Photographer takes photos of hungry Indians

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Do you think this is exploitation? I believe in freedom of speech. But with freedom, comes responsibly.

https://petapixel.com/2018/07/24/ta...indians-bring-backlash-for-world-press-photo/

 

[DDTJRAC]

Do you think this is exploitation? I believe in freedom of speech. But with freedom, comes responsibly.

https://petapixel.com/2018/07/24/ta...indians-bring-backlash-for-world-press-photo/

If legal, do as you like.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

If legal, do as you like.

What's moral and what's legal are two different things. But I think this photo project is much more thoughtful.

http://time.com/8515/what-the-world-eats-hungry-planet/

 

[bsdunek]

It seems to me he is bringing awareness to their condition. You have to catch peoples attention somehow, and this was his way. There is no mention of it, but he may have helped them later.

 

[Punker]

I think this looks like a great project with a good meaning. Good for them. I hope it brings a change to the subjects' plight.

The negative responses on Instagram are sad.

 

[Bob Carnie]

This topic is like photographing Street Homeless, its a complicated process. If photography can produce changes for the good in society or help form healthy dialogue to make real positive changes then I am all for this type of photography, its when nothing happens that I find images of poor , starving or helpless too easy to produce.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I think it's all in the approach. To me, the food were props and also her subjects. The photographer said, "The idea was to create a contrast between a typical Western table with luxurious food in a poor context that could emphasize this contrast."

 

[Sirius Glass]

Tasteless and exploitative. The information can be portrayed in much better ways. Yes, there is a moral responsibility.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Based on couple of pictures I was able to see, it is not photojournalism, but some setup.
Pay money and poor people will act for you if it is not too bad action. It is much more difficult to connect with them, get allowed in the circle and then take pictures of what they actually eat. This dude acted as visual artist, not photojournalist. IMO.
Art is not documentary, it is imagination. It could be far for the truth.

In meanwhile every grocery store where I'm have pickles from India. And some specialty food stores have marinaded tomatoes from India as well.

 

[ced]

Mountain out of a mole hill...

 

[rpavich]

What's immoral about it?
Interesting? No.
Well done? No.
Are there better ways to help these folks? I'm sure there is.
But immoral? I don't see it. What moral law is the photographer breaking?

 

[Eric Rose]

The people in the photos were willing participants and were aware of the artists concept. So I feel the images while crass are not immoral.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Does anyone here remember the image of a man being shot with a machine gun on the side of the road , which apparently was a setup to get money from a group of photojournalists.?

 

[Chan Tran]

I don't care for the photos. The photographer can do whatever he wants as long as he is obeying the law. His pictures are worthless to me.

 

[BrianShaw]

Would someone please tell me which family is either poor or exploited. I couldn’t tell the difference. Context counts and these comparisons seem quite out of context to me.

 

[removed account4]

not sure what i think about those photographs
all i can hope is some good comes of his project
and more people are aware of the food needs
of people less fortunate than them, even people
that look like them who aren't exotic and from india.
i hope the photographer did his best while he was there
to feed as many people as he could ( and didn't just use them as props )
==

 

[faberryman]

The photos are staged and do not qualify as photojournalism.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I think they're tasteless, they fail to communicate the photographers' stated goal for the images, and they reflect poorly because of that on WPP. They feel very much like a freshman photography student in art school's photos of homeless people in an effort to be "edgy". And just because someone is a willing participant in the photograph does not mean it cannot therefore be exploitative. It's poverty porn for rich white people.

 

[faberryman]

Everything about these photos is fake, including the food.

 

[Vaughn]

A more interesting approach

http://says.com/my/lifestyle/the-gr...d-the-world-photographed-with-weekly-shopping

 

[mgb74]

Irrespective of the artistic merits (or lack of), I don't feel it can be considered exploitative since the purpose is to highlight their plight and encourage change.

 

[awty]

They are probably more in need of good education and sanitation than all that western food.....probably just give them a tummy ache.

 

[Erik Petersson]

Some guy flying to your village, using you as a prop for his photo idea while you are dreaming about food you can’t afford, then flying back. The cost is probably higher than these kid’s food budget for a year.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Yes it's far easier to ignore their hunger than to see it displayed.

"Anytime we went into villages we used to spend time meeting people, speaking with them and eating together. After I explained the idea of the project and found the volunteers we prepared our set. Most of the people enjoyed spontaneously to be part of this and photographed behind the table. The people I photographed were living in a village and they were not suffering from malnutrition anymore, they were not hungry or sick, and they freely participated in the project."

 

[awty]

None of the children look undernourished, there probably not even hungry.
Most charities these days concentrate on education and having clean drinking water and toilets does far more than fattening them up.