SPECIFICALLY SOCOTRA: Welcome to the strange island of Socotra. This photo series documents some of the strange landscapes from this small island off the horn of Africa. As always, click photos to embiggin. If you’re just joining us, this is what you’ve missed so far:

1. Gone Fishing … In Yemen
2. Specifically Socotra
3. We’re Not in Kansas Anymore …
4. The Myth of the Dragon Blood Tree
5. Burqa on the Beach
6. Attn: Crayola — A New Color For You — Socotri Cerulean
7. My Day as a Pirate

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While camping on a beach off the coast of Africa, I was approached by a group of rowdy women, all robed in traditional black burqas. Some of them were less covered than others, but all had their skin and hair completely covered, many had their faces and eyes covered as well.

This is quite normal — if you are a women in Yemen and want to go to the beach, you still wear the veil and robes even if you want to go swimming in the ocean.

Taking pictures of women on Socotra is considered completely unacceptable. As I normally have a camera out, when I would see a woman on Socotra they would almost instantly react and steer clear of me, some would cross the street and others would just completely turn around (even if I wasn’t taking their picture, or even a picture).

It was like walking towards superman with a pocket full of kryptonite (apologize for the Spin Doctor’s reference).

I’ve spent some time in North Africa where public photography (or street photography) of women was not well liked but I had never seen such an extreme adverse reaction to the camera as on this island. A child at some point threatened to throw a rock at me, when I raised my camera toward her.

Interestingly enough, almost all of the women (besides children) on the island are dressed completely in black with burqas, hijab (head covering) and niqab (veil covering face and often eyes). If I were to take a photo, I’m not sure anyone would ever be identifiable. But that’s besides the point.

Back on the beach, the burqa-ed mob were shouting as they approached my girlfriend Maysha and I. I wasn’t taking their picture so I couldn’t figure out why they were yelling at me. When they got a little closer I realized some were actually speaking a little English. They were asking me to wait up.

So we stopped and had a chat with them. Turns out, these young ladies actually wanted me to take photos of them. I think they wanted me to take their pictures simply because they knew it wasn’t allowed. Like teenagers in the west who want to break the rules, these girls were having a blast taking pictures with us and doing a large variety of silly poses and the never boring, cross-culturally/universal fun “jump shot” (more on the “jump shot, later).

While none spoke good enough English to have a very in depth conversation, there was no verbal communication needed to understand that they were having a great time. They would reach out and touch me, and instantly begin giggling like infants.

At some point, one women even kissed Maysha on the cheek which brought the mob to tears — as if they had just witnessed the funniest joke, anyone had ever told anyone, in the history of jokes.

While its common in the west to see women with hijabs or head coverings we don’t often see fully veiled women, except on television and news reports. Overwhelming often, when we see these images the stories are inevitably negative. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a report that says “Muslim women had fun at beach.” I believe our conceptions surrounding the burqa can be vilified and misguided by the media so much that we often forget about the women underneath the veils.

Just like us, they like to go to the beach, they like to laugh — and they too think its fun to break the rules once in awhile.

Many in the west consider the burqa to be a symbol of female oppression. These claims have gone to extreme points in places such as France where the burqa has been baned completely in public places.

The French law is religion-neutral; it refers only to generic “face coverings,” not to any particular religion. The French law imposed a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa became punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000 euro ($19,000) fine.

But these giggling and jumping girls certainly didn’t act “oppressed.” The women who didn’t want to be photographed, also didn’t act “oppressed.” More, they followed the traditions of their society, be it far different than ours. As Muslim societies are generally religious one, France’s claim that the ban is “religion-neutral” is just about as ridiculous as their English accents (this statement is half joking … hopefully you can figure out which half).

While there are certainly great gender inequalities in Yemen and the greater Middle East where burqas are commonly found, to the women wearing them here this tradition is just as normal as having a Christmas tree on Christmas or lighting a menorah on Chanukah. In fact, in traditional context they symbolize virtue and honor, attributes which we see as positive things. This is often referred to in the Muslim world as Namus.

