughable, the other more serious from The Digital Photography Weblog

the Charlotte Observer has sacked a staff photographer for altering the colour of an image to, as he states, “to restore the actual color of the sky”. He said the color was lost when he underexposed the photo to offset the glare of the sun.

OK this is plainly rediculous, the “truth” of the story was restored by this superficial change, who cares what colour the sky was though really? So either way, an over reaction right? How about this one …

The Miami Herald’s Spanish-language sister paper acknowledged Friday that it manipulated two photos to make it appear that two Cuban police officers were ignoring prostitutes gesturing to a tourist.

In this one the image was intentionally created to show a false impression of Police neglect of the prostitute problem. As far as I can tell this photographer was not sacked.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in Legal Issues, Ethics, Model Releases, News and Commentary, Photo Editing and Digital Workflow, Photography Business | Also tagged , , , , , Comments Off

Photographer Ethics: Photo Opportunities and Propaganda

By Chris Garrett | Published July 20, 2006

An interesting piece from photo journalism professor Dennis Dunleavy about the photographers dilemma when photographing staged events

something that I have encountered many times in my own career – is that many photojournalists forget about how the event is “staged” for the camera before hand. Many photojournalists, myself included, tend to get caught up with “getting the picture” and do not generally indulge in evaluating the moral complexities or consequences of a particular event unfolding before them and for them.

How many photographers, who are obviously relying on the sale of their photographs to put food on the table, are going to turn this down on moral grounds? As Dennis says, the event happened, and was obviously done to get a certain result. The photographer is “reporting” but is also an active participant in a manipulation of the media consuming public.

It’s an interesting issue, well worth reading Dennis’ thoughts about it.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in Legal Issues, Ethics, Model Releases, News and Commentary, Photography Business | Also tagged , , , Comments Off

Portrait Photography Legal Issues Explored

By Chris Garrett | Published July 20, 2006

Richard Wanderman poses the question of what he can legally do with his photographs of other people, one in particular of the musician Antonio Hart

When I took this picture of Antonio Hart at The Blue Note I posted a question in a technical thread on Flickr: could I print and sell this image of Hart without his concent.

Last night I was at The Blue Note in New York and shot a number of pictures of a famous jazz band, mostly of individual players like this one of Antonio Hart: Antonio Hart Soloing at The Blue Note My question for all of you pros and semi-pros is: what can I do and not do with a picture like this? I know I can post it here. I know I can print it for personal use, but can I sell it? Can I publish it in a magazine?

A good conversation ensues, covering aspects I would not have thought of like what the venue would have to say about it. I also did not realise a press pass is not a silver bullet solution in many cases, just giving you a few extra feet of proximity a lot of the time. It seems, as with pictures of the public, a lot of the decision would come down to “reasonable expectations of privacy”; the dude was on stage at a promoted event open to the public so really shouldn’t expect to be invisible, right?

Regardless, Richard did the right thing and asked the subject of the photograph his own opinion on the matter.

 

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Posted in Legal Issues, Ethics, Model Releases, News and Commentary, Photography Business, Selling Photos | Also tagged , , , , Comments Off

Photographer Ethics – Diana Photograph Controversy

By Chris Garrett | Published July 14, 2006

I have just been asked what I think about this kuffufle around the publication of the “Diana death picture“

The ‘last photograph’ of Princess Diana taken moments after her fatal car crash has been published by a foreign magazine.

The black and white photograph shows the Princess being given oxygen in the Mercedes at the crash site at a Paris underpass.

Now it is an emotive subject for a lot of people but I can not make my mind up about this. On the one hand it seems in poor taste and is bound to upset people but on the other hand why ought she be treated any differently? Why is it ok to have gratuitous pictures of Iraq conflict victims but not a princess?

Personally I would never have taken it in the first place, let alone been in a position to sell it, Diana or not. I’m not entirely sure there is any good to come from this other than a big payday for the photographer.

What do you think? Would you take and sell this picture or not? Should it be published?

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in Legal Issues, Ethics, Model Releases, News and Commentary, Photography Business | Also tagged , , , 7 Comments