Morals and Ethics

Within photography, there is a whole subject on morals and ethics that is dawned on us photographers whilst shooting, and also personally as individuals. To define morals, they are personal beliefs about what is right and wrong. Ethics on the other hand are standards expected of an individual or group. 

List of 3 personal morals I hold:

Not to Judge.
I believe this is a really strong moral I hold because personally, I feel like if someone can open up about something, it will take lots of courage or they could be helpless. Whatever the reason may be, we shouldn't judge anyone because if the tables were turned - we wouldn't like if we were judged after opening up to someone. Also, we shouldn't judge things because we might get something completely wrong before knowing the truth. This could lead to more trouble and that false judgement might have impact on others through word of mouth. To give this moral an example, we could judge someone that a man is stealing from the supermarket who got caught, but we may figure out that he's homeless and he has to provide for his family. Personally, we don't understand the pain that he may be going through so it's not good to judge because we would have probably done the same regardless if it's right or wrong.

Tell the truth.
Sometimes, this may be a hard moral to hold but in some severe cases, it needs to be done. For example, if you driving and you managed to hit someone by accident, instead of covering it up, it would be best to tell the truth. This moral could save your life because if they did find out that you were the one to cause the accident, you could suffer from more consequences. Just by admitting that you caused it, it would show the guilt and sometimes it will help your inner self conscious because you won;t need to be hiding. But this moral does differ and it depends on the situation, you could be put in a dilemma where if you did tell the truth, it could harms someones life so it's a tough one. But usually, it's best to try tell the truth because it could possibly help the situation from falling back on you again. 

Treat others how you want to be treated.
To put this moral in to consideration, an individual may have gone through a bad experience when they were young. If people were mistreated as children and went through child abuse, that individual can donate time and money to combat child abuse from their own experience and help out a charity for that cause. It doesn't necessarily have to be something you go through but it would just give you a good feeling that you've helped kids who are going through bad dilemmas so we would do what we can to help so they're treated like we'd want to be treated. It also means in generic that in public or anywhere, we should treat others with the same respect we'd expect back.



List of 3 photographic morals I hold:

Having consent from people.
I believe this is definitely a photographic moral I hold because referring back to my personal example, I'd expect the same in return. I don't think I would be happy having my photograph taken without permission so I see this moral the same way. When I go shooting, I always ask for permission and sometimes I also explain what I'm doing. Sometimes it may not be what we're after for example shooting candid, I think in this scenario, I'd take the image so it's not staged but then asking the person for consent if I could use it. If not I will delete the image. That way, we get both the candid shot and also permission to use the photograph.

Respecting privacy and consider publishing.
This ties in with the first moral, not only do we need their consent but I also think we need to consider their privacy and consider where it will be published. For example, we may get someones consent to do a nude shoot but that person might not want it published anywhere. We need to respect that and understand that those images need to be kept intact. On the other hand, if they accept that it can be published, we must not publish it again without asking for their permission. Most of this is common sense but we need to understand that some people may not be comfortable having their images viral so the least we could do is understand and ensure that we do it the right way.

Shooting sensitive images.
This moral relates to some scenarios where we may have to shoot sensitive images and it's just whether or not we do it. For example, let's say that a man has died in an accident whilst we was present in time. Would we shoot that dead body or is that morally wrong? Personally, I wouldn't photograph the dead body because I feel like it's tragic and I would sort of not expect it to happen to me when I die. That person that died could be someones mother or father or so forth so I just would have the respect to not photograph a stranger who died. However, this could change if I was working for a newspaper and that they required an image for the story. I think then I'd try an overcome it so it's not crossing the line but it's enough to get the job done.



List of 3 ethical standards expected of society:

Abortion.
Here is a subject that has many ethical views on. Abortion in some societies is seen as really bad because we're killing a life. Others say it's okay because it's not developed yet. Although our morals kick in whether it's right or wrong, many ethic values come in such as culture, religions and philosophic theories. For example, someone could be in a position where they may require an abortion because that baby is putting their life at risk, so there's an exception. However, others could see it as us playing God and killing a baby. It can be all complicated but that's one of the scenarios that has standards expected of society.

