Re: [Leica] What I did today ..or...GET A LIFE!

[Ruralmopics@aol.com]

Good post, Eric. It's nice to see that the Missouri-edge wears off after a 
while. It sure did for me. (Of course, I'm not saying you ever had that 
particular attitude -- I don't know -- but many who were trained at our alma 
mater sure come out with a few things to learn about diplomacy, tact and 
humility). I sure did . . . 

Bob McEowen

In a message dated 9/20/99 12:57:09 PM, ewelch@ponyexpress.net writes:

<<That is exactly right. Nobody has the right to tell you you can't take 
pictures in a public place, but they do anyway. Be better than them. Be 
polite, and if the picture isn't critical, say "Okay, no problem, it wasn't 
that important." If it IS important, then ignore them or say politely 
something like, "If you don't want to be in the picture, move, I'll wait." 
The worst thing to do is deliberately provoke them.

And please don't say it's reportage smugly and act like you are entitled to 
photograph them no matter what. If it's news, fine. Just don't say anything 
and go on. We photojournalist already have enough problems being accused of 
being arrogant. And the fact that some are doesn't help. But people must 
take people's feelings into consideration and weigh their right to privacy 
against the reasons they are taking the picture.

I had to cover an accident several weeks ago where a boy was riding his 
bike down a steep hill with another kid on his handle bars. He ran a stop 
sign at the bottom of the hill and ran smack dab into the fender of a 
pickup. He looked pretty much like he was going to die. No response from 
him, his hand was limp when the paramedic raised and dropped it.

As I was taking pictures of the paramedics working on him, his mother 
stepped in front of me and said "I don't want a picture of him in the 
paper." She was obviously in distress, and not thinking clearly for any 
reason. I don't blame her for that. So I don't get all hot to trot and say 
"Just get out of my way, I'm doing my job." I dropped my camera and said, 
"I'm sorry ma'am. I'm just doing my job." I indicated that if he wasn't all 
right in the end, we wouldn't run the photo anyway, though in the heat of 
the moment I could have worded it better. She tried to stay in my way, so I 
put my cameras down and went over to the other side. She didn't follow. I 
got some more pictures, but the best ones were before she confronted me. So 
no big deal. I didn't need to harass her to prove I could.

But we didn't run the photo anyway - he didn't die. I found a better photo. 
The driver was staying around to talk to the police after things calmed 
down. He was sitting in the grass in front of his truck. I got a picture of 
him with his head in his hands next to his dented pickup, obviously in 
distress because of the accident. You could not see his face, or identify 
him, unless you knew him or his pickup. The picture became a more universal 
warning to look out for kids on bikes, and for kids on bikes to remember 
they will meet with disaster if they don't watch what they're doing. That 
no matter what, all parties are hurt by carelessness.

  (Oh, by the way, the kid riding on his handlebars was unhurt. I guess he 
dove off before they crashed).>>