Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/07

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Photographers named in Diana event
From: dannyg1 <dannyg1@IDT.NET>
Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 05:08:34 +0000

Eric,

> freelancing is
> not the same as being a full-time photojournalist. Most people can only do
> that by being staff on a paper or magazine 

All of the arrested had police press cards and that, to my mind, is what makes the 
difference between an armchair journalist and a true journalist. Newspaper staffers 
are, after all, just freelancers with staff jobs. 

I've had the pleasure of knowing many photographers, who work in a wide range of 
disciplines. Respectful professionalism is not singularly practiced in any genre and 
I'm puzzled by your apparant disdain for the practices of 'freelancers'. All of the 
photgraphers arrested that night were acting in a freelance capacity for their 
respective agencies; yes. 

Big but is that, anyway you slice it, these were (and usually are) fully legitimate and 
talented photojournalists who work for the same type of agencies (and some of the 
same) as the greats everyone is so damn in awe of. I know of no newspaper, great, 
awful, big or small, that could even function without freelance photographers. As 
you've pointed out, there is only maybe 5 magazines left on earth that actually have 
staff photographers. Because of that, no magazine could hold interest without 
freelance photographers. 

Who are they?

Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Sebastio Salgado, Dan Winters, Dominique Issermann, 
Deborah Turbeville, Sarah Moon, Irving Penn, etc. To name just a few.....

Regards,
Danny Gonzalez