Monday, June 30, 2008

Crouching tiger to unveil hidden dragon

Nivedan throws light on covert photography, the applicability for development photography and ways of doing it. He also speaks on deciding when it is ethical and when it is not.
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A covert photography is one which a photographer does without the knowledge of the subject(s). While there are more than countable number of idiots who do that with their mobile phones in public places here, one can sue the photographer for intrusion into his/her space and privacy in many western countries. So whenever a photo is taken, written permission has to be got from each individual in a frame. Whenever the photograph is publicly displayed or sold to a stock, the permission letter has to be produced. It is known as ‘model release’. It helps to protect the privacy of the common man. In India, it is not the case. Instead, if I am shooting a mall, a construction site or an industry from outside, there will be dozens of thugs come running towards me to snatch the camera. The reason is, they will have thousand law-infringements inside the premises ranging from child labour to exploitation and wage malpractices that they don’t want to be exposed through our counter-hegemony. But in this country where a HIV patient is exposed and insulted to death, no one cares for privacy.

But as development photographers, we have to expose the tragedies and agonies that the subjects may feel sensitive to. For example, in some rural areas in Tamilnadu, people believe that being photographed reduces their lifetime! If I need to cover a story on, say farmers’ miseries, how can I do that with the knowledge of the concerned people? So, a development photographer is forced to a situation, where covert photography is inevitable. One has to initially decide on whether it is ethical or not, according to the situation. In this article, I would also like to discuss on why, where and how, one should practice covert photography.

Click to see candid pictures


Covert photography is anyhow an intrusion into someone’s privacy. So, one should reserve it as the last option. It should be used only when there is no other way to cover an issue. Personally, I have faced the dilemma of choosing between doing covert photography or to miss the moment. Many a time I have chosen the latter. So how did I decide when to take and when to miss? I would calculate the impact that photo will make, which implies the message-worthiness of the moment and the usability of the photograph for a broader cause. More importantly, I will also think of the risks involved in it.

There are some risk-free moments that require covert photography such as while shooting the children. Children are always vibrant and they will make lots of movements in the frame. It can happen otherwise also, i.e. when they are being photographed, they are so excited and want to look good in photographs, freeing their actions, they even stop smiling. But it will make the picture too artificial, as if it is taken in a studio. There is a necessity to take photos without their knowledge. So, covert photography is one solution and the photographer would not miss the emotions, playfulness and concentration in whatever they are doing.

Most of the times, I would do it candidly, and not covertly. They may know I am going to take their photo, but they would not know when. This is because, I would compose the image and look out of the camera, straight into their faces and engage them with some expressions. So they assume that I would not be taking a photograph at that moment, but I would. It was a way that one of my photographer friends suggested to me. But after taking I will make the children happy by showing them, albeit without giving the precious equipment in their hands.


When it is a sensitive environment, I would not take out the camera publicly and show in front of all. It will unnecessarily draw attention. For instance, brick-making was going on in a construction site. There was child labour in abundance. The toddlers of the brick makers also were intentionally let to play near the parents while working, so that the parents won’t be going to their temporary shelters nearby to look after the needs of their children and the workflow would be reduced. The environment was too inhuman, full of dust and noise. There were stacks of finished bricks very close to the place. If a brick falls on the head of a toddler, that would be the end of the him/her.

I wanted to capture this cruelty for later use. But the supervisor was constantly roaming and bullying the brick makers. At the sight of a camera, I would be attacked certainly and my equipment would be seized. The workers also had to be kept busy, otherwise it will raise suspicion. So I carefully prepared my camera inside the opaque bag, as if I am searching for something. Once the supervisor’s turned his vision to the opposite direction, I took out the camera. I had asked my colleague to stand near the brick makers and converse with them, so that they may not know if there is a camera. Within three seconds the shot was finished. Suddenly I placed it inside the bag, only to find that just after hiding the camera the supervisor’s looks turned towards us.

But in certain circumstances, one has to shoot from an angle, where the face of the subject should not be visible at all. For instance, confidentiality is an ethic when it comes to victims of sexual abuse, HIV patients, etc. Only if it is highly essential, their photographs can be taken, that too in a way that they are not at all identifiable. One has to strictly follow it when it comes to candid or covert photography. It is highly insisted to show the photo to them and get approval for taking it to the audience.

Finally, before going for covert photography one has to think of how much impact it would make in the minds of the target audience. If the impact would be minimal, covert photography is best, avoided. For example, when I was asked to cover the hawkers being evicted from the streets ruthlessly, with the seizure of their goods, which implies the loss of their livelihood in a second, I decided not to shoot that. This is mainly because the target audiences want them to be evicted and photography is not the medium to express the complete miseries of the Hawkers to that particular class. There was a documentary film getting ready for that purpose. So an extensive medium will create a greater impact than the photographs, which would be of no use to sensitize the particular group of people.

So, when it comes to covert or candid photography, one has to make sure that it is ethical, unlike a few mobile phone photographers. One has to decide on when, where and how to take a covert snap. One has to protect the identity of the subject whenever it is required. Finally, one has to think of the impact a photograph before going it.
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About the Author: Nivedan is an intern at National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Pune. With self-nurtured knowledge of photography, he experiments with photography and other forms like posters so as to use them as tools for sensitization, advocacy and social transformation.
Contact Nivedan at nivedanmangalesh@yahoo.com

Monday, June 23, 2008

EXPOSING THE DARK

Nivedan explores how the market affects social usefulness of photography and how photography can effectively be used to bring about a social change. He also lists outs the ethics and practice standards of this genre of photography.

