Photography and ethics essay

[bojanfurst]

Hey all,

I thought I'd share something I wrote on photography and ethics for PhotoCurious, a small Medium publication I occasionally write for. I was spending a little too much time on Twitter and eventually wanted to say something a little longer that 280 characters...

https://medium.com/photocurious/photography-ethics-politics-9d2944704680

Bojan

 

[Out to Lunch]

The link is dead.

 

[xavyr]

I found the link to be alive, responsive, breathing, and speaking normally.

And saying some interesting things.

Give 'im another try, there.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I double-checked the link. It's still dead.

 

[rhl-oregon]

Thank you, Bojan. Bookmarked for later today.

 

[xavyr]

Huh. Well, still loads and displays instantly for me (East coast US, ordinary internet connection).

 

[Jamie123]

Link works for me, too.

 

[helen.HH]

Link works fine for me on Chrome and Safari...

Thanks for your thoughts Bojan.
A little too long for me but well thought out

in the end after all the Politics and Social Media BS, Cancel Culture Crap that we have to sludge thru in our lives ...what hit home, the bottom line, your bottom line rinds true and strong.

"So go out and tell whatever stories you want, but do it as well as you can. If you can be kind, always be kind. Be honest with yourself and the people you photograph. Contemplate the choices in front of you and then make the one that feels right. There will always be critics. The truth is that you actually don’t have to engage with them at all. They don’t matter, but stories do and once they are out there, they belong to all of us"

 

[Timmyjoe]

Bojan,

Thanks for sharing that. You make some excellent points. Well reasoned and written.

Best,
-Tim

 

[bojanfurst]

Thank you folks for reading. Sorry about the link trouble Helen!

 

[Bill Clark]

Link works for me.

Big topics, photography, ethics, politics.

For me, photography was a business. I was fortunate finding a gentleman who saw the world as I do and offered to help me with my photography business journey. I was ready and all I needed were technical skills.

At any rate, that’s what I did.

No big philosophical article here.

My son in law works the Hollywood scene in L.A. Very much the same philosophy as me. He graduated from New York University quite a few years ago. Interesting discussion with him, last year (2019), as he was a judge for the Emmys. He did it from their home. Piles of DVD’s.

 

[helen.HH]

Thank you folks for reading. Sorry about the link trouble Helen!

Silly, I did not have link trouble...it was Easy ~ 😉
'Out to Lunch' had the difficulties

 

[Out to Lunch]

My third, and last try:

"Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site. We can’t connect to the server at medium.com."

Cheers, OtL

 

[Richard G]

I don’t understand the second last sentence: could it have been mistranslated? The last sentence makes more sense if the quote before it runs “if only you had heard this story.”

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Freedom of expression doesn't exist. Documentary is only allowed within current frames.
Doesn't matter if it is Soviet in sixties or States now. It is in human nature. Those who are using religion as love as just as common as totalitarian. Would it be old fashion religion or academics fundamentalism.

Right now the pendulum is on totalitarian side.
It is crime to take pictures on the street according to totalitarians, while same academics of nothing are into the rights of some gangsta to walk on same streets with illegal guns. Total academian win-win. Gangsta are on happy shooting on streets and even major highways now in Toronto and I think twice it is worth of the risk to go out just for pictures.

And we are sinking deeper and deeper into 1984. I was so afraid of doing my street, people I like but don't know photography before coming to Moscow in 2016. It appear to be much easier experience. No academic ethics, no casino privacy crap. They can't stop traffic near Kremlin just because something is not right in Zangiria, but nobody mind to have their picture to be taken. Would it be hobo or academic.

 

[JohnWolf]

Thanks for sharing this, Bojan. I enjoyed it.

I wasn't aware that academia had much influence over photography, but I'm not in that world. Unlike, for example, poetry, where MFA programs have taken it over (and, sadly, made it relatively inaccessible). The same seems true of painting.

Photography still seems relatively democratic to me. Professional trends, at least on the documentary side, seem driven more by politics and social patterns than academia. Perhaps one of the most impactful policy initiatives of late -- GDPR -- I believe was championed by political and social leaders, as well as the citizenry. If and when GDPR comes to the US, I suspect the same forces will be responsible, rather than academia. Fine art photography is different; it's in the hands of museums and galleries, where staff presumably comes from academic programs.

It's hard for me to envision Magnum, for example, being influenced much by the academic world? But I'm a hobbyist, so maybe I've missed this aspect of the profession. Although I personally continue to wrestle with ethical issues associated with street and documentary photography.

John

 

[charjohncarter]

Worked for me, as did his essay.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Bojan: I really enjoyed your tome. Ethics is a subject near and dear to my heart, something I think about when my camera is put down as well as editing later. You presented some interesting new things to think about.

 

[dfranklin]

A very nice essay, Bojan. As an academic myself, I particularly liked your reference to "this academic world of large egos, small stakes, little craft, much rhetoric and ferocious competition." That rings very true!

 

[Rick Waldroup]

An excellent read. Many, many years ago, when I was first breaking into the photojournalism world, I had a mentor that used to tell me, "Always try to shoot with a compassionate camera." I still practice that today.

Thanks for the link.