Namus is an ethical category, a virtue, in Middle Eastern Muslim patriarchal character. It is a strongly gender-specific category of relations within a family described in terms of honor, attention, respect/respectability, and modesty. The term is often translated as “honor”.

Its just what they do. And its these actions and traditions that make up their culture.

Having said this, I do believe gender equality is an issue of global importance that needs to be looked at in many areas of the developing world and the so-called first world. And while I don’t agree that women should be considered any less of a person or citizen than a man, I do believe they should be able to wear whatever they want.

And if that means wearing a black veil and covering their face, so be it.

In a greater historical context there is evidence which shows a strong correlation between the level of education and freedom of women, to the greater level of development, prosperity and peace in that society. In a conflicted area like the Middle East it would seem this to be a good thing.

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NOTE FROM JONAH: This is a guest blog post written for A Good Week based on the question: “What Does Good Mean to You?” A Good Week: is a global celebration of all the Good that happens in the world. We will shine a spotlight on the people, communities and businesses who do Good.

I was honored to be asked by A Good Week to answer this question. Funny enough, although the question is simple, the answer is not. I encourage everyone to check out this Web site and the people they are interviewing around the world. Myriad topics span across the globe documenting what people are doing to make earth a better place. From Sir Richard Branson to students in Palestine, to a retired teacher back at it in the Himalaya, to thoughts on ethical consumerism — there is a wealth of good thoughts on the site.

Here are mine …

Inspiring Good through visual storytelling
July 28, 2011 4:40 pm

Jonah M. Kessel is a Beijing-based freelance photographer, videographer, print and web designer. Jonah’s own desire to do Good leads him to create and document stories that inspire people to take action themselves, in a way that shows that rest of the world that individuals can make a difference to the global community. Here, he talks to A Good Week about what Good means to him and in more detail about what he hopes to achieve through his work.

Earlier this year UN Ambassador of Peace Jane Goodall said to me: “If you really want something, and you work hard, and you take advantage of opportunity, and you never give up — you will find a way.” When you look at the problems facing our world, it can be quite intimidating. But Goodall’s message gives me hope that individuals can and do make a difference.

And while I can’t claim to define what “good” is, I can describe what “good” means to me.

The tricky part of this question is to examine the relationship between “good” and “better”. There is a certain amount of subjectivity here; however, I believe to do “good” is to make things “better”, to improve things. This means, not just understanding the problems and issues we face as a global community, but fundamentally understanding that we are all part of one global community. We are all connected — regardless of where we are or what we do.

I believe there is also a strong relationship between “awareness” and “good.” Issues which people are not aware of, have very little chance of getting better.

As a visual journalist and storyteller, when I have the chance to document something that I believe people should be aware of, I try to jump on the opportunity in the hope that any subsequent action will be enough to make people think and, if I’m very lucky, encourage people to take action. As an individual this is how I try to do good — by creating awareness, which I hope in turn will cause a wider audience to think about our world and the issues that exist within it.

Through my job I see individuals frequently doing good things. Last month, I created 12 videos documenting volunteers of Shanghai Roots & Shoots on a reforestation trip to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. While the volunteers are combating desertification by planting trees, they are also sending a message to people around the world that individuals can take action — and make things better, both on a local and on a global level.

In other instances, videos I take don’t show people taking action, but highlight problems that need attention. I recently finished a project documenting the redevelopment of a culturally rich area in Beijing. Some organizations are fighting for the area and the residents who live there; however, without greater awareness the area and its historic and cultural legacy may become lost amid China’s rapid modernization.

I think the direction that young people on this earth are going in is very encouraging. We have problems, but there are people who are actively trying to make things better, create awareness and who ultimately — do good.

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NOTE FROM JONAH: This is the continuation of a photo series from India. If you’re just joining us, here’s what you’ve missed:

1. I’m not alone here
2. People ‘like’ my diarrhea
3. Dancing In(dia) the Streets
4. Indian trains: Contemptibly cozy, crammed and claustrophobic
5. Feeding a City Part II: From Macro to Micro
6. Confusing realities of child labor
7. Enlightined in Bodh Gaya बोधगया

On child labor — its very hard for me to find a good moral compass. Its easy to take the Western perspective and say — kids should never work. However, in the developing world (especially in rural areas) this is simply not a reality — and in many cases working children are even more protected than those who do not work.

