Re: [Leica] Re:If a rock flies in the forest.....

[Steven Alexander <alexpix@worldnet.att.net>]

 but it is the truth.
> 
> LUGgers tend to talk of Photojournalists as if they were great and selfless
> humanitarians roaming the world only to find injustices to right. I don't
> think that this is the case. You get paid to bring home the images that
> sell. This makes you just like all the rest of us who are out there
> shooting. If my image does no harm, great. Show me the money. If it
> actually does some good, great, glad I could help the cause. Show me the
> money.
> 
> I wholeheartedly salute you if you are one of the rare few idealists who
> are out to change the world with your images while doing what you enjoy.
> Hey fight the good fight and follow that bliss, but the public are so
> via image overload. The average PJ is in the job to make money to pay the
> rent...just like all other photographers who shoot for cash and they "make
> a difference" about as often.
> 
> Carpe Luminem,
> Michael E. Berube
> 


it is true that the paycheck comes from the folks that worship the bottom
line and not the message.  the difference is that the photojournalist I now
know and those that I have known over the past 40 years, for the most,  do
care about what pictures they create and about the stories they cover.  I
agree that most coverage in most consumer magazines is void of heart, heat
and defined points of view; however, that is not the PJ's doing, but the
editors.  What is missing today are the Gene Smith fights over how the
pictures are used.

In most cases the amount of money paid to cover a story(war, etc.) is not
worth the exposure to  the dangers, therefore it is not money that sends
PJ's to cover this stuff. (Also it isn't stock resales ) and  the amount of
stress incountered in doing a corporate business news story in middle
America added to the equipment investment(Leicas cost big money OT) are
never covered by day rate/space rate payments (here stock sales do come into
the equation).

I don't want *idealist* for recorders of history, I want intellegent people
with a strong point of view and honest  and empathic approach to their
subjects.  The Idealist gives you propaganda, the beancounters gives you
public relations and we hope photojournalists provide realism.

Happy snaps,
Steven Alexander