Category: Ethics

  • Podcast: A Retoucher Altered the Expression of Genocide Victims To Make Them Smile – PhotoShelter Blog

    Podcast: A Retoucher Altered the Expression of Genocide Victims To Make Them Smile
    In the mid- to late-70s, the Khmer Rouge committed a heinous genocide in Cambodia that killed 25% of its population. The government infamously photographed many of these victims at Tuol Seng, a school which was converted into a torture facility. Inexplicably, retoucher Matt Loughrey decided to colorize and alter the expression of some of the depicted victims of the Cambodian genocide into smiles, and as you might imagine, people were outraged.
  • David Alan Harvey Has Resigned From Magnum Photos

    https://petapixel.com/2021/03/18/david-alan-harvey-has-resigned-from-magnum-photos/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    Magnum’s announcement that it has been cleared of wrongdoing here was recently called into question. The organization should complete its review later this year.
  • No. 72 Benjamin Chesterton – 10 Frames Per Second

    http://10fps.net/no-72-benjamin-chesterton/
    We’re back after a long COVID hiatus. We’re kicking off a new season with Benjamin Chesterton, @duckrabbitblog on Twitter, and his open letter to Magnum concerning years of photographing child abuse and other controversies surrounding the iconic photo agency. Trigger Warning: sexual assault, child abuse. This is a harrowing episode. Read his letter to Magnum here. The Statement with over 600 signatures calling on Magnum Photos to demonstrate accountability can be read here.
  • Olivia Arthur – now can we talk about Magnum Photos and child abuse? — duckrabbit

    https://www.duckrabbit.info/blog/2021/01/olivia-arthur-now-can-we-talk-about-magnum-photos-and-child-abuse/
    I found the following photos after searching the word ‘rape’ on the Magnum archive.
  • Magnum Photos Has Finally Published Its Code of Conduct

    https://petapixel.com/2021/01/19/magnum-photos-has-finally-published-its-code-of-conduct/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    It should be noted that Magnum’s President, Olivia Arthur, is quoted as saying the agency’s code was a “six-page long internal HR document that we are not looking to put on trial by Twitter.”
  • Statement Signed by 600+ Photography Professionals Demands Accountability from Magnum Photos

    https://petapixel.com/2021/01/14/statement-signed-by-600-photography-professionals-demands-accountability-from-magnum-photos/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    A group of 647 photography students and professionals have together signed a letter demanding Magnum Photos actively participate in addressing sexual harassment in the industry, namely with regards to accusations made against its photographer David Alan Harvey.
  • Magnum Photos Promises More Investigations in Response to Harrowing Exposé

    https://petapixel.com/2021/01/05/magnum-photos-promises-more-investigations-in-response-to-harrowing-expose/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    Magnum Photos has continued to come under fire for its response to allegations of the treatment of women by one of its photographers, David Alan Harvey. Today the organization published a letter, promising to reveal its Code of Conduct and perform further investigation into allegations.
  • Magnum’s moment of reckoning – Columbia Journalism Review

    https://www.cjr.org/special_report/magnum-photos-david-alan-harvey.php
    But even as Magnum touted its efforts to confront the industry’s abuses, women who worked with one of the agency’s best-known photographers were telling a different story. Eleven women have described to CJR inappropriate behavior from David Alan Harvey over a span of 13 years, ranging from suggestive comments to unwanted sexual advances to masturbating without their consent on video calls. His behavior was reported to Magnum as early as 2009, but the agency sat on the information for more than a decade. It finally took action in August of this year, but only after the allegations spilled into public: a story published on the website Fstoppers reported that Magnum was selling explicit photographs of sexually exploited minors on its website, including photographs from a series taken by Harvey in Bangkok in 1989. That led photojournalist Amanda Mustard to write a Twitter thread about Harvey, alleging that sexual misconduct allegations against him were an open secret in the industry.
  • Adobe’s Tech Eroded the Public’s Trust in Photos, Now They’re Trying to Fix It

    https://petapixel.com/2020/12/10/adobes-tech-eroded-the-publics-trust-in-photos-now-theyre-trying-to-fix-it/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    As more people gain access to the tools to manipulate images – and as those tools become more accessible – a new study says that the public’s trust in the photos they see online has been significantly harmed.
  • 65 per cent of British creatives have had their work stolen, says Adobe report

    https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/adobe-content-authenticity-initiative-report-creative-industry-091220?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+itsnicethat%2FSlXC+%28It%27s+Nice+That%29
    The research, published as part of the brand’s Content Authenticity Initiative, also finds 75 per cent of creatives are concerned that fake images will cause people to believe misleading information.
  • Fixing our trust in content – Kaptur

