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The scandal that ruined the photography industry


Do you notice bigotry against women in photography? It’s there and I feel partly to blame. But some major camera manufacturers and photography businesses are the worst offenders.

Not long ago I was approached by a fairly well known UK photography business. They wanted me to be the brand representative. I wrote back and said I would be happy if there was equality in their ambassadorial team; I know there isn’t. Adding another middle-aged white man to their ambassadors will do nothing to solve that problem, and I don’t want to be associated with a business that promotes inequality, even if it is passive. and unintentional. I received no response from them.

That led me to look at other brands’ ambassador lists. The widespread inequality was shocking.

In a baseline comparison between male and female photographers globally, about 40% are women and 60% are men. I did a similar comparison 10 years ago and the percentage of women is increasing. I hasten to add that this is not a scientific survey, counting only members of each gender in photography social media groups, but it is a reasonable guideline. Even so, we should aim for a 50/50 split between men and women in prominent positions because that is where the ratio of male to female photographers is headed.

In the US, there are 39 women out of the 141 photographers on the Sony ambassador list, which is only 27%. However, of their ninety-eight European ambassadors to Europe, only ten are women. In Asia, only two out of fourteen ambassadors are women. Sony, you should be ashamed

Sony is not alone. For example, Canon has published a list of ambassadors in the Philippines, and they are all male. A despicable act that in my opinion, they don’t apologize. This, although Article by Alex Cooke published here on Fstoppers highlights the problem of over-representation of white males in the industry. That article was published more than five years ago.

This is not really a problem in the modern world. Groping women should have been abolished along with the regimes that promoted promiscuity, along with their other evil customs, by the 1940s.

There is really no difference between the photography ability of women and men. In fact, when I count the most talented photographers I know, more than half of them are women. Furthermore, there are many internationally renowned female photographers. That’s reflected in Fstoppers photographer of the month there’s a fifty percent unintentional split between the sexes. Of course, there are non-binary photographers as well.

So, what’s going on in the industry that gives us embarrassing statistics? Is it misogyny, or is it more than that?

There is an undeniable problem that men hate women in the industry. One only looks at the vile and sick comments left on articles by our female writers to know the case. There is a long history of internet trolls belittling, insulting and bullying women. Read this Kate G’s excellent article highlights the issue of discrimination against women, and then read the brutal comments below. Thankfully, the people who made such malicious statements have now been removed from this site and their accounts closed.

There was little doubt in my mind that the mistake was to blame. Especially when you hear stories where women have to face men. Including this world-class sports photographer getting promoted for bigotry was pointed out and perpetuated by her manager.

No question you have skills or work ethic, but guys will never want you to be their boss – you know what they’re like.

Or when she was photographing a sporting event, she was told,

Put your camera down and stand at the finish line. You are only here to be a reward for the racers.

Or

You don’t look like a sports photographer.

Why do I hide her? To avoid the hate she might receive.

Most brands have or still have problems. On Nikon’s website, only five of its 25 European ambassadors are women. In the Middle East, none. In America, they do much better. Of their thirty-four ambassadors, fourteen are women, making up 40% of the number of photographers, roughly the same number of female photographers out there. About a quarter of Lumix’s ambassadors are women.

Incredibly, I could count fewer than twenty women out of Magnum’s hundreds of photographers.

I would even start to respect these companies if they would raise their hand and admit they were wrong and say what they are doing to fix it.

They are not all bad. Leica displays ten photographers on their website in the UK, six of which are women. Fujifilm emphasizes that it is making its X-Photographer program more diverse and inclusive. I reached out to OM Systems, they are also undergoing a complete overhaul and I look forward to seeing the results of that as that is the brand I use the most.

I talked to Tianna Williams, Creator of the Nikon Z in the UK, another great talent that I admire. She is quite optimistic that things are changing.

There is a definite change in the industry but in terms of recognition, I think there is still a lot of work to be done. There can still be a feeling that photography is an ‘old boys club’ and certain genres like sports and wildlife continue to convey that. However, I think if we look hard enough and in the right place, there will be incredible female photographers who can do their thing! It’s always a pleasure to watch.

Is it always intentionally and actively prejudiced by organizations? Not wanting to sound hypocritical, I checked the numbers here at Fstoppers. Certainly, the number of female writers is much less than expected. I find it strange because I know this is against the nature of our community of writers and editors. They are amazingly supportive of people, and wrongdoing and prejudice of any kind are abhorred here. So I asked Alex Cooke, our Editor-in-Chief, and he told me that it’s difficult to retain female writers because of the nature of comments that occur in articles.

It’s been a constant struggle for me. I try to hire as many women as possible, and we actually had a few more years ago, but unfortunately they left. I have been told at least once that the atmosphere in the comments and the like has discouraged someone from moving on. I simply don’t get many job applications from women, which makes it incredibly difficult.

Then I looked at some of the other major photography sites, and women outnumbered all but DxOMark. Interestingly, they did not give the name of the person who wrote their articles. Therefore, the women cannot be the target of sexist bullies as they have been elsewhere.

Are you and I to blame for this intolerant culture? It’s correct! Why? Even if we all despise that form of hate – most people do – how many of us read stubborn comments and bother challenging them?

I did on Kate’s, but I’m sure there must be comments I’ve seen in the past that I don’t object to.

So here’s a plea to all the good people out there, casual readers, who find those comments as disgusting as I do. Start naming bigots and bullies and show them that their attitude is unacceptable. Not just on this site, but everywhere. Reporting their comments and responding to them shows their lack of understanding. If their comments are illegal and many are illegal, report them to the Police. Unless we all address this problem, it won’t go away.

If you are attacked online for any status, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are a lot of people ready to take the stand. Also, keep in mind that people who make those kinds of comments often do so to make up for their insecurities and shortcomings.

We should make sure that we always do our best to provide support to all photographers, especially women. Do this until the imbalance is rectified.

Maybe we should start voting with our feet, too. Until they actively address their issue of anti-fascism, I intend to discourage my customers from buying products made by businesses that continue to exhibit signs of discrimination. . Manufacturers should start feeling the pain in their pockets. Maybe that’s the only way to change their behavior.

I also urge my colleagues not only here at Fstoppers, but also at Petapixel, DPreview, DxOMark and others, to highlight this and other ethical issues in their device reviews. surname. Talk about it on your YouTube channels, write about it on your blog. When you are evaluating the latest release of a particular camera or lens, among the advantages and disadvantages, we should also judge them on the basis of their equality and ethical standards.

This shouldn’t stop at a mix of gender and gender. Racial and ethnic stereotypes also exist in the industry. Most ambassador plans are divided into continental blocks. Therefore, the race and ethnicity of ambassadors in each region should roughly reflect that part of the world the ambassador serves. That could be a whole new article.

Let us ask that producers meet the same ethical standards as most rational photographers have. Let’s also shame those in the industry who are stubborn, especially those of us who have been stubborn and let it happen. Finally, let’s take a look at all the bigots in our online community with zero tolerance.





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