Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dan Cardish wrote: > >>>>>>This photo reminds me of another pic I've seen, taken of a group of > photojournalists surrounding a starving (and perhaps dying) child, all > furiously clicking away. > > Do they sell tickets for the choice seating ahead of time to these > photographers? Or is it first come first served?<<<<<<<< Hi Dan, it's first come first served! Some times with the "rat pack" they flow together looking for interesting things. sometimes the lesser ones tag along at a discreet distance from a big name shooter, figuring what he or she finds will be the perfect shot. Sometimes they flock around like vultures. But generally the ones who are very good at this kind of stuff try to float by themselves, partially for the exclusivity of the situation, and hopefully not to create a "media type event" gang click as we see in this picture. We all know that when TV cameras or stills cameras are pointed in the direction of a demonstration.... wherever that maybe....... the demonstrators receive an unwritten signal.... "now is the time to turn on the after burners and make it look like Armageddon!" Like, make it look good for the cause, whatever that cause maybe. It's very simple , they use the media to get their message across and the media are always so stupid they shoot this crap! I believe it was Tina in a post who said something like, "Imagine a war started and no one came!" Imagine the Middle East at the moment.... all the media leave.... completely and no one is covering this nonsense, how long do you think it would go on? Hell they wouldn't be able to use the international media any longer as pawns of the cause, so everyone would just go home and live peacefully. (Sorry I realize that's a bit pie in the sky) However, it would be interesting to see what would happen. Right? You shouldn't blame the photographers for any of this gang shoot stuff, ( you may not agree with it ) But in reality they are there to cover whatever the hell is going down and if that means bodies, starving kids, wailing women and rock throwing kids, they are still only doing their job and bearers of the message. Right or wrong! And any of you who've never been in this kind of situation, please don't hypothesize as to what you would or wouldn't do, simply because it's a whole new ball game before your camera And quite often, you're as much concerned that you're not going to get your brains blown out as you are at getting your pictures! I suppose you noticed that some of these photogs are wearing helmets and flak jackets! This isn't a quiet shoot in the forest doing rocks, ferns and non breathing things. Well maybe it is "non breathing" things at times. ted