Visiting at a house.
On a lighter note, this is an example that is an ethical standard that is expected of society. When you are going to visit someone else's house, we would knock on the door or ring their doorbell to greet when at arrival. The standard from this is to respect the privacy and the existence of the host for what is right. We wouldn't just enter their property and be disrespectful towards them.

Media.
We have media all around us from the television, the internet, radio and newspaper and so on. These platforms are there where messages are carried out to an audience. Although they don't directly teach or influence ethics, there is a subconscious effect of communicating ethical values. For example, an article can carry messages about how our society feels about certain groups like Muslims. That would subconsciously give us these ethical values and people would behave a certain way towards them because of what they learn from the media.



List of 3 ethical standards within photography:

Not to manipulate for bad purposes.
With this moral, I don't think it's okay to manipulate an image to make it look bad. An example image of this that we've seen is the Sikh boy took a normal selfie with his iPad. This image was manipulated so he was holding the Quran with a bomb vest on. Whatever the person who manipulated it intentions were, I think this is something I would never do. It's actually offensive and mocks both religions and it also gives it a bad image. The fact that the image has been done is fair enough, but when it's published on the internet, it just changes the perspective and it's taken into extreme levels. One thing will just lead to another.

Distorting the scenery.
Like my moral that I listed, we may be in a scenario where we had to shoot the dead. Now in this case, we wouldn't actually distort anything or try and stage the scene. I think the ethic standards come in while we are shooting and we have to avoid distorting the true context, content and meaning of the photograph. If we did social documentary, it would be the case of not amending anything in the shot. If we did, it would be morally wrong and selfish just to make the shot look better. I believe it also could manipulate the meaning of the shot and it can be misleading to what you are suppose to document.

Doing justice with our photograph.
While doing photography, it's ethically right if we consider if we are photographing people and communities with the same respect I would show to neighbours and strangers in my home country, my religion or culture etc. It wouldn't be acceptable to shoot with bad intentions if we wouldn't like it happening to us. This ties in with consent and permission but it's more considering about if we're doing justice to what's around us. If it's not then maybe we need to consider what we're doing wrong and then amending it.



I think both morals and ethics are very similar subjects and they both tie in together. The way I see morals is more personal and how we feel about something. Ethics is what is expected of us and it's like rules & regulations of what is right and wrong. I've gone into depth of each ethic and morals, so I won't go rant on further. But I think it's interesting to see how each moral and ethics can differ depending on how serious the situation can be. Sometimes there is no right and wrong but we all have an idea of what is wise and what is not. With the context of photography, there is some serious factors we need to consider and others that aren't so serious. It's always best to consider a few things while shooting like the cause of it, and whether it has a good or bad impact, or are we instigating something further.

Copyright and The Law

Copyright in the UK can be very complicated for photographers. However, it gives photographers the right to the photographs they create. This right protects their photographs against unauthorised reproduction by others. It also entitles the photographer to the economic benefits of licensing their work for use. If these rights weren't in existence, it would be difficult to make a living as a photographer. You don't have to register or apply for a copyright and just by adding a watermark, you will have the ownership of the photograph.

The right to Economic Benefit: 

To sum up the economic benefits from copyright, the owner of the photograph will have exclusive rights which I will list. They have the right to reproduce the photograph, distribute copies to the public, rent or lend the work to public, broadcast to the public and lastly make an adaption of the image. Anyone else who is not licensed for the copyright owner that does this will breach the law and you would have some control with your rights.

The Moral Rights:

To begin with, the photographer will have the right to be credited. If it is ever published, exhibited or broadcasted, you will have to give some credit and have the photographers name with the photograph. There are many exceptions such as judicial proceedings but nevertheless, it needs to be credited. Another moral right is to not have work falsely attributed to a photographer. This means that nobody should add false credibility to images that the named photographers never took. This could end bad and the falsely accused photographer has the right to legal help in such cases if they take it to extreme measures.

