Dignity. Respect. Empower-ment. Do these suffice as ethical photography guidelines? Rachel Tallon of the Council for International Development in Aotearoa, New Zealand, explored this issue in the 90 minute workshop “Images of the South in Northern Publications: Ethical Photography and Related Issues Concerning Representation.” The presentation has been given around the world and was created by 15 photographers, academics, NGO staff and others who explored what they considered to be the six most crucial dilemmas facing organizations that use images of Southern constituents to promote their work.

Stereotype/metonym
Also known as “the branding effect,” organizations must be careful to avoid allowing one symbol to represent an entire country or continent. Also beware the subtle message of superiority that can come through photographs: “We are saving them from themselves.”

The “infantilization” of the South
Photos of children flood NGOs’ websites because they stir emotion in donors, but is that really a realistic representation of the South? In a quick survey of the pictures on InterAction member website pages, Ms. Tallon revealed that only 13 percent of the individuals represented were Southern men, while Southern women and children made up 80 percent of the pictures.

What is absent and why?
Context is crucial. Ms. Tallon showed a photograph of a beautiful modern city, and explained that most people are stunned to find that city is Nairobi, which is predominantly known for its slums. She also explained that many local NGOs get overshadowed by international NGOs that publicize their own successes but not the earlier successes of local NGOs on which their work often builds.

The power of the Gaze and the Text
“Gaze” raises the question of whether NGOs create short-term emotions in a photograph without sufficient education around the issues. This ties in with the “Text”—what is your photograph’s caption? There is a world of difference between “Two AIDS orphans” and “Jamal and Robert celebrate winning a soccer game at their AIDS orphanage in Kigali.” One thing to ask is “What would the subject of the photo want as a caption? Did you ask them?”

The production process
Who is in control of what images should be used and how they should be used? Why do they choose the images they do? Do they either work with the South or mix daily with the people your organization works with in the South? These are all questions to consider during the production process.

Citizenship journalism
One way to address some of the ethical questions that arise is to use local Southern photographers who are aware of the cultural practices in their own countries and to give them free reign. Most of the time your organization will get pictures like those a Northern photographer would have taken, but sometimes you will get a picture that you wouldn’t have imagined.

Some of these concerns are more familiar than others; the first two have been around for decades. But in the world of cell phones, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, your photographs are being seen by more than just your intended audience, which means that organizations need to be even more careful than ever that the photographs they use meet the highest ethical standards. To facilitate this, NGOs need to make sure they not only have a code of conduct for photographs, but also that everyone is aware of it and that it gets enforced.

The overarching message from the workshop was that being ethical is really taking the time to consider both the pros and cons of the image, being aware of potential reactions and being prepared to explain why your organization decided to use it. No single quick fix exists to identify what is an ethical photograph. Organizations need to consider images in the context of the critiques covered above or others that may be more relevant to the individual organization, always keeping in mind that these images will be globally viewed.