Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:06 AM 2/25/98 +0100, you wrote: >But guess what, instead of using the good pictures they had bought earlier, >they ran this awful picture on the front page as well as the news stands all >over the country. I felt very bad that day, also on behalf of the mother >involved. Holy smokes! Which lame ass paper would do that? I'd not only fire a photographer who would let a reporter manipulate the situation like that, I'd talk to the reporter's editor for disciplinary action. Of course, you didn't work for the paper, so you are not in a position to argue. I'd hate to ever have to deal with such incompetence. If you don't want to tell me in public, please tell me in private. :-) Actually, I would guess that the main reason they wouldn't run your pictures is an ethical reason. Unlike TV, most newspapers don't like using pictures that were obtained by less than honest means. It's one thing to take a hidden camera in, but another to represent yourself as shooting for one reason, and actually having another. Their lawyer may have told them they shoudln't run those pictures. And one reason may be because you are not an employee, and thus not an official member of the press and not protected by the first amendment's protection of the press. But these are the things we often have to deal with as photojournalists. People who think they should have a right to determine what the paper runs (subjects, not photographers) and co-workers who think they know better than us what to do. Add to that balky photo equipment and difficult lighting situations, and then imagine just how hard it is to make great pictures that are not only good in the sense of subject matter, but also the composition, color and other factors. It makes one wonder how the world actually came up with as many great photographers as it has. So that last thing we want to have to worry about is an unreliable camera or lens. Thus the beauty of the Leica M6 and the R system too! Most of the time reliable and become such a part of the way I work that it's amazing. Why would I ever stray? ========== Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Maintenance-free: When it breaks, it can't be fixed