I was alerted to the website Turning World by some friends here in Haiti. The site is run by photojournalist Brad Workman, who has an ongoing photo documentary in Haiti. Looking at the site, I took issue with the language, the project, and the fact that there is no acknowledgement of – let alone an indication of giving back to – those whose lives are invaded under the guise of social documentary. The books and prints are for sale on the website. I emailed Workman to express my concerns but received no response, so I decided to make my concerns public on my website, Black Looks.

There are ways to tell a story without invading people’s lives and assaulting their dignity – such as the photos chosen by the Camp Acra residents on their blog, a lesson on what Haitians see for themselves.

My email to Workman only began to touch on the whole issue of the ethics of disaster photojournalism and the ‘white saviour’ mindset. Two well-known examples of disaster voyeurism photos are: the young Haitian girl, Fabienne Cherisma, who was photographed dead, having been shot by police after the January 2010 earthquake. The accompanying text states that looters then ‘went through her pockets to steal what they could’; meanwhile, all 14 photographers stood by her body adjusting their lens for further shots – a kind of double shooting: one causing death and one prolonging death as imagery forever. Two of the photographers won an award for the series.

A second, even more disturbing, photo is one of a Sudanese baby dying of hunger while a vulture waits in anticipation of her death. The photographer, Kevin Carter, who also won an award, waited 20 minutes before chasing the vulture away. Journalists in Sudan had been told not to touch famine victims, so instead of, at the very least, holding and caressing the child to give human comfort, or trying to get her to the nearest field hospital, she was left alone.