Hippocratic Oath for Analog Photographers

[DBP]

Perhaps one could start with a Photographer's form of the Hippocratic Oath? "First do no harm in eliciting a desired response in a model or subject."

Inspired by a this comment on an earlier thread, I drafted the following:

Hippocratic Oath for Analog Photographers

I swear by Niepce, Fox Talbot, and Daguerre; Stieglitz, Weston, and Adams; Bourke-White, Lange, and Capa, and all the others who have gone before me, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

I will provide instruction and learning to my children and all others who possess an interest in the craft and art of film photography.

I will do no harm to those entrusted to me as models or subjects. Further, in photographing the natural world I will leave no mark behind of my passing.

In documenting events, I will neither manipulate images to obscure the truth nor will I make a suggestion to this effect.

I will not use the digicam, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may my lenses be scratched, my cameras jam, my film be fogged, and my developers oxidise.

Edits and comments?

[david b]

You have too much time on your hands. Go make a photograph.

[gnashings]

You have too much time on your hands. Go make a photograph.

sure, but it made me smile.

[Christopher Walrath]

I do solemnly swear it with my left hand raised and my right hand resting on Ansel's Portfolio's.

[Aggie]

It should be the Ansel alligence not the hippocratic oath. Photography is not medical science.

[firecracker]

Photography is not medical science.

Not even a testimony, either.

[Roger Hicks]

It should be the Ansel alligence not the hippocratic oath. Photography is not medical science.

Then again, it's disputable how much medicine is scientific...

Cheers,

Roger

[battra92]

Raise your right hand.
Take off your hat!
Now put your left hand here.
Raise your right hand! ...

Gotta love the Stooges.

[Claire Senft]

Dear Ms Aggie, I wish not to be contentious. Photography may not be medical science but it cures my ailments. Can we perhaps agree that it is holistic?

[David A. Goldfarb]

And sometimes photography is testimony.

I also think the rule of "first do no harm" wouldn't apply to photography in the same way as it does in medicine. The Hippocratic oath demands that a doctor should treat any patient the same way without regard to moral character. It may be perfectly appropriate for a photojournalist, though, to portray an evil person in an unflattering manner, or to use trickery to achieve an effect. Okay, so we might not like the idea of taking away a toddler's lollipop to photograph a child crying, but what about Karsh taking away Churchill's cigar to produce his most iconic portrait?