Parents depend on children to farm or earn money in whatever way they can. In many parts of the world children are brought into the world specifically to create another set of arms to help. They are financial assets to families. After visiting different women’s empowerment groups in India, I’ve heard lots of horror stories about Western organizations coming in and stopping children from working.

In some cases — if you take the children out of the workplace, you are taking away their value to the family. If they have no financial value to parents, children can be sold into prostitution. The choice between a child working to help the family or being a prostitute seems pretty clear.

While a lot of children do go to school — the end goal is not clear. Parents I’ve talked to clearly see (at least some) value in education; however, they have more pressing issues. Food, shelter, clean water and health care being some of the big ones.

After school, options are extremely limited for children in the developing world.

I’ve visited some rural villages in India where there is absolutely zero commerce in the village. There are no stores, no factories and almost no exportable industry. So if you decide to send your child to school eventually they will get to a point where you can finish or continue to a higher point in education (this higher point might be the 9th grade as university might be completely out of the question for financial reasons).

So let’s say a student finishes the 8th grade and this student comes from a poor family (which would be the vast majority of Indian families). Their options might be:

• 1) Continue on to high school — but after high school you will be left with the same options below but will have spent years learning when you could have been helping your family earn money to survive.
• 2) Leave your home and find work in a bigger city (like many migrant workers in China and India) and send money back to your family.
• 3) Stay home and help with family affairs and business — this might be farming or creating sellable goods. It might be helping to raise other children. It might be having children of their own.
• 4) Join the enormous unemployed work force of India (around 10%).

If you have a 14-year-old son, is it better for him to help work to feed the family or to go to school? The choice in some ways comes down to survival vs education.

If you chose survival over education you forfeit the chance of this specific generation helping to improve the life of the family down the line. If you chose education, you have no guarantee this will help your family now or down the line.

For many families — education is not even an option.

One big distinction comes in forced labor and factory work. This line is a little easier to draw. While I might not have a problem with a child helping to weave a basket at home that the family can sell – I do have a problem with a factory full of children making shoes.

In India the legal working age is 14-years-old. Some of the images above show young girls working — they may or may not be of legal working age. However, I think the age is almost irrelevant and the attitude people in the West should take in development work should be to encourage education while the kids are working. If kids can go to school for at least half the day and work for the other half of the day — they will have a chance to improve conditions down the road while simultaneously helping the families current realities. If you take the opportunity for them to work away — you open flood doors to lots of other problems.

While I believe child labor is wrong — when you see the needs of a village and their reality it makes it hard to make an absolute judgement on this — as we have done in the West. This isn’t to say I am “for child labor” but if you are going to work with the developing world you have to work with their reality — NOT our value system.

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Yesterday, Beijinger Web editor Dan Edwards asked me to apologize to the Beijinger, a local metro styled magazine and Web site.

Why Dan thinks I need to apologize is an interesting story that brings up some relevant issues any freelancer living in the developing world will have to deal with and also highlights publishers continued bias to the medium.

Let’s rewind to last weekend when a hundred Beijing residents donned Santa Clause outfits and paraded through town leading to a spectacle in Tiananmen Square. I shot the event, and in the nature of the holiday season told any participants or local bloggers they could have access to the photos. At the top of my blog post I wrote:

Beijingers — are you in one of these photos? In the Christmas spirit I would like to offer high resolution photos for personal use (no commercial use please) to anyone who might want one.

Within hours of the initial post emails from participants started rolling in. As word got around, soon state media outlet Global Times called to inquire about photo usage. Their offer of 50 RMB ($7.51 USD) wasn’t really quite enough to make me get off my couch. Then came Beijing Today, which quadrupled the Global Times offer. Next on the list came the Beijinger who in an email wrote:

Hi Jonah,

I work at the Beijinger and was wondering if we could use your photos from the SantaCon pub crawl.

We’re interested in putting them up on out picture gallery and would credit all images to you. We’re also posting a blog on the pub crawl and have mentioned your blog as well as used some of your images. I’ll send on that link when it is posted.

