Photography and filming

"People may not want their picture taken next to stories about poverty – especially if it puts them in a bad light. There is a stigma attached to poverty."
Participant in the 'Reporting Poverty' seminar in Manchester, quoted in Reporting poverty in the UK

The challenge of producing striking and memorable images depicting poverty provides opportunities for creativity. There is no one image that can symbolise the subject, in the way, for instance, that a picture of a hospital can for health issues. As David Seymour, journalist and author of the Reporting Poverty guide says, it is a long way from the simplicity of images of poverty such as Gin Lane by William Hogarth in the 18th century or pictures of extreme poverty in a developing country. As with words, photography and filming need to be handled very sensitively, and a number of important considerations must be taken into account.

Be innovative

Avoid the stereotypes. The starting point must be to aim for an image that accurately represents the situation of the people or person being featured, as they are.

"Our first problem was how to convey rural poverty – we were filming in a picturesque Cornish town and all our shots were very beautiful! The use of sync here was critical: by laying Ewan's commentary about the violence and unemployment that exists in the town over the picturesque shots, we were able to change the tone of the piece to reveal a very different story and challenge the perception of an idyllic Cornish village. Secondly, Ewan's story was retrospective and therefore there were no visible signs of 'poverty' apparent now. So we looked to enhance his words by using quite stylised images of Ewan which helped to convey the feelings of desperation and isolation he'd experienced."
Rachel Hellings, independent film-maker, in Child poverty: 'filming Ewan' from Reporting poverty in the UK)

Willing participants

Finding someone can be a challenge. Given the stigma attached to poverty, many people are unwilling to be portrayed as poor – few people in any circumstance like 'bad' photos of themselves.

Anonymity

There are many ways of disguising people's identities through over-the-shoulder shots, silhouettes or pixellation. Another approach is stylisation, or use of an illustration. Some other approaches are shown in the examples below. Photos of the interiors of people's homes may be suitable in some circumstances, or perhaps the area where they live.

"Commenting on an extract from the Daily Mirror, written on International Day for Poverty Eradication, 17 October 2006, participants felt that the photograph which was used was a stereotype and suggested that all families living in poverty conformed to the image of an unhappy lone parent. Why not show the rest of the family (the woman is wearing a wedding ring but there's no sign of the father in the picture)?"
'People in poverty – how they view media coverage' by Dan Paskins, formerly of the UK Coalition Against Poverty, from Reporting poverty in the UK)

Image courtesy of Anna Kari, Save the Children