Beyond clickbait and commerce

2014). One response has been to partner with non-government
organisations (Grayson 2014; Myers 2008) – an image-hungry
sector that Popular Photography magazine advises its readers is the
eighth largest economy in the world, worth more than US$1 trillion
a year (Myers 2008).
The position of landscape and wildlife photographers is not entirely
congruent with that of other photographers made vulnerable
by disruptions to the business models of corporate media. The
subjects and attractiveness of their images mean they may be
well placed to take advantage of any editorial preference for the
soft commercial genres of travel and lifestyle journalism. It is also
noteworthy that working closely with ENGOs is nothing new for
conservation photographers – many have been doing it for decades
(Mittermeier 2005), albeit that ENGOs often expect them to donate
their time and supply images free of charge (ibid). Conservation
photographers are defined as nature photographers who go
beyond ‘documenting nature or creating works of art’ to make
images that help ‘protect the subject they depict’:
RESEARCH
PAPER
Conservation photography showcases both the vanishing beauty
of our planet and its disappearing spirit, and it puts the image
‘to work’. It is the pictorial voice used by many conservation
organizations to further their messages (ibid: 8).
In addition to working with ENGOs, photographers committed to
conservation usually conduct their own distribution via personal
websites and social media, books, workshops, presentations and
exhibitions (Seelig 2014). Some run their own ENGOs. Nevertheless,
professional nature photographers are likely to make a portion of
the income they derive from their images by licensing them to
mainstream media, other corporations or government agencies.
Many conservation photographers believe that distributing their
work through multiple outlets – mainstream media as well as ENGO
and personal channels – increases the likelihood their images will
reach both environmentally conscious and uncommitted audiences
(see, for example, ibid).
Although some conservation photography also documents
environmental damage (ibid; Peeples 2011), arresting images of
wildlife and unspoiled nature continue to play an important part
in ENGO marketing and mobilisation (Schwarz 2013). But there are
many examples of the visual discourse of environmental concern
and action being appropriated by commercial interests (Hansen
and Machin 2008; Doyle 2007; Linder 2006). An attractive image
of nature that functions well as activism can also be an effective
advertisement for tourism (see Urry and Larsen 2011) or – abstracted
and decontextualised – an array of other brands and commodities
(see Hansen and Machin 2008; Doyle 2007; Linder 2006). On the
one hand, conservation photographers who partner with ENGOs
Copyright 2016-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 13, No 2/3 2016 17