Ethical Statement

Last updated June 2026

I take ethics seriously in my work and try to be clear about my position on key ethical issues. While I am not bound by the ethical code of any particular profession, my approach draws on principles from several fields to which my work is adjacent, including journalism and social sciences research. Below are brief statements outlining my current position on issues that frequently arise in contemporary photography, how I think about them, and how I try to navigate them in my practice. Reflecting the living nature of ethics, these are constantly evolving in line with my work and experiences:

Accuracy – Accuracy is fundamental to my practice, and I extensively research every project. The subjects I work on are often complex, and information can sometimes be incomplete or provisional. Where this is the case, I try to communicate those uncertainties in the work itself. Although errors can still occur, I am always willing to acknowledge and correct inaccuracies when they come to light.

Staging – I have never created staged images in my practice, although I do not object to staging where it is clearly disclosed and serves a justifiable purpose. I do sometimes ask people to pose for portraits, usually in ways that remain recognisable through their direct engagement with the camera. However this tends only to entail asking people to stand or sit in a particular location, I very rarely direct how people should present themselves.

Representation – Photography plays an important role in shaping how people understand communities, places and events in the world. I try to avoid reinforcing stereotypes or reducing complex issues to simplistic narratives. I do not believe that photographers must belong to a particular community in order to be allowed to represent it, provided they approach the work with care, respect and sufficient understanding.

Photo Manipulation – Some degree of image manipulation is an inherent part of digital photography. My concern is not with editing itself, but with edits that materially mislead audiences or substantially alter the content of an image, such as adding or removing significant visual elements. I keep post-processing within these ethical limits.

Artificial Intelligence – As with photo manipulation, I believe transparency is essential when using AI, particularly generative AI. My use of AI tools is limited and mostly involved support for preliminary research, most often to repeat research I have already conducted manually and identify information I may have overlooked. I have only used generative AI in one project where its use was clearly signposted, and where there was little danger of the images being misunderstood as true representations of the world.

Intellectual Property – I regard current British intellectual property law as increasingly ill-suited to contemporary visual culture, where appropriation, remixing and reuse are commonplace. I do occasionally incorporate copyrighted or copyright-uncertain material into my work, but only where there is a clear artistic, documentary or critical justification for doing so.

Privacy and Anonymity – I recognise both the legal right to privacy and, where appropriate, anonymity. Beyond legal obligations, I believe respecting these principles is central to ethical documentary practice. Protecting participants’ dignity and allowing people to share their experiences without unnecessary exposure helps build trust and minimise potential harm.

Environmental Impact – Photography and artistic practice can carry significant environmental costs that often go unacknowledged by artists and institutions who simultaneously claim to care about the climate crisis. I try to minimise my own impact by travelling by lower-carbon means wherever possible, developing projects that require less travel, designing exhibitions that can be reused, and avoiding events that depend on unnecessary long-distance travel.

Funding – I disclose the principal sources of funding for my projects wherever possible, unless the work has been entirely self-funded. I will not knowingly accept funding from organisations or individuals whose activities I believe cause significant social or environmental harm. This includes, but is not limited to, tobacco companies, arms manufacturers, fossil fuel companies, gambling companies, lobbying organisations, businesses linked to serious human rights abuses, and companies engaged in predatory commercial practices.