Week 5: Reflection

• Some considerations that I have to take into account in my style of photography is primarily how I represent people.

I am currently working on a project (one of the first times I’ve ever explored this) focusing on myself and representing certain things that I feel, whilst trying to convey an invisible illness to people. One thing that I have to be careful with is that I am sensitive to the issue, as other people will have experienced similar and I don’t want it to become about something it isn’t. I want people to relate and others to understand.

In my normal area of specialism, I focus on traces and people, so I just have to be careful with the representation of certain areas and individuals, as I don’t want to create a false narrative or portray people in a way in which they wouldn’t like to be seen.

• To represent my subjective perspective faithfully, from a technical and creative perspective, I feel that I should just do my best to convey what I want people to see. However, when it comes to photographing people, I try not to edit things about them, which they don’t ask me to edit. For example, I wouldn’t want to bring focus to blemishes on the faces of individuals or scars, as I feel that this could embarrass the subject when viewing the image. 

I mainly try to keep my images natural, as I find manipulation to be off-putting unless absolutely necessary or requested; this is just part of my own personal moral code. Another thing that I try to be compassionate about technically, is that the individuals are photographed the way that they are comfortable with. I don’t often take unflattering photos of people unless they’re someone I know well, as I know that shoots are about what both people get out of it, so, if I do need a certain type of photo, I’ll try to offer them something that they want in return.

• The people who will be affected if I fail to consider the implications of my photography are mainly the individuals I photograph and myself. I love street photography and am still too uncomfortable to take many photos without the awareness of others unless I think that they’ll see it and like the photo, but even then, I’m secretive about it. 

I am fairly careful with my photography and try to work in a way that will make everyone happy, as I would rather avoid any conflict and if some form of conflict does arise (eg. a model is against their image being published), I will uphold their wishes and try to work around it.

I found it interesting to reflect upon my own practice and what necessary precautions have to be taken to make sure my work is ethical. I have also found it interesting to see this from the perspectives of others who work differently to me and may have to consider even more things in regards to ethics.

I found it challenging to consider the impact of taking certain photos, such as regarding dead bodies and conflicts; I always thought that the concept of these photos is entirely unethical anyway but it’s intriguing to see that journalists go ahead with taking such images, and what they think about when performing that practice. I have never thought of the perspective from the other side.

Another thing that has interested me is the inability to take photos in certain public areas, since I’ve never quite understood what areas are affected by these laws. This is something that I plan to learn more about in future.

I do find it challenging to understand certain laws, since they don’t quite to make sense to me but I do plan on educating myself more in relevant areas.