Re: Model Releases/Preconceptions

[Welch <Bill.Welch@pressroom.com>]

Like Harrison, I grew up in the South. And I agree, you have to make the 
preconceptions of others work for you. 
	I want to add one point to what several of you have said about the 
photographer's preconceptions. With photos or the written story, what appears in print 
may reflect the preconceptions of the editor that sent the journalist out there, or 
whose heavy editing hand may have reshaped, or misshaped, the final product. That may 
not be the case in the book Donal cited, but in the more current press I believe it 
sometimes is.
	Sorry, after 20-plus years in the news business, I can't resist the opportunity 
to blame it on the editors!
	But I mean this seriously.  Several posts have mentioned the impact of TV. 
Another impact is that because TV images are ubiquitous, our own editors devalue the 
business of gathering the words and pictures. They won't admit it, of course. But they 
sit at their desks and watch events unfold on CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN or whatever, just as 
average viewers do. And then it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that represents 
the entire story. Well, the TV folks can do the best job in the world, and they still 
haven't reflected the full story like a good writer and photographer on the ground can 
do, without the TV gear and the constraints of airtime. But too often these days, 
editors just want confirmation of the take they got off the tube. Or worse, they don't 
want to consider the story if it isn't already on their radar screen because they saw it 
on TV.

Regards,

Bill




Harrison McClary wrote:
> 
> I hate to say it, but all too often this is true.  People arrive in an area
> and allow their preconcieved notions of a place color their perceptions of
> reality there.
> 
> I see it here in Nashville a lot.  Everybody coming to town thinks we all
> wear cowboy hats, drive trucks, chew tobacco, and are divorced.  All because
> of Country Music.  Well no locals wear cowboy hats (unless of course they
> moved here from somewhere else.)  I grew up on a farm raising cattle and I
> have never even owned a cowboy hat.  Most are NOT diviorced, and only a few
> of us drive trucks.
> 
> Furthermore because of the way we talk people assume we are less intelligent
> than others.  Having spent a large part of my life working news, I have
> played this to my advantage adapting a deep south Georgia accent and playing
> dumb just so that when the S*** hits the fan and things happen fast I can
> get where I want to be becasue the security, cops, or whatever over look me
> because I am a stupid southerner.
> 
> Photographers need, no must, stay open minded and try to show objectively
> what their subjects are about.  The media has already lost its credibility
> because of biased news coverage, so we as the visual documentarians of the
> times and places we find ourselvs MUST show things as they are, not how we
> want them to be.
> 
> Harrison McClary
> http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto
> 
> ----------