The ethicality of photos of mentally disabled people.
A question for you all.
I work with mentally disabled people at a day/work center. Some of my clients are great subjects for photos due to their openness, being spontaneous, colorful, being real characters. etc.
I sometimes do make shots but only keep those photos for myself and the best ones are printed and put up a wall in the cantina at the centre. I do not post those portraits on social media or otherwise on or offline due to obvious privacy issues.
However, some of them are really good portraits and part of me wants to share them beyond that small circle at work.
The legal side of it is not that big of a problem, I could ask them or their legal guardians for permission to share those pictures, get it on paper and off I go. No major hurdles there.
But... I'm a bit conflicted about the ethical/moral side of it.
Part of me thinks it's ok because the photos are respectful, portraying them (at least I try) just the way they are, beautiful, vulnerable, happy, sad etc. I'm in a position to take these shots of them and I use that.
The other part of me feels like I would be abusing my position for my own gain, getting the likes and my name out there using their disability and vulnerability.
I felt the same when I took a great shot of a homeless guy a while ago, he consented in having his picture taken but it felt wrong posting it on socials because I didn't want to take advantage of his unfortunate position.
So my question is, how do you feel about pictures/subjects like these? What does your moral compass say and what do you do with it?
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