gender issues
Written by Ciara LeemingThese are extracts from a post on my own blog which duckrabbit felt might be a relevant debate to have over here. This is not the complete post and there are some really interesting comments and replies over there which should add more context. This is genuinely something that’s weighing on my mind and eroding my confidence..I’m also aware that this could happen to men or women.
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Discussion (4 Comments)
Very interesting post Ciara, sorry to hear about how it’s making things tough for you. I am obviously not well qualified to comment..but I think you raise some very pertinent points. I would say the things you describe are undoubtedly due to how you are with people. You are very open and honest, and you are genuinely interested. That can often be misjudged by people. I have had it a lot , but not in the way you describe. You are approaching things in exactly the right way. This is part of the learning.
“my directness, ability to listen and to take an interest, the way I treat everyone the same no matter who they are and my friendliness seem to be conspiring against me as a documentary photographer ” Maybe now they do. You should be no other way. You will, I’m sure , learn to use those traits as much as you learn other skills. You are basically describing the precious and important part of being a good people photographer that hardly ever is discussed.
Nothing above provides you with answers, sorry. It is meant as a bit of encouragement. I think you have probably been unlucky in your recent interactions, so I’ll wish you better luck in future 🙂
Going into someone’s life is a huge personal responsibility and it is cool that you are working this hard to find the best professional balance between journalistic objectivity and subjective intimacy… there certainly is not one answer to how much emotional space you afford yourself between you and your photographic subjects and it is always fluid but there is no way this process is going to make your decision making inferior…
The relative social isolation involved in the process of producing photojournalism is both what makes it special and is also what makes it problematic. No teams, no balance checking mates who were there at the time, no more exprienced boss to bounce off, no shared experience or knowledge clusters to feed off by sharing. That produces certain types of vanerabilities for each gender and for every background when they open people up so they can shoot what is inside. I think self reflection i better than the level of blind biligerance I sometimes see by big time name PJ’ists explioting people who have been brave enough to let you into their lives just to get the “money shot”.
Given that, it is a brave and informative blog post. I hope this process informs yourself and others out there faced with the same situations.
Sorry to hear that Ciara. It does happen a lot – but as women, we tend not to complain in fear of losing opportunity or be seen by our colleagues as ‘not cut out’ for the job. My experience 5 years documenting/taking video of events: get your shots, be polite (but firm) and leave. As a journalist, you need to engage with your subjects to get info. They have to trust you to a certain point to open up. Over time most journalists become very good at ‘switching off’ after the assignment ends. You need your distance to be objective. But If they start bothering you, report to your editors or your NUJ equality rep. Don’t put up with harassment.
Soujournposse: I’ve been a journalist for nine years now and this has never been a problem until I’ve started working on documentary photography projects (something fairly new for me).
For me, it’s not as easy as you suggest – these are not quick projects where I can get the job done and leave…they are long and sustained. With the most recent guy, I would have been working with him several times a month for up to a year, and spending time with his family. This is the kind of direction I’m going in at the moment so yeah it’s quite tricky.
As I said in my piece on my blog I honestly don’t feel any of these cases constitute ‘harrassment’ – that’s not the way they make me feel…it’s far more subtle than that. And I’m no longer in the NUJ.
Thanks for the suggestions – I’m sorting it in my own way to be honest but I am left questioning my own behaviour as this seems to be becoming something of a regular thing now. I’m really sharing because I am sure there are others who have experienced similar things and I don’t think it’s really talked about.
thanks for your thoughts everyone and have a great day 🙂