You have some great pictures and the day looked like lots of fun. I’m sorry I missed out. Please let me know your decision by replying to both emails.

Thanks,

employee

Although I could tell from the email they weren’t interested in paying for the usage I was curious and responded:

Hi employee,

I’d be happy to release some/all images to you; however, I do make a living licensing photos. Does the Beijinger have funds for freelancers?

Thanks,

Jonah

The Beijinger took this statement as — yes, you can use my photos without payment and proceeded to post them on their Web site.

While I’m completely used to having images ripped off in China, I’m not used to people asking to use them first and then proceeding without permission.

The images remained on the Beijinger’s blog for about 24 hours and two emails later they were taken down. It’s possible they didn’t read the top of the blog that said “no commercial use please.” Its possible they took “however, I do make a living licensing photos” as “but in this case, I’m not interested in making money.” And its possible this is just the timeline they respond to emails, and they didn’t let the bulk of their traffic flow to the site and then take the images down.

Nonetheless, small fish — No big deal. Another site rips off images. I would have let it go, had I not been provoked multiple times by Beijinger Web Editor Dan Edwards who writes to me:

As employee explained, the use of the photographs was due to a misunderstanding, and the images were removed as soon as you made it clear you did not want them on our site.

Employee has apologised for her mistake – perhaps you would like to consider doing the same for being so rude and abusive towards someone you do not even know.

Regards,

Dan Edwards

Dan refers to some strong language I used asking them to take the photos down which occurred when I couldn’t get an answer from them. In reality, beyond the initial misunderstanding and not responding to emails – the writer handled this situation well. They were polite and easy to communicate with. However, when the editor came in swinging his title around things became more unpleasant.

Had the emails been responded to the entire situation would have been avoided. When I asked about why it took so long to respond to any of my emails Dan writes:

Hi Johan,

Your email would have been responded to. Believe it or not we deal with dozens and dozens of inquires a day, and well over a thousand pieces of user generated content being posted to our site every day. We are not machines and your question about whether would have been interested in working with you on a freelance basis required some consideration and discussions with more than one person in the company.

Since it was they who approached me, I thought this was a weird stance. Apparently, they have time to ask for photos — just not time to wait for the answer.

While its hard to imagine apologizing for them using my photos illegally, a couple unrelated issues have come up in between these lines and emails.

Value of the medium

The more interesting topic that came out of this debacle was the Beijinger’s stance on paid contributor photos. Over the course of the messy email tirade, the Beijinger employee wrote:

On our blog we are unable to offer fees and can only cite and tag photos that we use.

While the incident above bothered me, this actually bothers me more. This problem is not only a Beijinger specific problem, but it illustrate a greater issue showing publishers remaining bias to to the medium. This statement is saying: we will pay for photos for our Web site articles and magazine, but not on our blogs.

Beijinger staffers are paid to write blogs. The Beijinger sells advertising that appears with and next to the blogs. Then why would a photo be worth less on a blog then in an article?

Perhaps publishers believe the informality of the blogosphere gives it less value.

The reality is blogs have become just as reliable of a news source than our newspapers, magazines and Web sites. While some progressive media has recognized the societal importance of the blogosphere, others still hold on to the past trying to save pennies and kuais. There is some type of irony in that the Beijinger doesn’t recognize their value — its almost counterproductive to their business.

Competing with the local market

This situation also reveals another problem a foreign freelancer will face in the developing world. Regardless of what currency goes into your back account, you have to compete with locals who work on a much different scale. While I wasn’t willing to give Global Times a photo for 50 RMB, someone else will.

Its hard to really figure out exact numbers; however, I most likely charge about 25 times more for my work than a young local photog. Fortunately for me, the large bulk of my work comes form outside of China, making it possible to work within the system without disrupting it.

However, every time I have to quote a price I’m at risk of having the client say, “well, I think I’ll just save money and pay a Chinese person to do it.”

Finding the balance between charging a fair wage for your work and not blowing the market is a delicate thing.

