Photography – Page 2 – SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DEVELOPMENT

Filmmakers Shekhar Kapur and Philip Bloom are supporting a new film competition called sH2Orts, which has been launched by WaterAid and WorldView for aspiring filmmakers across the world.

This global competition, which will run until 20 February 2015, invites filmmakers to enter one-minute films about what water means to them.

It was launched by British director and filmmaker Philip Bloom, who has worked as a cinematographer for Lucasfilm, Sky, CNN, Discovery and the BBC.

Bloom said: “Water is essential to life. We are made up of it, we are dependent on it, and often we take it for granted. There are so many water stories out there so go out, find one and make a film about it for the global sH2Orts film competition.

“You don’t need fancy equipment to be able to capture a strong story, and so this competition is open for entries filmed on anything from a mobile phone or GoPro to a broadcast camera.”

“Surprise us! Get creative, get imaginative – we want to hear your stories told your way.”

The shortlisted films from the competition will be showcased online ahead of World Water Day in March 2015. The overall winner of the competition will be chosen by a panel of judges, led by award-winning Indian film director, actor and producer, Shekhar Kapur.

He said: “Water is life. We interact with it every day in so many different ways; it is our most important resource, with no substitute. Yet it’s so easy for us to take this basic necessity for granted.

“Through this competition, we’re hoping to see a plethora of ways water impacts on our daily lives through the powerful medium of film. I’ll be looking for individuality and creativity when judging the entries.

“This is a great opportunity for filmmakers to make a mark for themselves and I’m proud to be working with WaterAid and WorldView on this amazing opportunity for budding filmmakers. I feel passionately about helping the younger generation and am therefore offering a masterclass with me as one of the prizes.”

Fujifilm have generously donated five fantastic cameras for winners of the competition. Also up for grabs are masterclasses from Shekhar Kapur and WorldView.

Catherine Feltham, Film Producer at WaterAid, said: “We work in 26 countries around the world and we’ve seen how safe water can transform lives, so for World Water Day 2015, we’re excited be able to celebrate the power of water through the sH2Orts film competition in collaboration with WorldView.

“We’d like to see an original take – it could be through the lens of thirst or floods, a drama set in a car wash, or a portrait of the man who waters plants in your local park. We just want to see your best, creative, quirky or simply beautiful short film all about water.”

Marion Simpson, Project Manager at WorldView, said: “WorldView is committed to supporting filmmakers across the globe to bring the richness and diversity of the world to mass audiences and we are delighted to partner with WaterAid on this exciting project.

“We’re looking for great storytelling told in creative and innovative ways. This is about your imagination, not resources – you can make it on your own or with friends or a crew, using your phone, a top-end camera or anything in between.”

Competition information

The competition is free to enter and entrants can film on their own, with friends or as part of a crew. The films can be sent in either .mp4 or .mov format and can be any duration under one minute long.

The shortlisted filmmakers will be notified at the start of March and the final five winners will be announced on World Water Day 2015 – 22 March.

For full details on the competition and to enter, visit www.wateraid.org/sh2orts and on Twitter: @sh2orts.

I am currently mentoring a group of Master’s students who are working on a project looking at DFID’s use of photography. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading about the ethical use of imagery in the development sector and have scanned the internet and third sector organisation’s websites for guidelines of photography, branding or visual identities to learn about best practice.

One of the most comprehensive set of guidelines I have uncovered so far is the old ethical-photography-guidelines from AusAID. It is acutely obvious that these guidelines will have been agonised over by several departments over several months before being agreed. There is no doubt in my mind there will have been a great deal of collegiate debate over the tiniest of details. But can we ever get a document like this completely right? Not really, as ethical considerations are so subjective. One particular item in the AusAID guidelines leapt off the page at me

“Absolutely no payment or any other form of compensation are to be provided to subjects in exchange for the photo or consent.”

It doesn’t explain why. This intrigues me. I’ve modeled on a number of occasions (I know it’s hard to believe). Mostly it’s just been because someone I know needs a favour or they want me to be a blur in the background. However, on more than one occasion I have been paid. In fact, I once got paid £50 cash for being a blur in a billboard advert for Audi. It took one hour. Maybe I should take it up professionally. No seriously, I know that Audi is a large commercial entity and therefore cannot be compared directly to development communications which often adopt a more documentary style of photography which aims to be objective. But, why is that I can be paid for being a blur whereas subjects of AUSaid’s visual imagery can’t? Within the same guidelines every effort is made to ensure human rights and dignity of that subject. Is asking someone to work for nothing dignified? Employees subject to suspension without pay, may have a claim for constructive dismissal and entitlement to severance. Hiring an employment lawyer is also crucial since they know the proper legal actions for questionable job terminations.

I have worked with a lot of photographers in my career and I know that capturing the ‘perfect image’ is not a 5 minute job. This is especially the case when trying to ensure that the image is representative and taken in the right context. This might involve asking the subject to be photographed in their place of work which is 20 minutes away. Why should they give up their time? Could this be considered a form of exploitation?

As anyone who has worked in development communication will know, imagery is immensely important. Good imagery can shape perceptions, change behaviours and often are essential to spark interest from the media in a story.

Photographers are usually given a strict criteria when on a photo shoot i.e. no stereotypes, ensure relevance and dignity at all times, don’t oversimplify the message, there must be a gender balance, consider power relations and so on. Maybe we would achieve better visual communication if subjects were paid a reasonable fee? It would make the photographer’s job a lot easier to capture the image in the given brief and surely the subject would feel more appreciated? I suppose one of the counter-arguments is that if the subjects are paid they may be open to staging the true representation of the image and authenticity is lost? Surely this is the responsibility of the photographer or art director? Another good reason for not paying subjects it that it sets a precedent amongst that community and possibly smaller NGOs simply cannot afford to pay fees.

The debate is complex but maybe one solution to ensure authenticity and representation would be for the subject to be shown all images and for them to only give consent to those they select? Let’s call it paid participatory photography. A new era in development communication maybe?

Tag: Photography

WaterAid and WorldView launch global film competition

Should we pay subjects in development communications?