Keeping your copyright safe:

To ensure that you're safe from copyright infrigement, it is necessary to proceed it in courts. You must ensure that you can prove that you created the work, have the date of creation and initially have the original copy. Metadata can be helpful for this because it will have this with the file but sometimes this can be manipulated so it's not the best solution. There are many ways of keeping it safe. You can leave copies with a solicitors, use a copyright registration agency or keeping the original file as soon as you snapped the shot.

Copyright laws can last up to 70 years in the UK and also depends on the circumstances. Some photographers may have passed away but the copyright will still be there till after 70 years. Copyright does also apply to digital images on the internet, even though it may seem public, it's actually a breach of the law if you don't give credit to the ownership or if you don't have a license to use their photographs for your own use. If someone used the work without permission, it can be taken to court and the consequences can differ. They could be paying the cost for the image plus they would cover the legal costs for themselves and the photographer. It could go into extreme measures where they pay for the license after using the image.

Source:

http://www.pro-imaging.org/departments/photographers-rights/copyright-law-introduction/

As there is a lot to it, I decided to do some extended research and actually look at the government website to see what information they have on copyright. So I came across all this that I have documented below:

This has all the information based on copyright in the UK and it's also been updated within the last year. I think it has lots of information and also gives scenarios where you would consider what copyright laws we'll have. I think I've learned quite a lot about copyright laws and how we'd work with the laws to become photographers and not feel like we lost our rights to our photographs. It's good to see that there are consequences so I think it's worth looking at because it will keep us from copyright infringement but it will also keep up protected too.

Technical Folder

Here is my technical folder where I will be showing you how I've edited my images for my finals - in this final major project. To begin with, I will be doing some background research on VSCO Cam just to inform you a little about what it is.

VSCO Cam is an art and technology company based in California. This app allows users to transform bland photos into gallery-worthy artistic images. It is commonly used by teens and the filters on this app is very much contemporary. Here is the tutorial for VSCO Cam below:

So once you open the image you want to work with, you have all the filters below so you click the one that you like. The arrow below is the button you'll need to load up any other adjustments which I will show later.

In this case, I've selected the filter HB2 /Hypebeast which gives the image this amazing street effect with added contrast and shadows. This filter is stayed switched up on +12 then you just click the tick when you're happy. Immediately you can see the difference to the image from the previous screenshot to now.

"HYPEBEAST is a worldwide, forward-thinking, and influential source for lifestyle and fashion editorial. We admire HYPEBEAST's unwavering dedication to creative culture and the artists, designers, fashionistas, and hip-hop heads who embody it."
http://vsco.co/archive/journal/introducing-hypebeast-vsco-presets-for-vsco-cam

So when you click on the arrow that I've mention before, you will see something like this. You just click on the spanner next to the paintbrush for more settings.

Now you will get all the adjustments controllers that you will be familiar with, such as brightness and contrast and so on. If you scroll through, you and make adjustment to any of these features and make your image how you want.

Just to show you an example, I've selected the temperature tool here and set it from 0 to +2, then once I'm happy with the look, you just click the tick. I did the same to every image so I have a reoccurring theme in my images so they will look fairly similar.

Once you're happy with the image, you can go ahead and just confirm any ticks then find your way through to this last stage. Then you can click save to camera roll or share for your preference.

When I clicked on save to my camera roll, it has given me the options on which to save the image size on. So I ensured that I clicked on actual size so my images were still high quality which will be good for when it comes to creating my final. And there we have a simple tutorial on how to use this application.

Final Visual Book - Tutorial

For the book that I've created for my finals, I've used the online Tesco website to create this under the soft cover photo book selection. In order to create a book, it may take up to 7 days maximum so I considered well when to order it in enough time for it to come. It's also created by Max Speillman that is in the selected tesco store, where I will be picking it up from - also for free.

Here is a screenshot of the size and the price that I went with. I was going to go medium but I thought small will be nicer and compact, especially as I was keep with my small darkroom prints, I thought that size would be good for a book. Once I knew the size I wanted to continue with, I just clicked n Design-a-book to have more controls over what I'm designing. 

Now before you begin your book designing, you get given the chance to upload all your images that you will use within the book. I've uploaded quite a lot and it uploads the full sized image in a quick speed. As you can see, the title also documented the date I was creating this book. 