Santacon 2010

If you missed the enormous series of posts from this weekend’s incident here are some links:

• Beijing Daze: Santacon 2010: Santa Brings Cheers to Beijing, Media Brings Controversy
• Beijng Boyce: Beijing SantaCon Diary: With mulled wine, Christmas carols, a Tiananmen scuffle, and more
• Global Times: Police say Santas were naughty this year
• Agance France Presse: Bah humbug: Santas booted out of Tiananmen Square
• Spiegel: Polizei in Peking verjagt Weihnachtsmänner
• Beijinger: Tiananmen Flooded by Santas
• Beijinger: More on the SantaCon Weekend

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Note from Jonah: This is a follow up post to a discussion from last week concerning comercial usage of Flickr photographs. Read that post here.

Within 24 hours of last week’s blog post titled “Air Canada trolling Flickr for free photographs,” I received an (understandably) angry email from enRoute’s photography editor. I told them I would give them a chance to give their opinion on the matter, and asked it they would answer a couple simple questions to help make the situation more clear.

About a day later, the editor of enRoute took over. Although they have sent me a letter, they did not answer all my questions concerning their practices with Flickr — and after a small amount of investigation some discrepancies in their official practice have come to light. The only real clear fact I’ve gotten is both the photo editor and managing editor are blaming the intern for giving false information.

Here’s a sequence of quotes that show the morphing opinions from enRoute:

1) INTERN: “Unfortunately, we do not pay for those images. We give credit to the photographer and we hope that this is a chance to be shown through onAir, Air Canada’s e-zine, by 2.5 million people monthly.”
2) PHOTO EDITOR: “We often do compensate with a fee.”
3) MANAGING EDITOR: “We pay for these photos with a fee comparable to the same quality stock photography.”

This seemed a bit confusing to me. I asked enRoute to provide me with a Flickr user they had used and paid. They refused citing a privacy policy, which I though was strange given that photographers have bylines. However, after a quick search on enRoute’s Web site, I found a photo they had sourced from Flickr and contacted the photographer via Flickr mail. She says:

4) FLICKR PHOTOG: “Basically they didn’t ask. I think it’s an awful article and no I’m not happy about it. I’m a fan of Andrew Keane and his wonderful book “The Cult of the Amateur” and I believe this sloppy behaviour from corporates is putting professionals out of jobs. – Some may argue that my behaviour in publishing content online is doing the same, so there’s fire in this argument!

I know Air Canada and their agency have not used the image incorrectly from a legal perspective, but morally, this is pretty bad. It’s just nonsense copy wrapped around a few images from Flickr. The copy doesn’t really even make sense. It’s insulting to people who share their content for the community – (in my case the artist community at Mediamatic who the photo is about). This article is sadly earning Air Canada money from the ads they have wrapped around it. However I’m sure it’s not strengthening their brand with anyone who reads this sloppy journalism.

If I was Brand Manager at Air Canada, I’d be disappointed in this output from the Agency I’d hired.”

So according to enRoute’s editor “It was her error. She’s an intern and has been in our office for a couple of weeks.” This makes sense. A nascent intern decided to make a budget decision without the advice or instructions form a supervisor and in fact, the policy of the company is to pay all Flickr photographers as the managing editor says. This seemed strange to me given the Flickr photographer’s response. Things weren’t really lining up with the companies statement and their emails became more defensive, offensive and uncooperative. Nonetheless, to be fair to the company I would like to print their official statement. It reads (verbatim):

Hi Jonah,

I’m the editor-in-chief of enRoute, and I wish you had taken the time to contact us directly before posting on your blog. My photo editor has reached out to you to resolve any issues you may have with enRoute or Spafax, which publishes the magazine for Air Canada, but you continue to misrepresent my team and the creative work they produce.

One of our core values at enRoute is to promote the work of writers and photographers. Our stories are a curated collection of what we feel are the most interesting people, places and ideas circulating through the world at the moment, including profiles of artists and photographers. It is one of the most award-winning and respected Canadian publications, in fact.

You are reducing the efforts of an entire creative team down to a single correspondence with an intern, which was never verified with anyone else at the magazine, regarding a tiny photo in the back pages of the magazine.