    Fixing our trust in content
    According to a recent study, over 63% of Americans say they often come across fake images online. Whether those images are truly faked or perceived as such, the damage is done. We are rapidly losing trust in what we see, our evolutionary number source of information. If this trend continues, photography and video will soon be seen as purely artistic mediums, alongside painting or sketching. Adobe, with its year-old initiative, the Content Authenticity Initiative, plans to combat this trend and recently displayed how.
  • Photoshop’s Sky Replacement Makes Photography Something It’s Not

    https://petapixel.com/2020/11/23/photoshops-sky-replacement-makes-photography-something-its-not/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    And here comes Adobe Photoshop (among others) actively playing a part in another photographic cheat. Yes, I’m talking about the infamous AI-powered sky replacement tool.
  • AI and the Battle for the Future of Photo Editing

    https://petapixel.com/2020/11/12/ai-and-the-battle-for-the-future-of-photo-editing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    For photographers, AI photo editing is no longer a fringe topic for ML researchers or a gimmick employed by smartphone apps. With the impending release of Skylum’s Luminar AI and Adobe calling the latest build of Photoshop “the world’s most advanced AI application for creatives,” it’s time for the community to reckon with an important question: What does this mean for photography, photo editing, and creativity at large?
  • Following Investigation, Magnum Photos Suspends David Alan Harvey for One Year

    https://petapixel.com/2020/10/29/following-investigation-magnum-photos-suspends-david-alan-harvey-for-one-year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29
    Earlier this year, the Magnum Photos agency suspended prominent photojournalist David Alan Harvey indefinitely pending an investigation into a historical allegation. Today that suspension was made punitive and given the timeline of one year.
  • Warping Reality: Adobe’s Neural Filters are Ripe for Mayhem – PhotoShelter Blog

    Warping Reality: Adobe’s Neural Filters are Ripe for Mayhem
    But whereas face tuning apps fall under the category of “fun,” there is something legitimizing about the incorporation of similar technologies into Adobe Photoshop – the powerful image editing software that has been so ubiquitous as to become a verb.
  • Did President Trump Stage Photos While Being Treated for COVID-19? – PhotoShelter Blog

    Did President Trump Stage Photos While Being Treated for COVID-19?
    On Saturday, while President Donald Trump was being treated for COVID-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the AP distributed two handout photos taken by White House photographer Joyce Boghosian.
  • Classes Delve into Photography Ethics – Feature Shoot

    Classes Delve into Photography Ethics
    As digital photography radically democratizes the medium, taking it out of the provenance of a once-elite group of imagemakers and gatekeepers, the subject of ethics in photography has come to the fore. Long overdue, we can finally begin to confront issues of bias, morality, and principle that have long infiltrated the medium by many of its most prominent practitioners.
  • Magnum photographer Alec Soth accused of plagiarism by Chicago artist Tonika Johnson | The Art Newspaper

    https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/magnum-photographer-alec-soth-may-face-legal-action-after-plagiarism-claim-from-chicago-artist-tonika-johnson
    On commission for the New York Times, Soth says he had “no knowledge” of the the long-term project by the Chicago resident and documentary photographer
  • The Atlantic tried to artistically show gender dysphoria on its cover. Instead it damaged the trust of transgender readers. – Poynter

    The Atlantic tried to artistically show gender dysphoria on its cover. Instead it damaged the trust of transgender readers.
    Brewer was 22 at the time, used they/them pronouns (but goes by he/him pronouns now), and had no idea he was even being considered for the cover.
  • An Open Letter to Olivia Arthur. President of Magnum Photos. — duckrabbit

    https://www.duckrabbit.info/blog/2020/08/an-open-letter-to-olivia-arthur-president-of-magnum-photos/
    I’m writing to you following the statement that you made after the Magnum Photos archive was taken offline as a result of allegations that Magnum have been selling indecent images of children. First reported by Andy Day on August 6th and followed up here and here.