Once you have all your images, you just simply use this setup and organise your images according to each page. You can explore around and add texts or borders however I liked to keep mine minimalist with the white background and lack of text. You can also add extra pages which will cost you but that option is also there if needed. Overall it's been a good experience to do something different and the outcome was simply amazing because the prints on the book came out super good and I am extremely happy with my book.

Evaluation

The last ever evaluation for the year. It's been an absolute pleasure to be working over the past two years. I couldn't have ended the year with a better project and I feel very content with the work that I've put in and the results I got with my final pieces. A lot of this will be missed and it's so surprising that it's all over. As I've mentioned in my darkroom folder, I'll be never setting myself in the darkroom again nor will I have any more long evaluations to write up.

Final Major Project has been absolutely fun and besides all the stress, I think it's been such a good experience with picking our own genres and then doing all the tasks independently. I feel like I've really pushed my boat out in this project and wanted to do something new and different. The name of the project is called viewpoint and after weeks of trying to figure out what I want to do, I finally figured out that my genre will be street photography. Viewpoint has inspired me with my idea because the theme I was working along was capturing the essence of West Yorkshire, where I capture candid shots of people and the lifestyle. I've already mentioned this, but it's my viewpoint that I've experienced here when I moved two years ago. To document that change, I think this project has done the idea justice because I feel like I managed to portray the lifestyle and people as best as I could naturally - without staging anything whatsoever.

Research in this project was very helpful because I got to look at other work and then get an idea of the different genres and see what would be best for me. I managed to do really well with my research with finding both historical and contemporary photographer or artists. The moodboards were also very distinctive and just helped me with categorising each genre in a simple manner so I knew exactly what each genre was about. Once I knew what I was doing, I did further research which was seriously the key factor to how my project ended. I feel like I've learned a lot and went in depth with the genre. This was all done just to ensure I understood what it meant to myself and that I have my own style when it comes to my images.

Primary Research may have not been exactly what I ended up doing, but I feel like it wasn't completely useless. It gave me the insight of editing similarly to the research that influenced me, and it also just gave me the courage to decide what I will do, then just cracking on with it. I remember the task so well as I picked something different from everyone who mostly went with 'landscape' so I was pleased that immediately at the start of the project, my work stood out and I got great feedback from everyone which motivated me to continue.

Presentation was not scary at all, I believe over this course I've been getting very comfortable with doing presentations in class and I feel quite confident while doing it. In this project, I felt like the review came quicker than I expected and I wasn't too sure on what I was doing but even then I was confident in presenting my ideas and just being myself. I know I overthink all the time but after this, I started to really figure out exactly what I will be doing. I just knew in this moment of time like I've mentioned that I will be doing a visual photo book if it would work out, and now I can say that it has for sure.

Shoots was great fun in this project. It was a whole new experience with shooting candid because it was happening so fast and there was a new level of adrenaline. I believe that I put so much effort when it came to the shoots as I managed to do 5 excluding the signage work. I also used a whole new set of lens which I've never done in any previous projects, and it was just so fun to do because it was a complete new and different experience in comparison to every project I've done previously.

Film photography and darkroom has gone really well in this project because I managed to get good shots and then use the darkroom to print lots of work. I analysed everything in my folder and even documented the technical sides such as the timing and the grades. It has been different to what I was doing for digital but it's because it's hard to just click the shutter on here and take an image. I made every shot count and even did extra with the colour film. I think I got quite a few film images and it's been a pleasure to work in the darkroom for the last time.

Experimentation has been quite frequent in this project and I've been doing experiments with film prints in the darkroom and also with digital and the editing. My intentions for digital is to get similar looking images with the edits and I believe I did achieve that well. The darkroom experiments were techniques we've done before and thought I'd revisit those and have a few in this project. These experiments were fun to do and I feel like it's something I could have done more of. I just felt like in this case, I didn't want to experiment too much and I wanted to keep things as they were because I liked the documented style and didn't want to change the realness out of my images.