Flickr photographers are usually compensated with a nominal fee, comparable to what we pay for stock photography. The advantage, of course, is that their work is shown to over one million readers, and some people are happy to have their work showcased to our influential readership. This is absolutely in keeping with industry norms. We never violated anyone’s copyright and, in fact, ended up using a shot available from a tourism board, which is why a fee wasn’t offered in this case.

We commission almost all the visuals in the magazine from some of Canada’s (and the world’s) best photographers and illustrators. To suggest otherwise shows that it is unlikely that you’ve ever read one of our issues.

We use a small amount of pick-up, from Flickr, photo agencies and other sources, like virtually every magazine on the planet. In all cases, we credit photographers for every photo, including websites where requested.

Again, my team at enRoute works very hard to put an engaging magazine in our readers’ hands, so I’m not sure what “corporate machine” you are referring to. It’s also available free of charge, in hotels, spas and restaurants across the country, and on our website, enroute.aircanada.com

Perhaps it might be worth taking a look.

Thanks,
Ilana Weitzman

While the above contributor wasn’t paid or asked according to her, in a different situation Flickr user Old Shoe Woman says: “Yes, they asked for my permission. I had to send them an invoice with the agreed amount for the photo. They told me I would get credit. They actually did give me credit. I just couldn’t find it at first. I emailed, and they told me where my name was located. They paid me $50 for the picture.”

So perhaps there is some inconsistency involved in their practices, where some photographers are being paid and some are not. Regardless, my point is the same. Amateur photographers: your work has value. If a commercial enterprise such as enRoute wants to use your image in a magazine (even if its a “a tiny photo in the back pages of the magazine”), you should be paid for it.

The discrepancy in voices between the editors, the intern and photographer is certainly suspicious in my mind if there is an actual policy — or the policy is simply, try to get it for free. Based on the tone and voice of emails I’ve received its hard for me to trust them.

Thoughts from industry professionals

I thought it might be good to get a few more opinions from industry professionals on the matter. A creative director at a major Asian stock imaging agency (being kept anonymous) writes:

“Sourcing images from Flickr or public domain isn’t something new, and Getty Images even has a partnership with the former. Although the biggest difference here is that Air Canada is a big corporation trying to source images for commercial purposes without compensating the photographer (a credit line isn’t compensation in my book, no matter what). As far as I know, Getty at least compensates hobbyists for licensing their work through Flickr. I personally think that if a company considers an image good enough to be published in a magazine read by millions of readers, then it’s good enough to pay for doing so.

In all our years, we have never accepted a credit line as means of payment. We advise all photographers who sign with us not to accept this as well, because it undervalues not only their own work, but the work of other photographers who make a living from photography. The only exception is when images are used for charities or NGOs, with the content provider’s permission.”

Another European agency writes:

“Hi Jonah

Interesting debate! The stock industry was the first to monetise hobbyist and amateur content with the growth of microstock companies.

From where I sit I see the stock industry has utilised Flickr to source new talent. Getty Images has partnered with Flickr to source talent for its Royalty Free and Rights Managed collections. Giving hobbyists an opportunity to move straight in to the previously somewhat ‘closed’ macro market. Those represented are renumerated on sales of their images like any professional would be. http://www.flickr.com/help/gettyimages/

There is no doubt many companies are seeking ‘cost’ driven content and to a large extent this is satisfied by the volume of content available in microstock. However the photographers whether professional or hobbyist are paid royalties.

From a personal perspective I believe photographers (hobbyists and amateurs included) ought to be paid if their work is being used. Large corporates can certainly find the financial muster to offer something!

A professional photographer whose work and experience has spanned large portions of the globe says:

“As a professional photographer, I am very careful about how my work is used and for what purpose. This is because I feel my images have value.

The perceived value of photographs taken by an amateur may differ from that made by a professional, but an amateur’s photographs still have value. They may not realise it but they are hurting the professional photography industry if they give images away for free.

