Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]- ----- Original Message ----- From: <LRZeitlin@aol.com> > Newspaper photos are intended to startle the reader. Anything goes as long as > doesn't outright lie or alter the facts - or at least so said my former editor. > > Larry Z Whoa! Larry, "...startle the reader. Anything goes...?!?" Was your editor a photo editor or a managing editor who thought he knew something about photojournalism. Many newspaper PJs have been fired for thinking anything goes. When I am working, in addition to the photographic rules, I am constantly thinking "relevance, story quality, have I influenced the shot? and is it news?" For example: I don't shoot corpses in traffic fatalities, and I have worked for years to establish trust with area fire and EMS units to know that I exercise this sort of discretion. There is no reason for loved ones to have to relive a tragedy on the front page of the newspaper. But I do not hesitate to shoot photos of people or their bodies anywhere when it may need to give a graphic example of human rights infractions, and there may be no other form of communication from the area. I do strive with photos for impact, which have more substance than a photo that simply startles. Startling photos are easy. Setups, other than environmental portraits for features are indeed false. During the civil war, photojournalism was in its infancy and the ramifications hadn't been pondered. Additionally, through the '30s and '40s technology was such that it may have been more acceptable because it was nearly impossible to be inconspicuous with a Speed Graphic in front of your face. But the process has matured to give the field credibility, and to work in concert with the written word in mags and papers. Now I guess we do have to make a judgment call on what news is, daily, sometimes hourly. That is what we are trained to do. I attend the photo ops, but whenever it appears that the total purpose is to manipulate the press (as opposed to simply getting some ink), I am out of there, along with many of my colleagues. My editor has never questioned it. Lloyd Lschultz334@charter.net Online photo portfolio: http://www.geocities.com/lloydetc/photoart01.html "Nollite illegitimus contarere vos" - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html