Brent Lewis: On becoming the story

In this episode, we talk with Brent Lewis about becoming the story. He describes the importance of not becoming the story by incentivising people to participate in being photographed, but he also explains that we are, ultimately, part of the stories that we tell with the camera. Brent spends some time debunking some other “J School” ideas that can sometimes perpetuate unhelpful myths about photojournalism, including affirming that the photographs we take impact us in long lasting ways.

What does photography ethics mean to Brent? 

“Photography ethics to me means to just bear witness. Let’s not changing anything. Don’t have ideas of what things are going to be or what it is. Just show what life is. That’s the beauty of what we do. … I want to see that person next door lives like, and how that communicates to me and how I see what they are going through that make me understand life that so much better. I want to see the person that is 20,000 miles away and what their life looks like, and how, at the end of the day, we both want the same thing. We both want to be happy, we both want love, we both want compassion, we both want that freedom, that ability to breathe and to live. So photography ethics at the end of the day means to just show me that reality. Show me what’s happening in the world and do just that. Do not harm, go no above and beyond. Just give it to me straight.” (46:23) 

Links:

Diversify.Photo

“Photography is a superpower” tops and totes

World Press Photo Award 2023 Jury

Miranda Barns

Gordon Parks

Evgeniy Maloletka

Article about Lyndsey Addario “Photographing the Reality of War” by Emmett Lindner