Taking the lead in forming a code of ethics: Hmmm. It’s certainly an idea of merit. And, I think there would be takers. If you take a look on my recent article on Is travel photography becoming endangered. You’ll see quite the debate from various photographer in the realm of travel. Not everyone has the same point of view.

However, setting up a sort of creative commons style of travel photography or photography in general maybe the answer. Grades could be given to the image in question. But keeping it simple would be key. I think that’s a major failing of creative commons, there’s just too much too it that people don’t understand it fully.

I think we ought to take the lead and develop a code of ethics. It could be put together with many of these writers here and somehow get it out there as a Best Practice document. And one’s website could sport a logo featuring the site to be one adhering to those Best Practices.

Am I an idealist? Perhaps. There is value personally and I would like to think, financially to being recognized as abiding by recognized ethics.

Yes, for many people simply asking permission first a great first step, so long as they actually do it. Some problems start when you take into account language & cultural differences. “Miscommunication”, as it will later be determined. Handing over money for a photo is not always the best solution on many an account. e.g.

It promotes the terrible “1 Dollar” for a photo phrase which is spreading throughout the world.
Money is not the best thing to hand out to some people i.e. drug users e.t.c.,
If the photo you took starts to sell, or ends up as a cover shoot, verbal agreements tend to disintegrate.

A lot of this depends on your usage of said photograph of course. But yes for the average travel snap shot, handing back your photo before you leave is a great idea for many to take up on!

Thanks for your comment!

-marryam- Hi there, as I mentioned, this is not going to be a Tibet v China, political discussion. Glad you enjoyed the read.

-Susan- Hi Susan, yes you bring up a good point. Ethics is a show of character. Hopefully within the travel blog / writing genre one’s peers will help with ensuring ethically correct works are noted. Then again, bad news sells …

Not necessarily so. This is quite easy to resolve — ask pple before you take their photo and tell them what it will be used for (if you plan to use put it somewhere). Frankly we've rarely come across someone happy to have their photo taken who changed their mind when they were told it might end up in a publication, on the web, or in a book. It's a nice gesture too, to try and give photos back. Not always possible, but quite often it is with a bit of effort (yes it may cost some $$ but you're 'taking' someone's image, so I think it's a reasonable exchange).

“Yea, in India no one has the internet so you won’t run into problems.”

In fairness to the guy it was a 2007 show. But the Internet in India is huge. If someone finds a photo of themselves on the cover of a blog, I would not be surprised if they requested payment, or for it to be taken down.

It’s something that makes photography for the non-professional quite difficult these days. Pro’s can pay and get model release forms with no issues, or relatively few. A typical traveler with a blog, is less likely to do this. And while less likely to sell their work online. It can happen.

And then, there’s the whole privacy thing … I’ll discuss this a little more in the next article.

Thanks again for your comment!

And no, you are not on the offenders list, yet … I won’t be mentioning names.

-Trudy- That’s really good to hear Trudy. Glad to hear you’re having a deeper think about the other implications too. It’s not something that’s raised that much, but it’s still something that can affect a lot of people. Thanks for your comment!

-Akila- Hi, and welcome! Yes your bring up a great point of privacy too. Many, many people simply don’t want their photo plastered over the internet. Facebook’s recent copyright changes brought that to the attention of everyone. I would not want to upload an image to any service that can then use it as they feel fit.

A code of ethics for travel bloggers is a good idea, but would need some organizing, support, and understanding. Not to be taken lightly if done properly. At least that’s how I feel.

Thanks again for your comment!

Great article, by the way. The food blogging community has created a bloggers code of ethics.

http://foodethics.wordpress.com/

I wonder if the travel blog community should take the same sort of initiative.

-Ivy- Hi Ivy, nice to see you here again! Biggest flower is coming up later in the week. It’s apart of a separate mini series. I might change the tag line at the bottom is it’s not clear what’s coming up next. Anyone else?

Glad you know the answer to the privacy issue

Isn’t their a law of some kind of thing that protect people and there privacy? (just to say something, no need to answer, we know the answer.)

-Bethany- Actually, individual countries have different laws regarding photographs and their usage. Which in turn makes usage more difficult when you consider the implications of a “global” internet source. At the moment in the UK there’ s a huge problem with photographers (press, media, tourism) who are being openly harassed by the police under “section 44″, the terrorism act. A simple search of “I’m a photographer not a terrorist” will bring you up a lot of content.

-Abbey Hesser- Congratulations on your first sponsored post! Personally I would just write a one of two line sentence informing your readers that this is a sponsored post. Keep it short & simple!

And, yes it’s often difficult to get candid photographs from people after you have asked permission. I use two methods for this. 1. Shoot away, and then go up and ask. 2. Get permission, then take a long time photographing. Eventually the subject will relax & you’ll get that candid photo!