Not everything is black and white
Written by duckrabbitContrary to IAMNOTASUPERSTAR’s last post, not every NGO wants photographers to paint the world their way.
Over the last year duckrabbit has been training some of the communications teams from MSF to produce photofilms. Not because they want another tool to manipulate you into giving them cash, but because they genuinely want to give a voice to some of the people they help. More so than some of the journalists going from one crisis to another.
The teams get just three days to produce something from scratch, despite often having hardly held a camera, and never having held a digi-recorder.
And as you can see from the following short photofilm, some of them (Jean-Marc and Olivia) are bloody brilliant.
THE STREET PERFORMERS OF COVENT GARDEN
Additional Photos by David White.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (14 Comments)
Totally agree – I did say “risk”. Apologies if I came across as absolutist. I thought I made that clear. Respect to the progressive NGO’s out there!
I should not confuse the amazing work done my NGO’s by my critique of the established PJ’ism lobby.
I was in Haiti last January covering the earthquake. Once I was in Cite Soleil and tried to enter the MSF hospital and a doctor stopes me saying that the MSF had already enough “publicity” from their own Photographers. I don’t thing MSF is any better than any other organization.
Why Andre, because they protect the privacy of their patients?
at a certain point, you have to stop facilitate helping photographers if it gets in the way of doing the actual work you’re there fore. In haiti, with a small army of photographers, this was clearly the case. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2732/4322965331_6a5ed6f2ca_o.jpg
Sure the doctors had to protect the privacy of their patients, but “we got enough publicity” has nothing to do with privacy. So is it ok to not protect privacy as long you need more publicity? Someone really protecting the privacy of their patients would not use the word “publicity” they would say, the patients need privacy.
I was not there to photograph MSF´s logo, but to talk with an photograph the victims.
And have you seen a documentary named “Enjoy Poverty”?
‘Someone really protecting the privacy of their patients would not use the word “publicity” they would say, the patients need privacy.’
Would someone with any sense beat up on a DR for the language they use in the midst of an overwhelming crisis?
Come on Andre, how to give photographers a bad name.
‘enjoy poverty’ is not a documentary but a ‘mockumentary’, and the author is the last to deny this. He’s an artist, not a journalist.
As for the quote, what can I say, our teams are under a huge amount of stress and may not use the right words in when he has a hospital in ruins and way too many wounded to help.
Bruno,
I am not sure about your background so I apologise if my question is naive as I neither work for an NGO nor I am not a photojournalist.
Do you think that the problem is the desperate desire to get the “shot” from photojournalists at all costs shapes their judgement to such an extent as to push boundaries that are counterproductive for NGO’s?
There is always a balance to be had form protecting the dignity of the patient and the need to show the world the problem. I am sure that these tensions need constant managing yet it appears to me that individual photojournalists are accountable only to themselves and yet NGO workers have a greater responsibility to their organisation and patients – it cannot be easy for the freelancer to show restraint when they have very limited opportunities to get funding for their work.
It must be very tempting to think in the short term when photojournalists are trying to survive in the short term thus they go for the emotive, dramatic and sensational.
I came from the financial world advising investors on the global markets in my previous job. When they used to give (and they gave in large amounts), they used to do it for 2 reasons.
Firstly, to support friends who are undertaking a an event to raise money for a good cause because they know people who have been personally affected.
Secondly, they gave as a social investment – they saw value for money (I guess I mean efficiency), the logistics involved in delivery and the benefits of the social investment as measured by the outcomes in the broadest sense. Do you know of any visual examples of this in a serious deep and authoritative way?
I guess what I am ultimately asking is if you think the problem is with the photojournalists who could be seen as having a narrow sense of what can be achieved because their whole working and educational lives have been spent within the frame? Is this why they tend to highlight the suffering without the context outside the frame? As in the treatment, the science, the economics, the logistics and the sometimes very positive long term social outcomes of keeping families together through medical treatment when the state is not so effective in providing for them?
Bruno is one of the photo editor’s at MSF (and a friend of duckrabbit)
IANASP .. I think you’re in danger of trying to put words into his mouth because in his comment I can’t find anywhere that he says from his working perspective there is a ‘problem’ with photojournalists. Just that MSF needs to balance the needs between operations and giving photographers access, with an obvious priority on medical care.
No crisis there.
“There is always a balance to be had form protecting the dignity of the patient and the need to show the world the problem. I am sure that these tensions need constant managing…”
Yeah, I guess that means I agree with you and was asking questions – again “I apologise if my question is naive as I neither work for an NGO nor I am not a photojournalist.”
As someone who has had a career working in teams, it must be brutally hard for photojournalists to work on their own all the time on shoots if that is what the majority do. I cannot imagine how one can leverage off the expertise and experience of others and learn at the pace they could do – particularly from outside.
As a management model for sustained success (my particular expertise), it is doomed to fail on so many grounds.
Self funded photojournalists (is there any other kind?) have it brutally hard and the aspiring have my sympathies and my respect for their courage. The establishment has to do more than charge them for their hopes. I hope NGO’s look outside the box more for different story telling methodologies from different people. Condition Critical/MSF/duckrabbit is an example how fresh talent – the audio visual expertise can give to an amazing medium a new perspective.
The temptation to go for that single shot that can change/define an entire career must be all consuming. I presume NGO’s must face this from photographers all the time – hence my questions to Bruno as he would know much more about that than I.
my background is that I’m a photographer in a small country where the crisis in the media has been around for more than ten years already. I started workign as a photo editor in a local paper and then moved on to MSF. Yes, we do ned photos to make ‘publicity’ because without that we would not be able to do our work as we are a neutral, privately funded organisation. Yes, we use professional photographers because we work alongside anyway. We may filter a story because we think a part of the general story is under reported, but we don’t hold a photographers hand and point his camera in the right direction. From all the stories shown in Perpignan on Afghanistan, it was all about the military. Not one gave the perspective of the population. This is just one example, and in such cases, we sometimes commission a photographer to do just that, add the missing angle. The story that we believe should be told and is not seen in the media.
Thank you Bruno.
I have just seen that MSF allocates 85% of expenditure to MSF’s social mission, programmes and public education activities – that is a great ratio and I hope it is constant throughout the NGO work although different NGO’s will require different ratios.
I admire the courage to set photojournalists free and I hope they tell THE story and not THEIR own in order to serve MSF and all its stakeholders the best they can in return.
Your Afghanistan in Perpignan example shows how the thinking outside frame sometimes fails to match the beauty inside it.
The world does not lack brilliant photographers but I am becoming increasingly confident as being someone from business, I see photographers needing to work within much better management structures that serve both audiences and clients – not themselves.
I am sure that is happening already somewhere.
please forgive my American ignorance… but what is MSF?
and I believe one answer to your comment – “photographers need to work within much better management structures that serve both audiences and clients – not themselves” is found in the group Weyo. except they have disappeared and no one seems to know what happened to this progressive group begun by photographer Chris Tyree…
Hi Chris … sorry, for you guys MSF is Doctors Without Borders. No idea about what happened to WEYO.