Lecture Series on Ethical Literacy, Part 3: Photography Ethics: Putting Ethics into Practice

October 17, 2023
10:00–11:00AM EDT
Tatianna Lesnikova has fled from the USSR to the US. She was convinced that local officials were preparing to commit her to a mental hospital for anti-government views. They had already done so with her son Danil. Lesnikova traveled on a USSR passport and hoped to one day return to her son, but during her travels, her home country dissolved. Now, she is stuck. The US doesn’t want her to stay and is trying to deport her. Lesnikova is left in limbo, with no rights, protections, or a path to resolution. © Shaminder Dulai.

In October VII Insider will host a three-week series on ethical literacy. When we talk about photography ethics, we are talking about applying concepts like responsibility, power, and dignity to how to take and share photographs.

Savannah Dodd, founder and director of the Photography Ethics Centre, will facilitate the lecture series. Each session will explore what photography ethics is, why photography ethics matters, and how you can apply photography ethics to your practice. We will look at case studies, share experiences, and reflect on the ethical decision-making process of photographers and photo-editors.

Lecture 3: Photography Ethics: Putting Ethics into Practice
In the third and final session in this series on photography ethics, we will hear from Shaminder Dulai on putting ethics into practice. Coming from a background as both a photographer and a photo editor, Shaminder will draw on his varied experiences to discuss the practicalities of integrating ethics into your workflow. He will address questions like: How can we approach ethical discussions with editors? How can we navigate ethical decisions with others?

Participants

Dr. Savannah Dodd is the founder and director of the Photography Ethics Centre. She is responsible for designing and delivering workshops, lectures, and other educational content. She has worked with international audiences from a wide range of sectors, including media, academia, and international development. Savannah’s training is in anthropology. She earned her master’s in anthropology and sociology at the Graduate Institute of International Development Studies in Geneva (2015) and her bachelor’s in anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis (2012). She recently graduated with a Ph.D. in anthropology from Queen’s University Belfast, in which she examined the ethics of archiving photographs in post-conflict societies. Before founding the Centre, she worked in the international development sector for NGOs and IGOs in Switzerland, Uganda, and Thailand. Alongside her work with the Centre, Savannah maintains her own photography practice.
Shaminder Dulai is a 13-time Emmy-nominated, award-winning photo/video journalist, visual editor, writer, educator, curator and creative technologist with experience producing stories for newspapers, magazines, TV, digital newsrooms, nonprofits and start-ups. He crafts journalistic narratives with intimacy, immediacy and impact that live beyond the daily news cycle, empowering communities to make informed choices and understand complex issues with empathy.