Authored by Jason Houge, 2026/03/06

The following directive is intended to establish guiding principles for the contemporary artist engaged in Compassionate Photography. This Artist Manifesto may be expanded upon and modified to make more suitable for practitioners engaged in other areas of creative process. These establishing guidelines need not be followed in their entirety, but should be considered and weighed against when creating art and images under the banner of Compassionate Photography or Compassionate Art.

  1. 1. Lead with compassion, for the story, the subjects, yourself AND the audience. No one should be battered by you, your process or the work you make.*
    *Except for evil corporations and governments. Give them hell, if you care to give them any of your energy at all.
  2. 2. There are 6 walls, not 4. Be in them, with the story.
    1. 2.1. Find yourself in the work so the audience can find themselves.
    2. 2.2. Follow your heart. It’s who or what you love that brings the story to life. Not what you analyze and know about the subject.
  3. 3. When making the work:
    1. 3.1. Be Yourself.
    2. 3.2. Be Honest.
    3. 3.3. Be Humble.
    4. 3.4. Be Polite and Courteous.
    5. 3.5. Be Careful and Be Aware. Look around you, be aware of where you place your body, your feet and your camera. This is for your personal safety. Do not rely on the subject(s) or public to protect you or alert you to danger.
    6. 3.6. Be Discreet. You may only be a star in the end.
    7. 3.7. Be a Voice, not an eyesore.
  4. 4. Take your time and work on your timing. Become skilled enough to capture action in a single frame or two.
    1. 4.1. Practice your timing during low-stakes situations to learn how to anticipate an object’s place in space and the delay of your camera in an effort to capture your action picture in a single attempt: (e.g. A child’s baseball game, horseshoes, archery). It can be done!
    2. 4.2. Do not rely on machine-gunning your camera at your subject, this is a low-skill technique. The machine-gun technique is intimidating to a subject, it’s needlessly noisy, it fills space that could be used for better photographs later and it creates more work and stress for yourself during the editing phase.
  5. 5. Practice. Practice seeing, especially when you do not have your camera. Over time you will learn to naturally position yourself to be successful behind a camera. This may look like:
    1. 5.1. Observing the background while having a conversation with someone.
    2. 5.2. Moving your body to organize the world before you.
    3. 5.3. Testing your awareness of lighting conditions.
    4. 5.4. Going for walks with your camera, just to see what the world looks like photographed today.
  6. 6. Understand to be affective you will need time. Time to think, time to evaluate, time to work. Do not rush the process.
    1. 6.1. Make sketches. This may look like: drawings, taking notes, snapping a few pictures with the intent on using them to return at a later date to make a refined image.
    2. 6.2. Take a few pictures and move on. Do not dwell on ideas you cannot see yet. Spend time observing and finding your vantage point, commit the camera last. Do not waste your time, film or storage.
    3. 6.3. Print early edits of you photos, put them up around your workspace to get a real sense about the work and how it’s behaving. Work on sequencing. Think about it as a film director might. Make decisions that move the story.
  7. 7. Take your time, be patient, and learn to see when it’s time to move on from a picture, a sequence, a view point, a position.
  8. 8. If you can, mentor. Be encouraging to the less experienced and guide them through perils, if you are able.
  9. 9. Have integrity. Do not compromise your work, your voice, your art or yourself. Expect and demand credit, when credit it due. Likewise, be sure to credit others as well.
  10. 10. Understand and accept there are other voices on the stage, you do not always need to be the loudest or the most prominent. But be sure to speak up and advocate for yourself when it’s time.
  11. 11. Master the 3 Rs: Work to Respond instead of Reacting, then work to transition your Response into a Reflex. The following definitions offer examples. These examples are not exhaustive but all three indicate a level of skill for a photographer practicing Compassionate Photography:
    1. a) A Reaction is a spontaneous, uncontrolled behavior. It occurs in an instant, without any effort of thought. (e.g panic, fits of anger, jerks of repulsion, blurting out words and regretting them later, etc).
    2. b) A Response is a measured and co-ordinated effort. Responding is a slower process, taking effort and awareness before taking action. (e.g. focusing on your breath, taking a moment to think before speaking, observing and listening with the intent to understand, being considerate of others and their wellbeing, being prepared to offer and provide first-aid, anticipating the actions of others to prepare yourself, being merciful for the mistakes of others and yourself, protecting your time and health, etc).
    3. c) A Reflex is an intentional reprogramming of Reactions with Responses. Some might describe a Reflex as a “second nature.” Transitioning a Response into a Reflex takes intention, time and practice. A Reflex is a Response with a direct route to action, taking no effort of thought or time to implement. (e.g. Breathing, walking, showing kindness to a stranger or someone you love, etc).
  12. 12. In War, Conflict and Uprise: photograph the love, the bonds, the griefs, the sorrows, the blood and guts. Tell the story because a photograph will outlive anyone present. Seek out the moments of compassion, joy and camaraderie. They’re fleeting. Be present, Be quick. If you do photograph the blood and guts, seek therapy.
  13. 13. Keep the framing organized, chaos must be framed in an orderly and composed fashion. But the frame itself may be broken.
  14. 14. Make it beautiful, make it ugly, make it better, make it worse. Just make it.
  15. 15. Work with a single palette. Be selective about your color choices. It is difficult, but possible. Doing so will add cohesion to the story and images within it.
  16. 16. Clean your palette between projects, or don’t.
  17. 17. Experiment and have fun. Do not fall into the trap of formulaic process. Maintain integrity while working on a body of work, but feel free to play when switching to new projects.
  18. 18. Equipment is a tool. Choose the right tool for the job. Leave the Swiss army knife at home, unless you are MacGyver.
  19. 19. Learn to know who your audience is. Learn to know who is not your audience. And most importantly learn to know when you are not the intended audience for another person’s work.
  20. 20. Collaborate. Together a team can achieve so much more than any one single individual can alone. Collaborate with other artists. Collaborate with a curator. Collaborate with an editor. Collaborate with your audience.
  21. 21. Print and share your work.
    1. 21.1. Hold exhibitions. Start sharing your work when it begins to stand on its own. Exhibiting in-process work can provide valuable feedback whereas waiting to exhibit until total completion may leave you shocked by how audiences respond when they do so in unexpected ways. Think of this as a musician might. A pop-up show is like an evening bar gig or a single release by your favorite musician. It gets people engaged and interested in the work you’re making. A major exhibition doesn’t come right away. An exhibition in a prominent gallery or museum can be thought of like a concert where all the lights and effects come into play. Every venue is different and is an opportunity to explore some new way of exhibiting your work. You may find you prefer certain venues over others. The point is to get the work seen in places where audiences can engage with it and come to know you as the artist.
    2. 21.2. Publish your work. Again like a musician, a published body of work is like a vinyl record, tape or CD. It lives on in the physical world longer than any exhibition can or will. A physical book or zine extends the conversation you’re having into the future with audiences you may never meet.
    3. 21.3. Sell your work. Make sure your work continues to live in this world. The voice you are sharing should be given the chance to live on to continue inspiring others and to be admired well into the future. Plus, as an added bonus, or maybe the point: at the very least it helps you continue making the work by funding it, and it feels nice to get something back for your effort.
  22. 22. Document a life lived today. And DO live your life! Don’t let the bastards grind you down.