A Sea of Images
It’s been a whole year since we have been unable to travel abroad due to Covid-19 and for me travel is not just a personal experience but a part of my business.
Since starting a photography business which includes designing and leading a small number of guided photographic tours every year, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the philosophy and ethics surrounding travel photography - or shall we call it photography, while we travel.
It is interesting to consider aspects of ‘authenticity’ when we discuss photography especially when the images depict places or people usually unfamiliar to our audiences as photographers.
I will argue that the matter of authenticity here has a long journey of validation. Firstly, especially when we travel to unknown places, we travel with preconceived ideas of what that place might look like, based on many factors including our own education, as well as exposure to information (through images as well as other means of communication) about that place.
I remember that, soon after the re-opening of Romanian borders in the early 90s, my family hosted an exchange student from France in our apartment in Bucharest. He brought his camera as he was keen to capture the ‘real’ Romania. In his mind, this conjured images of women in head scarves, preferably gypsy ethnics, possibly traveling in horse-pulled carts, featuring gold teeth and plated hair. I could see that he was almost disappointed with our capital-city modern apartment living conditions. His image of ‘authenticity’ didn’t match what he found in the immediate reality and he then almost rejected reality as not being ‘authentic’ and therefore worth capturing with his camera.
The second stage of authenticity validation is how we communicate the images to an audience.
Let’s consider this example of the famous cormorant fishermen that are often depicted in images from China, particularly the Guilin region. It is a well-known fact (a little research and common sense will quickly reveal this for anyone who is interested) that fishing with cormorants is no longer a method of fishing, for many reasons, progress being one of the main ones for sure. But this is not a ritual invented for the tourists, it is a secular tradition that had in time died out, and is nowadays performed occasionally as a re-enactment, mostly for tourists, both local and foreign.
This image was taken by me during a tour I ran in 2019. This was a paid performance and it was presented and embraced as such to our small group, not too dissimilar to photographing, say, a theatrical performance back home in an organised setting. The video underneath shows the ‘behind the scenes’ ambiance of what it was ‘really’ like when that image was taken.
The photograph is not meant to be an indexical trace but a symbolic image. Is it ‘fake’? No, it isn’t. Not unless I share this image claiming that this is what the Chinese live like these days and this was a spontaneous snapshot capturing a ‘decisive moment’. Is it ‘real‘? Again, no it isn’t, in the sense of it being a precise and accurate snapshot of the reality of that moment, or its overall relevance for capturing the essence of China as a country.
Does it matter? Or does it only matter in the context of how this image is being presented and whether it claims to be something that it isn’t?
Arguably, as an art form, photography shouldn’t continue to be judged on the basis of its xerox capabilities of copying reality ad litteram.
Andreea Elle Vas Cormorant Fisherman in Yangshuo 2019
Beyond questions of authenticity or realism, a more significant issue is that of ethics in street photography and street portraiture, which has only been exacerbated by the widespread popularity and affordability of travel and photographic equipment alike.
Malaysian photographer Edwin One Wee Kee won $120,000 in the HIPA competition in 2019 for his image ‘Mother’s Hope’. According to the HIPA awards statement, as per the digitalcameraworld website, this image was ‘documenting an intense humanitarian moment – the feelings of a Vietnamese mother whose speech disorder did not prevent her from feeling hopeful and evoking a sense of strength for her children. Edwin says that he loves to travel with his camera. He'd pulled over on the side of the road while in Vietnam to capture this intimate frame, using his Nikon D850 and 80-400mm lens.’
But the image and its grand prize award received widespread criticism when another photographer present at the same time published a ‘behind the scenes’ image showing a large number of photographers gathered around the woman photographing the same scene at the same time. Although apparently the image had not broken any competition rules, of course questions of ethics abound and we have a great feeling of unease looking at the wider scene.
Behind the scenes captured byAb Rashid according to petapixel.com
