{"id":8505,"date":"2024-01-31T16:32:31","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T16:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/?page_id=8505"},"modified":"2024-02-24T21:26:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T21:26:04","slug":"ellen-tolmie","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/ellen-tolmie\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Tolmie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ellen Tolmie<\/span><\/span><\/h2>
<\/div>[vc_column_text text_style=”leader-text”]Unicef Senior Photography Editor 1990-2013
\nFormer documentary photographer\/filmmaker[\/vc_column_text]
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Back<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″]
<\/div>[vc_column_text]I\u2019ve been a visual documentarian since the mid-1970s, in Toronto, New York and Bogota. In my 23 years leading Unicef HQ Photography in New York, I strove to globally apply professional photojournalism standards to the making and use of all Unicef still images that documented children\u2019s realities and related humanitarian and social development responses.<\/p>\n

It was also meant to uphold the institution\u2019s credibility \u2013 part of the international aid world\u2019s reliance on photography-as-evidence since humanitarian relief efforts began in the late 1800s. This intention was further advanced by the Convention on the Rights of the Child that became international law in 1990. Replacing an ethos of addressing \u2018needs\u2019 to one supporting \u2019rights,\u2019 it entirely aligns with journalism ethics while further challenging visual documentarians to respectfully represent all others, especially the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

I endorse Writing With Light\u2019s<\/em> Statement of Principles and encourage its global implementation by all aid and rights organizations. Generative A.I.\u2019s ability to create genuine-seeming-non-photographs \u2013 synthetic images \u2013 which fakery is not disclosed significantly escalates the threat of mis- and disinformation to our civil and human rights, the ability to distinguish truth from lies and the credibility of our best institutions.<\/p>\n

Here is one example of the power of an authentic documentary image, by Samur Abu Elouf, that led a 18 November 2023 NYTimes story[i]<\/a>. Witnessing the horror of war\u2019s death and lifelong trauma for children, it shows Khalid, 9, crying over the body of his baby sister, one of 68 members of his extended family killed by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza. The \u201cgraveyard\u201d headline quote is from a Unicef statement[ii]<\/a> weeks before.<\/p>\n

This photograph is authentic. If it becomes suspect as synthetic images surge, we are lost.[\/vc_column_text]

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\"\"<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
<\/div>[vc_column_text text_style=”small-text”][i] Link<\/a><\/strong> to NYT, 18 November\/23<\/span>
\n[ii] Link<\/a><\/strong> to Unicef, 31 October\/23<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]
<\/div>[vc_column_text text_style=”small-text”]Ellen Tolmie<\/strong>
\nUnicef Senior Photography Editor 1990-2013
\nFormer documentary photographer\/filmmaker<\/p>\n

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[vc_row padding_top_multiplier=”custom” columns_gap=”40″ equal_column_height=”equal” padding_top=”5%”][vc_column width=”5\/6″][vc_column_text text_style=”leader-text”]Unicef Senior Photography Editor 1990-2013 Former documentary photographer\/filmmaker[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]I\u2019ve been a visual documentarian since the mid-1970s, in Toronto, New York and Bogota. In my 23 years leading Unicef HQ Photography in New York, I strove to globally apply professional photojournalism standards to the making and use of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8505","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8505"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8847,"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8505\/revisions\/8847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwlight.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}