At the end of the day, every photographer deserves to be compensated for the use of their images, whether they are professional or amateur. A byline is never enough”

While I can’t seem to come to a conclusion of what’s actually happening at enRoute, beyond veterans shamelessly blaming a newbie, a couple things are clear:

1. Industry professionals agree if a photo is good enough to be published, it should be paid for.
2. A credit line, is not compensation.
3. Cost driven content makes amateur photographers a great target for publications looking to save a buck.
4. Giving away photographs to commercial clients undervalues not only your work, but the work of other photographers who make a living from photography.
5. You will not be seeing my byline in enRoute.

RELATED: Journalist Tom Spender just sent me a link to a great NYT article titled: “For Photographers, the Image of a Shrinking Path.” Worth a read on the industry and its use of Flickr.

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Note from Jonah: This is the first post in a discussion concerning comercial usage of Flickr photographs. Read the second, follow up post here.

My friend emailed me yesterday, asking advice on a photography related question. He writes:

Hi Jonah — So some rando sent me a message on flickr saying they wanted to include some photos of mine in an in-flight magazine for Air Canada. The email checks out with a media-production company whose clients include air canada. From the message it seems they’re offering photo credit, some copies of the issue, but no mention of money. Think I should do it?

While random emails looking for photos are normal, I had not heard of people using Flickr as a means of finding free photographs and exploiting photographers. The company’s circumnavigation of the photography industry made me want to share this with any and all photographers and business people.

Here’s how the situation unfolded.

The following emails came from Flickr mail. All names have been changed to not put any individuals in a bad light — I’m just questioning the ethics and integrity of the companies involved.

Hi,

My name is SUZY Q and I am photo researcher for enRoute magazine (Air Canada’s in-flight magazine).

In our December 2010 issue, we are going to be mentioning the Ice and Snow Festival in Beinjing. During my photo research for the piece, I came across some fantastic photos of the area that you have posted on Flickr.com. We would maybe like to possibly use one of your photos and are interested to know if:

a.) they are yours/you took them/own the rights to them and
b.) if you would be interested in giving us permission to print them. We would credit the photos to you and would send you a couple copies when it is launched.

We are working on a bit of a tight deadline. If you could let me know if this is possible, I would appreciate it.

The image that we would like to possibly use can be seen here …

Thank you in advance. I hope to hear from you.

Regards,

SUZY Q

This is when I got the email from my friend. I thought about it for a couple minutes before I came to the conclusion this is simply away for the airline, media company and in flight magazine to save money. There were clearly hundreds of professional photographers at this event, and this method which is probably more common than I would like to think, completely circumnavigates the photography industry.

In the unusual circumstance, these were the only existing photos of the event, I would understand this method of research. However, this would also make the photographs valuable. I encouraged my friend to inquire about payment.

Hello SUZY Q,

Thank you for contacting me about the photos. Sorry for my late response; I just noticed your message today. Is there any possibility of payment for the photos you use?

Thank you,

TINY TIM

Relatively quickly, the company emailed back:

Hello TINY TIM,

Unfortunately, we do not pay for those images. We give credit to the photographer and we hope that this is a chance to be shown through
onAir, Air Canada’s e-zine, by 2.5 million people monthly.

Hope to hear form you soon.

Thank you,
SUZY Q

I’ve left SUZY Q’s signature out of the email. However, I would like to point out that she is an intern at enRoute, Air Canada’s in flight magazine. This makes me even one more degree disgusted at the business ethics of the companies. Not only are they clearly doing something with dodgy ethics — they are making interns do it.

It would be unfair to suggest Air Canada and this media company are the only companies doing this. I’m sure it is common, but I would like to make a suggestion to photographers not to take work from companies doing this and a plea to amateurs — your work has value of more than “a couple copies” of a publication. Especially, as SUZY Q points out — one with an audience of 2.5 million people a month.

I have no problem with businesses using Flickr as a tool of finding photographs. However, if they are targeting hobbyists and amateurs their motives are clearly the bottom line. I’m sure enRoute is a beautiful magazine filled with the best free photos they could get their hands on.

Please spread this around on your social networks to create more awareness in the photographic and business communities.

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Note from Jonah: This is the continuation of a photo series from the Great Himalayan Mountain Range. The photos document a journey by car, foot, boat, plane and elephant from Tibet to Nepal.

