Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]+1 what Dr. Ted said. I've had opportunities to cheat or lie my way into a position but I'm smart enough to know that I will be found out in the future, but more importantly, those are things I absolutely refuse to do. I could have sold photos to organizations that I do not support nor believe in but I didn't. Especially now in times of financial hardship the easy path of looking the other way from my morals or dishonesty or just "flexing" the truth can be tempting for me but look at me now, I'm still flat broke but I'm proud that I have my integrity. Back in the Navy, I had to stand up to officers that outranked me by infinity but I had the positional authority to stick to my guns and say "no sir, I will not change the current weather observation." (so the officer and his fellow pilots could get forward on their qualifications.) I've stood up to a screaming Marine Colonel who I had to "move aside" when answering a call to a real lube oil fire. I was commended for pushing him into the bulkhead and risking courts martial. I was ordered to alter photos in photoshop for publication and would not do so of my own free will. At the threat of Article 15 punishment, I had legal draft up a document that released me from the consequences and stated that I was altering the photos while protesting and under duress forced by the chain of command. I also had my name stripped from that work so it would not follow me. That was actually the only "gun to my head" occurrence that I ever encountered and after that, the officers I worked for respected me more because I went up against six of them and had the courage to involve the representative of the JAG to cover my butt. We all have these decisions to make quite often. Some are cut and dried, some are more like choosing what mixture of vanilla and chocolate in a swirl of pudding. Being able to make that decision and if it is wrong, own up to it is what creates integrity. Pellegrin should plain old know better. His behavior in this matter is what one would expect in the high school yearbook staff, not what was once the pinnacle of documentary photography. Phil Forrest On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:04:37 -0800 <tedgrant at shaw.ca> wrote: > Hi Crew, > Well I'm not the least iota of forgiving for sloppy journalism nor > photojournalism! PERIOD! Yes at times errors are made by......... "A > ROOKIE JUST STARTING OUT!" We've ALL HAD ONE AND BEEN FORGIVEN > ONE....... "as a rookie!" > > In this case? HE'S AN ELITE OF THE ELITE...... MAGNUM PHOTOGRAPHERS > DO NO WRONG! > > Aren't we supposed to be looking at and trying to emulate what the > elite of the elite photojournalists are supposed to be........ > "MAGNUM PHOTOGRAPHERS?" the best in the world? > > One question? If this is the elite of the elite we're supposed to > look up to as the be all to end all of the best of the best? > Supposedly leaving us completely in awe because they are "MAGNUM > PHOTOGRAPHERS!" And pulls off a crapper like this and makes excuses > (lies) himself out of the mess that he knew he was doing wrong in > the first place. I'd think there should be a tongue lashing by > whomever of MAGNUM, if nothing else and being on some kind of > probation for a year because he has belittled MAGNUM the Agency and > all their photographers! > > He certainly isn't a person, nor now an organization I'd want my > children learning to be a photojournalist to look up to. > > If MAGNUM had the balls ........ "THEY'D FIRE HIM!" Don't look to > see it happen! > > regards, > Dr. Ted Grant > -- http://philipforrestphoto.wordpress.com/ http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest