Nicki Lees: On making the invisible visible

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

In this episode, we talk with Melanie King about leaning into collaboration. She talks about her transition from research-informed practice to practice-informed research. She also explores the collaborative nature of sustainable photography and how she has built her own network within the community of researchers and practitioners. Throughout, she comments on her journey of becoming a sustainable photographer, gaining greater confidence in these methods.What does photography ethics mean to Melanie? “The first word that jumped into my mind was care. So, I think it makes me think does my artwork, does my photography, cause harm to anyone? Does it cause harm to the environment? Is there a way that my practice or my work can contribute to the care of others, to the care of the environment? … Just to make sure that the work that we’re doing does not cause harm in any way.” (29:48)Links:London Alternative Photography CollectiveSustainable DarkroomThe Photo Ethics Podcast interview with Hannah FletcherThe Photo Ethics Podcast interview with Nilupa YasminAndy GoldsworthyDavid NashBrian CoxRoyal College of Art Working Class CollectiveThe White Pube Funding Library

In this episode, we talk with Mohammad Alnobani on reducing bias in imagery. He discusses his experiences founding an Arab stock imagery website and how his role has allowed him to better understand photographers’ concerns. He also explores AI tools like image generation, describing how he has tried to maintain his own ethics through the use of these tools. What does photography ethics mean to Mohammad? “I would answer with two angles towards this. Basically the ownership of the image, unfortunately, not only in our region, but I found out that in many, many regions, ownership of images is taken very lightly. Like, oh if I take this photo out of Google and use it as a social media post on my personal page, it doesn’t harm anybody because I’m not really benefitting out of it. But, no, you are, and you did take something away from somebody who owns this photo at a certain point. And, on the other end, I would say with the photographer’s point of view, when you take a photo, what’s ethical, what’s not when you take a photo of a model and you upload it somewhere. Just make sure that you treat it rightly, and this is what we’ve been pushing our photographers to do. In certain situations it’s quite impossible to carry your model release around and ask people to sign it and explain why they’re signing it, but at least record a view with that person–just have some sort of content that verifies that person was okay with you taking their photo. So, this is a very broad topic, but it has a lot of angles and now with AI, there’s way more details to get into.” (40:35)

In this episode, we talk with Daniel Etter about truth and fiction. He discusses the differences between observation in photojournalism as opposed to the element of creation present in filmmaking. He discusses the rise of AI image-making and the associated risks. Finally, he describes how problems within photography are often representative of systemic problems requiring societal change on a wider level. What does photography ethics mean to Daniel?“Just being respectful and meeting people at eye level and being open to their experience and being open to their grief, and seeing what causes less or more harm to them. So, it’s just like respecting people. It’s like … do you want to show a dead boy and the grieving father, or not? And in some cases, if it was like somebody who’s killed in the road in an accident here, you’d probably say no because it doesn’t make any sense. But maybe the father is like ‘yeah show that because I want people to see.’ … We have to understand people and see if it’s justifiable to show certain things or not show certain things. And I think it comes down to respecting people equally.” (33:09)Links:Open letter to Meta about AIDaniel Etter, “Photos don’t always tell the whole truth. Is that a bad thing?” The Washington PostSarah Sentilles, “When We See Photographs of Some Dead Bodies and Not Others,” The New York Times Magazine

In this episode, we talk with Mohamed Mahdy on embedding ethics. He talks about using your own senses to discover the stories around you, rather than venturing out of your own community. He also explores his quest for authenticity in his work and how multi-modal works can help achieve such authenticity. Finally, he discusses street photography and the ethical reflections it invites.What does photography ethics mean to Mohamed?“Ethics is to let your ego go and then don’t separate your person from what you do. Like, if you’re really a good person, it will be reflected in your work immediately. If you are thinking about ethics and manners and values and respecting people, it will be immediately in your work. Actually, everything you do in your life, we should not separate them. And I feel like ethics, to me, is always reflecting what I’m doing, every step asking those questions each project I make... And getting back to why I’m doing it. For whom?, what is it about?. I believe we should always put them in front of our eyes everyday because we also change with time, and having a lot of exposure can change you.” (35:45)

In this episode, we talk with Alicia Bruce on collaboration and advocacy. She explores how a collaborative approach to photography can avoid misrepresentations and can counter typical media narratives. She also discusses her involvement in campaign-based photography and the empowerment that can come as a result of telling hidden stories in an ethically-aligned way. What does photography ethics mean to Alicia? “Ethics, for me, it’s a reflection of personal values. And its respect, integrity, compassion, and care. Ethics are different from laws, I would say. There’s things that you can do legally, but it doesn’t mean you should do them. It’s about having good intentions and also being open to sometimes having those challenged as well because we’ve got ethics in the here and now, but we’re always growing and changing, and our ethics should as well. But, for me, it’s alaso about treating everyone the same.” (32:14) Links:“Goose Girl”“American Gothic”Sebah Chaudhry on The Photo Ethics PodcastFranki RafflesAOP Downloads

In this episode, we talk with Aryan Musleh on storytelling on social media. He discusses the challenges of representing communities that are misrepresented or forgotten in the media, focusing on the political barriers that can hinder the efforts of photographers. As a curator, he explores the ethical complexity of ensuring that photographs he posts are used responsibly and represented accurately through captions.What does photography ethics mean to Aryan?“It means a lot to me. For example, it means representing people as they want to be represented, which is very important. And I would say it’s all about ethics, and it’s the cornerstone of having a community represented through visuals. It’s very basic, but it’s a steppingstone and a cornerstone of starting to tell a great story. And it has to be there. When a story lacks any ethical constraints, it’s not complete; it’s misrepresented; it’s biased; it’s all based on assumptions and cliches.” (36:22)Links:Photojournalism ethics coursesEveryday AfghanistanStatement of Ethics campaignThe Photo Ethics Podcast interview with Shaminder DulaiAzeta Hatef on Afghan suffering in the media

In this episode, we talk with Nicole Tung on navigating ethical dilemmas. She explores the responsibility a photographer has beyond taking a photo, discussing the investment she displays in the impact of her images. She examines the question of when to intervene as a photojournalist in a conflict zone, before talking about how the industry can better support freelancers doing this dangerous work. What does photography ethics mean to Nicole? “Photography ethics, for me, means, I think, the framework within which you yourself work as a photographer, how you navigate various situations and moral and ethical problems that will inevitably come up. I think that being very conscious of where you draw the line on what you’re willing to do, what you’re not willing to do if you’re confronted with a very problematic situation is something that I try to think ahead of before I work on a story, for example. And that I think comes with experience; I don’t think you can have that framework without spending the time doing this work. Certainly during my first year or two documenting conflict, I was still building that scaffolding, and it is something that you start to layer onto over the years because you encounter different things and you see different situations, and you also learn from the people around you. So it’s really about whether you can go home at the end of the day or the end of the assignment that you’re working on and feel that what you did was mostly okay.“ (35:01) Links:ACOS Alliance

In this episode, we talk with Zula Rabikowska on working with communities. She talks about the care and research she invests in projects involving vulnerable communities, before exploring the additional layers of care required when photographing her own family. She examines the complexity of her own multi-national identity and how it shines through in her work. Finally, she talks about her position as an educator and how she has helped students avoid the ethical pitfalls of the industry.What does photography ethics mean to Zula?“So many things. I think, for me, photography ethics means an ongoing process of negotiation with yourself but also with the topic or subject that you are documenting. So being informed, whether that’s through personal experience but also through factual or emotional understanding of the topic through other people or through reading or gathering information.” (33:00)

In this episode, we talk with Anastasia Taylor-Lind about being slow, kind, and gentle. She shares her experiences of telling delicate stories about people struggling with trauma, and she describes how she works to include their input in order to craft more authentic photographs. She goes on to talk about the differences between her roles as a photojournalist and poet, and how she decides which medium is more fitting for the stories she tells.What does photography ethics mean to Anastasia?“Nothing. I don’t mean that it’s not important, but it’s impossible to define ethics because it’s something that’s personal to each person. And that’s one of the challenges...when we talk about ethical photography or ethical war reporting. It’s impossible to define ethics, but, for me, if I were to boil it all down to one rule for myself, it is do no harm. To the best of my ability, don’t hurt anyone with my reporting.” (40:31)