There are many debates about ethics in photography. One such debate is around making money on photos that show human suffering. It could be appropriate, but there are a few caveats you should consider before selling such work.
World Press Photo is at the receiving end of sharp criticism today for a series of photos on its Instagram account showing poverty-stricken Indians standing in front of tables laden with feasts.
My eyes are filled with tears because of the smoke. The plastic particles in the air are irritating my lungs. I'm climbing this mountain with my two friends.
Here's an unusual and inspiring 8-minute video by photographer Adam Grumbo of Matters To That One. After he was contacted online by a Nigerian scammer posing as a "hot American girl," Grumbo decided to hire the scammer as a documentary photographer.
You open the box and there it is; a new digital camera. You’ve wanted to be a professional photographer for a long time and now is your time. This camera is the symbol of your next step.
The 42MP Sony a7R II has got to be one of the most anticipated camera systems in the history of cameras, and for good reason.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to play with all sorts of camera systems, from cheap point-and-shoots to $30,000 80-megapixel behemoths. I’ve observed as the DSLR video revolution spread across the world, and watched as the lines between photography and videography started to blur as video cameras started to shoot stills and still cameras started to shoot video.
The gap between the wealthy and the poverty-stricken is very wide in Mexico, but that gap doesn't necessarily translate into physical distance, as this striking ad campaign by photographer Oscar Ruíz and Publicis Mexico boldly illustrates.
Photojournalistic ethics are serious business. While there are many styles of photography where heavy post-production is not just acceptable, but commonplace, the world of news demands accuracy and truth, and it is accuracy and truth that some are claiming were given a backseat to shock and sensationalism when The Daily Mirror decided to use a stock photograph to illustrate a front page story.
The United Nations has said that educating women is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty around the globe. Having taken that statement to heart, The Girl Power Project -- a collaboration between by The Collective Heart and Unstoppable Foundation -- is committed to empowering the girls of Uganda and putting a stop to generations of poverty, disease, abuse and illiteracy.
In order to achieve this goal they must spread the word, and photographer Margot Duane believes she can help.
Jacob A. Riis arrived in New York in 1870. As the economy slowed, the Danish American photographer found himself among the many other immigrants in the area whose daily life consisted of joblessness, hunger, homelessness, and thoughts of suicide. So when he finally found work as a police reporter in 1877, he made it his mission to reveal the crime and poverty of New York City's East Side slum district to the world.
"I've concentrated on the poor ... the rich ones have their own photographers." Those words, spoken by the late great Milton Rogovin, begin the award-winning short documentary The Forgotten Ones.
My name is Chris Rusanowsky, I am a 22-year-old freelance photographer based out of Los Angeles, California. In February of 2012 I took a trip to document poverty in Manila, Philippines for 32 days.
Soccer, known as football around the world, is played by hundreds of millions of people in hundreds of countries, making it the world's most popular sport. However, a large percentage of its enthusiasts are unable to afford actual soccer balls to play with. Instead, they fashion their own makeshift balls out of things they have on hand -- things like socks, rubber bands, plastic bags, strips of cloth, and string. The DIY balls may be difficult to use and ugly in appearance, but each one is a treasured possession of its owner.
Belgian photographer Jessica Hilltout decided to turn her attention and her camera lens on these one-of-a-kind creations, documenting "football in its purest form" in Africa. The project is titled AMEN.
Unlike the fabulously rich, those living at or under the poverty line in countries around the world have to make tough choices regarding what they eat on a daily basis. "The Poverty Line" is an ongoing project by photographer Stefen Chow and economist Lin Hui-Yi that shows how much food people living at the poverty line in various countries can buy.
The photos above show the different options in China, where 26,880,000 people live on ¥3.28 ($0.49) per day. Each image shows what one poor person can buy in one day.
Editor's note: We came across Duncan McNicholl's work a while back and found it interesting, so we invited him to write a guest post regarding his project. His work has been featured by quite a few publications and websites in recent times.
Many people only experience sub-Saharan Africa through photographs. The teary-eyed child in rags is familiar to all of us as the portrait of poverty charities use to communicate a hopelessness in need of our pity and charity. I reacted very strongly to these images when I returned from Africa in 2008 after a 4 month volunteer placement in Malawi, working with Engineers Without Borders Canada. I compared the images I saw to my Malawian friends – people who embodied intelligence, resilience, and compassion – and I felt lied to.