Wow, I just finished this essay and was going to start one on overworked images... "Too good to be true!" So now I'll have somewhere to start. I just bought a small camera, a Fuji X-T50, in order to get away from the problems of my too-perfect Sonny images and have been thinking about these issues a lot.
I like the way you extend the idea of ethics in photography beyond the issues of power and consent. My developing view is that the way one photographs reflects a personal ethics (which may be really positive - careful, sensitive, respectful etc.) but photography can’t help being implicated in extractive, energy-hungry technologies that are destroying the planet. This is the context in which all photographs are made, however ethically positive. What is the environmental impact of every piece of cellulose or jpeg? It’s an almost invisible cost but increasingly hard to justify. So what do you do if you love photography and wish to keep doing it? What can be off-set? How can you remain an ethical photographer whilst contributing to environmental disaster?
Teju Cole. Thanks for writing about him! I met Teju in Boston at an ICA gathering- he showed images from Blind Spot, discussed them with the audience, while Vijay Ayer’s jazz group improvised for an hour and a half. I discovered Teju when he was Photography critic for The NY Times. His essay on Steve McCurry “A too Perfect Picture” resonated with me perfectly. I have Known and Stranger Things on my nightstand. I see Cole as our James Baldwin. His direct/indirect approach to understanding the world is incisive. I recommend his fiction and story telling as well. Open City and Every Day is for the Thief. Both brilliant. Cole should be read by all photographers and, really everyone.
Wow, I just finished this essay and was going to start one on overworked images... "Too good to be true!" So now I'll have somewhere to start. I just bought a small camera, a Fuji X-T50, in order to get away from the problems of my too-perfect Sonny images and have been thinking about these issues a lot.
Digital cameras pose that too perfect threat. Sterility lurks. I have a Panasonic LX3 - introduced in around 2008. Love the images from that.
Fascinating, 🙏
I like the way you extend the idea of ethics in photography beyond the issues of power and consent. My developing view is that the way one photographs reflects a personal ethics (which may be really positive - careful, sensitive, respectful etc.) but photography can’t help being implicated in extractive, energy-hungry technologies that are destroying the planet. This is the context in which all photographs are made, however ethically positive. What is the environmental impact of every piece of cellulose or jpeg? It’s an almost invisible cost but increasingly hard to justify. So what do you do if you love photography and wish to keep doing it? What can be off-set? How can you remain an ethical photographer whilst contributing to environmental disaster?
"The ethics of seeing." I needed to read this. Thx.
Teju Cole. Thanks for writing about him! I met Teju in Boston at an ICA gathering- he showed images from Blind Spot, discussed them with the audience, while Vijay Ayer’s jazz group improvised for an hour and a half. I discovered Teju when he was Photography critic for The NY Times. His essay on Steve McCurry “A too Perfect Picture” resonated with me perfectly. I have Known and Stranger Things on my nightstand. I see Cole as our James Baldwin. His direct/indirect approach to understanding the world is incisive. I recommend his fiction and story telling as well. Open City and Every Day is for the Thief. Both brilliant. Cole should be read by all photographers and, really everyone.