Final pieces have gone down a treat, using the best edited images from my shoots, I created well and thoughtful final pieces which I've gone over in the post. I won't say too much again except that I believe I did push my boat here and did everything professionally from printing to mounting. I believe my target audience is for people who is into street photography or likes social documentary and I believe my final does fit nicely with my audience in different formats. Not only do I believe that my target audience has been met with my images, I believe that anyone looking at my images can relate to what they see and some will have their own interpretation based on their life experience living up North. I think that is the biggest achievement because I set out there to shoot, and I got images that interact with my target audience. I also put a lot of thoughts and considerations with what I am doing for my finals and what I'm trying to achieve so I quite like how it all came together.

So that's the end of the final major project. The last ever project. It's been a pleasure.

Final Pieces

The end of the project has arrived and so far it's been amazing. I quite like the different feel to creating the tasks according to myself and then doing all the shoots I did, digital and film. Moreover, these are my final pieces for this project that I have been working hard for. The book was straight up my intention before we did our presentations. I just knew that I wanted to create something visual and minimalist but I couldn't work out whether it would work, if my images will link and what genre to work with. So to see how I'm at this stage now and see it actually happen, it's been a pleasurable way to end this project. Below is a link that I came across while researching to show you the style and influence in me creating a visual book came from. Once i saw how that looked, I just knew that mine will come together in a similar manner.

http://www.in-public.com/news/2015/June

This here is the book I designed and ordered, I just love the street aesthetics that I get from this book with my images and colours. The paper for the book is nice and slightly thick and the images look amazing. All in all, the book looks very professional and the style is exactly what I had in mind. I'm also really pleased with the size and thought that the smallness really brings the details to each image a lot stronger and easier to see whilst you're holding the book. I do plan to have this book on a podium at the exhibition because I think it's different and I'm glad I went and made the effort because it makes my work stand out. I kept the book cover very simplistic and modern with the title 'street photography //' and I feel like this has worked really well. I deliberately went for small caps because I wanted it to be informal but yet professional.

18" x 12" Large Prints x2

Alongside the book, I've printed these two 18" x 12" prints that I will be presenting at the exhibition. I will have these prints mounted onto foam boards with no border and I think this will be the focal point on the wall that will attract the viewers. I've selected these two images because I love how they fit the genre but also really represent the theme of people and lifestyle in Bradford - in a positive way.

10" x 8" Frames x3

Lastly, I went out and brought 3 of these 10" x 8" black bordered frames and decided to show a variety of techniques in these frames. So the idea behind these images is to have 1 black and white print, 1 coloured print that's been scanned and 1 digital print. I quite like this well considered idea because you can see how each photo-taking or making technique differs from one another and it also makes my work stand out. I hope to present this in the exhibition in line so it goes in order too. From black and white, to colour, to digital.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the trouble and effort that went in for this project because I feel like I've got some creative and thoughtful final pieces for this project. I also used different formats to not only show a variety of different work such as film and digital, but also used different finals formats like the book and the frames - all with full consideration. It feels good to end the project with a good vibe and hopefully all this will pay off at the exhibition that we will be hosting.

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UPDATE - Exhibition
Labelling images / Typography / Layout

"This body of work is to represent Street Photography in West Yorkshire, and capture candid shots of the people and the urban lifestyle around me. I want to capture what I’d say is ‘everyday life’ and this idea came from my personal experience of living here for two years. Within my work, I have also used a variety of skills & techniques including black & white film, colour film & digital photography."

Layout

Edited Images

For my final, I want to create a visual photo book using the digital images from all the shoots that I did over this project. Here are the images that you've seen through each shoot where I've then edited using VSCO cam and made them look similar to one another. These are the images that will be in my book more or less.

I'm really happy with the way that it all came together and I think using VSCO cam has made my work unique and not only that, it has brought my images together. Linking it back to the proposal, this series of images is what I captured, that I think represents my surroundings and captures the usual regular lives on the street. I believe the images speak for themselves and you can interpret a story out of looking at my images, so I'm quite happy with how they do have that storytelling element. Now I will use these images to create my final book which I've pre-planned in enough time to ensure it's created and delivered on time.