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History has shown many a time that photography is not only an art, but also a medium to convey strong messages. The wartime photographers have documented the cruelties of war better than any author or film maker, perilously exposing themselves to hostile environment. Raghu Rai’s book “Exposure”, which was a photo documentation of shocking realities of the Bhopal gas tragedy, shook everyone with moving pictures, thus bringing the horror to the limelight. The issue received such an attention from the audience. Such photographs have always induced sympathy, empathy and sensitiveness of the viewer. In broader sense, they have always reminded us of where humans and humanity are going towards. To be precise, they have carried a great magnitude of socio-political usefulness.


Photography, as a visual medium, has a lot of advantages over paintings and video clips in conveying such a message. Any form of painting can be ruled out as imagination by the audience; i.e. it is the artist’s perception and impression of how he/she saw things, it does not give the first hand vision of the scenario as a photograph or a video. On the other hand, Video does not freeze an emotion, an expression and an implied meaning in one frame, ultimately being an extensive medium rather than an intensive medium that keeps the viewer interpreting to the point of infinity and think on the meanings conveyed. But photography is realistic and gives the first hand vision to the viewer, at the same time it freezes every element essential to convey a message intensively. Hence one wise man told, “One good photograph is equivalent to 1,000 words”; Truth!


But in this neo-liberal era, market is the mother of every creation. Art is also no exception. Camera is perceived more as a tool for taking photographs that the market demands. So the craze for digital cameras and the market for commercial photography have grown simultaneously. New genres of photography emerged as per market requirements. While the digital camera production and selling is soaring high along with the demand for aesthetically good and creative photographs, the social usefulness of photography is in an all-time low. Photography has become affordable and easy, but the social usefulness of photography have gone out of trace. A photojournalist takes photos that carry news value, basically following the principles of “Common man in uncommon situation or uncommon man in common situation or something sensational”. For him/her, “common man in common situation” has no news value and he/she can neglect that. If a journalist does not do that, one cannot expect that from a photographer of any other stream. Even if such a picture is taken, ultimately it is for the sake of the artistic value and not much for human interest. Even the non-profits use photography for the dullest purpose of mere documentation of their work! In all these cases, where lies the social or political usefulness of photography? Directly or indirectly, it serves the market, but not for the society. Such photographs, regardless of how aesthetic they are, cannot be compared to that of Raghu Rai or the wartime photographers.


There are a great majority of people and communities that suffer social exclusion and miles away from the mainstream life that we see every day. For example, while we get the news about a fashion show, we rarely get to know about the farmers’ suicides and miseries due to indebtedness. So, as a photographer, one has to think of how to bring such unnoticed serious issues to notice, deviating himself/herself from the market demands, for the value of social usefulness. I am not insisting on going into a hostile environment crossing police barricades. Keeping all the prejudices away, a photographer can go into a slum and carefully capture the sights and sounds, living conditions, emotions and demands of slum dwellers. A photo exhibition on that would bring their poor living standards to the public; an article on the one day experiment in a mainstream weekly magazine would draw attention of the policy-makers; a photo documentary can be a source for the non-profits working on slum issues to lobby with the government to positively affect their lives and livelihoods. One need not leave the mainstream genres of photography to do it. It can be done as a hobby at least, which does justify the values of photography. There are unheard miseries all around oneself, from evicted hawkers and slum-dwellers; construction workers, small farmers, street children, child labour, victims of disasters, etc. Their feeble voices can be amplified through photography.


But before giving it a try, one has to look from the perspective of the marginalized. Capturing portrait of a slum dweller is not as easy as casually taking a portrait of an IT engineer, as people are too sensitive and emotional to show their faces in photos. Certain ethics have to be followed. One has to explain the genuine cause of doing so and clearly explain what he/she is up to. One has to earn the trust of the community and observe and respect the culture and traditional practices prevailing in the community and households. Clarity on the issue is the essence of this genre of photography. For example, the prejudice of hawkers being a hindrance to traffic won’t bring clarity; one has to have the questions of why they have come to this profession? Where have they come from? How much do they earn? Are they in debts; are they able to meet the ends? What are the losses in the case of eviction? What is their contribution to the society? What will they be able to do if they are not allowed to do this profession? If they are encroachers, what is a parking area then? Etc. Going through the policies affecting them would deepen the knowledge. One has to ask for the verbal consent of the people to be photographed. Rarely, if the situation requires, candid photos can be taken, but showing the photo (in case of a digital camera) to the person or people would earn the photographer trust from the people. There may be some cases, where confidentiality is mandatory, examples, rape victims and HIV patients. The photographer should get the consent from the person and should not reveal the identity of the person.

Click to see samples


Ultimately, the idea of change is subjective. One has to take a concrete stand. But if I can express my idea of change through photographs, young people like me can also do that, albeit with their own understanding of change. But the point is one has to strive social usefulness. One has to decide upon whether photography is just for advertising or also for sensitising.

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About the Author: Nivedan is an intern at National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Pune. With self-nurtured knowledge of photography, he experiments with photography and other forms like posters so as to use them as toosl for sensitization, advocacy and social transformation.

Contact Nivedan at nivedanmangalesh@yahoo.com