What is a photo essay's responsibility to its subjects?

I'm working on a photo essay about the unhoused community near my campus, and I'm running into some serious ethical questions that I didn't anticipate. I thought the hard part would be the photography—getting good shots, finding the right light, all that. But the real challenge is much deeper: what is a photo essay's responsibility to the people it portrays? Especially when those people are vulnerable?

I've been volunteering at a Sunday meal program for a few months, so I know some folks by name. They know me. They've started to trust me. And now I want to photograph them for my project, and I'm terrified of exploiting that trust. What is a photo essay supposed to do in this situation? How do I tell their stories without reducing them to symbols of suffering? How do I make art about real people's lives without being extractive?

My ethics professor (yes, I'm taking an ethics class alongside this) talked about the difference between "showing" and "using." A responsible photo essay shows reality in all its complexity. An irresponsible one uses subjects as props for the photographer's agenda. I want mine to be the first, but I'm not always sure where the line is.

I've started showing people my photos before I include them. I ask: "Does this feel like you? Does this feel true?" One man said no—he didn't like that I caught him mid-sentence, looking confused. So I won't use that one. Another woman cried when she saw a photo of her laughing with a friend. "Nobody ever takes pictures of us happy," she said. That one will definitely be in my photo essay.

I'm learning that what is a photo essay becomes is shaped by the relationship between photographer and subject. It's collaborative, not just observational. I'm including their voices too—short quotes alongside the images. It's becoming a hybrid thing, part visual, part oral history.

Has anyone else navigated this? What is a photo essay's ethical obligation when documenting vulnerable communities? How do you balance artistic vision with human dignity?

Peter, this is such a thoughtful post and I want to add something that might help with the "what is a photo essay" question you're wrestling with.

A photo essay isn't just a collection of images. It's a narrative. And every narrative has a point of view. The question isn't whether you'll have a point of view—you will, inevitably. The question is whether that point of view is imposed on your subjects or emerges from your relationship with them.

Your ethics professor's distinction between "showing" and "using" is perfect. Showing means presenting reality as it is, with all its messiness and contradiction. Using means taking what you need for your argument and discarding the rest.

The woman laughing with her friend? That's showing. A photo of someone sleeping on a grate with a dramatic caption about society's failures? That's using.

Also, the fact that you're including their voices alongside the images is crucial. Let them speak for themselves. Let them complicate whatever narrative you might be tempted to impose. The best documentary work creates space for subjects to push back against the documentarian's assumptions.

You're asking the right questions. Keep asking them. The work will be better for it.