The power to create photographic images to support, substitute or (occasionally) subvert established regimes of representation (Hall, 1997) about places and people embroiled in crises and conflicts has long been concentrated amongst a few media organizations and predominantly male photographers from the Global North (Hadland et al., 2015; Hadland et al., 2016; Gursel, 2016; Ilan, 2018; Hadland & Barnett, 2018a). But the established hierarchies of global ‘image operations’ (Eder & Klonk, 2017) are being challenged as digital technology and cost-cutting measures within the international media industry create opportunities for a more diverse group of image producers to tell visual stories. Scholarly understanding of this shift when it comes to conflict- and crises-affected contexts have been skewed towards investigating the practices of non-professional image producers (e.g. Kennedy & Patrick, 2014; Eder & Klonk, 2017; Baroni & Mayr, 2017; Blaagard et al., 2017), but increasing attention on professional photographers is now being paid (Hadland et al., 2015; Hadland et al., 2016; Hadland & Barnett, 2018a). There is also a growing recognition within the international photographic industry that the global community of visual storytellers needs to be more inclusive of professional photographers from traditionally marginalised communities, and that promoting gender equity in this context is imperative (e.g. BJP Online, 2016; National Union of Journalists, 2019). This discussion within the photographic industry of empowering photographers from marginalised groups is in parallel with the growing recognition and academic investigation of the cultural mediation undertaken by local media professionals from the Global South for international media organisations (Mitra & Paterson, 2019; Palmer, 2019). In addition, the lack of the ‘female gaze’ in photography has come into focus recently in academic research (Hadland & Barnett, 2018b) as well as within the photographic industry (BJP Online, 2017). However, focused academic study of perceptions and practices of female photographers from the Global South has not been conducted to date.
In this chapter, we report findings based on analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 22 female photographers, predominantly from the Global South, regarding the inequities they see as inherent in photographic representations and practices in relation to marginalised communities as well as how they respond to them. The purpose of presenting this analysis is to allow practitioners’ perspectives to inform the often-voiced idea that promoting equity, especially gender equity, in who (get to) tell visual stories will make a difference in the ways and means of representing the world through photographs.