I gave the woman above 5 kuai (60 cents) after taking her photo … Every since, I’ve felt horrible about it. I didn’t intend to do it, I just got stuck in an awkward situation. Let me explain …

I have never experienced the population of China reacting to tourism like they did in Tibet. From Disney-like monasteries to beggars, the impact is obvious.

I’ve been to some of the poorest villages in China. I’ve eating dinner with a family in Anhui Province, where their annual income was less than $100 per year. I’ve been to a town in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region where sand is taking over lands and livelihoods. However, never in rural China has a beggar ever asked me for money. Although this is different in cities — beggars are still very rare compared to anyplace I’ve ever been in the developing world.

Furthermore, no Chinese person has ever asked me for money to take their photo. In Tibet, traditionally nomadic people are waiting at vistas hoping to be photographed as a way of making money. Tibetan monasteries charge an entrance fee — however, on top of that if you want to photograph, an additional fee is often charged — sometimes, the additional fee is per room. Meaning you pay an entrance fee, and every room you photograph has an additional fee.

The room above in the Ta Shi Lhun Monastery cost 10 RMB to photograph ($1.49). Should I have paid?

While I have seen these actions and practices in other countries — I had not seen it anywhere in China. This part of tourism brings up a tough ethical question for travelers and photographers.

Should you pay for a photograph? What makes it more tough, is the amount of money you pay is almost meaningless on a western scale.

My attitude is: You should never pay to take someone’s photograph. If they don’t want to be photographed, that is fine — and people should respect that. By paying to photograph rural people, you fuel a very negative occurrence of tourism’s impact on people and places. Every time a traveler pays to photograph someone, it makes this form of economic gain one step more viable for rural people and in turn, aids in the disintegration of traditional lifestyles and culture.

Having said this; I admit, this is much easier said than done. For example, if a street beggar gets me at the right moment, pending on their attitude I might give them money (non-photographically speaking). The woman in the top photo was asking for money. For whatever reason, I reached into my pocket to see what type of small bills I had. After I gave it to her, I realized she was selling me the right to take her photo.

So I took it. I’ve been mad at myself ever since.

I took the above photo of a Yak on top of a mountain on a pass near the Drigung Monastery. It was just standing there eating. However, instantly after — the owner of the Yak charged at me demanding money for photographing his Yak. This was after the incident with the lady and I refused.

But then I felt bad for saying no to him. It didn’t seem like I could win — however, by refusing to give him money I felt I made a more ethical decision.

The ethics of travel photography are very difficult — especially given the purpose of your photography. Are you taking the photo for a magazine? For your Facebook page? To show your grandmother? Simply for yourself?

I do believe foreigners should not pay subjects to be photographed; however, I also understand the reality of assignments, the pressure of the value of the dollar and the feeling that you can help someone in a small way.

I believe if you minimize your impact on the people and places you visit you will leave the places more authentic for other travelers while helping to preserve global culture and our physical environment. Paying people for their photograph is doing a disservice to ethnic populations, other travels and our global society.

Road Trip on the Himalayan Shelf: If you’re just joining now, here’s what you’ve missed:

1. Road trip on the Himalayan Shelf
2. Lhasa: City of Sunlight, City in the Sky
3. In Tibet, People’s Liberation Army (mostly) out of site, but not out of mind
4. Attn: Crayola — a new color for you — Tibetan Blue
5. Tibetan Cloudscapes
6. Tibetan Prayer Flags Littering Roof of the World
7. Should you pay for photos? The ethics of travel photography
8. 29 Minutes and 15 Seconds on Mount Everest
9. Desertification stretching from Inner Mongolia to Tibet
10. ‘The journey not the arrival matters’
11. Namaste and welcome to Nepal
12. Kathmandu: The greatest place on earth to get lost
13. Kathmandu: Full of mystery, culture, history — and trash
14. ‘A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles’
15. Who has the strongest necks in the world?
16. Hey hey, they’re some monkeys
17. After the Himalayan: The Terai
18. Watch where you step: Chitwan National Park
19. At the end of the road: Pokhara
20. Final Destination 8 (in 3D): The luckiest travelers in the world
21. Tibet to Nepal: ‘The Journey Not the Arrival Matters’