Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/08/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Landis may have taken a little extra testosterone to stay in the race. He just wanted to stay in the race afterall. If so he cheats. One can make up a lot of excuses, but the bottom line is he was fired for altering a photograph. ----- Original Message ----- From: "R. Clayton McKee" <leica@rcmckee.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 2:28 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] Another Altered Photo > On 7 Aug 2006 at 13:40, John Sluss wrote: > >> Seems like this gentleman that altered the photograph was making an >> editorial comment, or perhaps propaganda. His photograph should have been >> on >> the editorial page. > > I'm going to trot WAY out onto this limb here, with the same evidence > everyone else on the list has (which is to say no evidence at all > except this explanation makes sense to me personally), and say that I > suspect this was probably more marketing than editorial. > > Look, the guy's a stringer for a major service in the middle of a > MAJOR event. There are probably a couple of hundred other major > shooters there, probably a fair number standing within a few meters > of him when he got this, all shooting merrily away at the same > skyline with the same smoke. And so one of two things happens... > either before or after this shot, there's a moment or two when > there's honestly more smoke in the sky -- and he missed the shot (but > a bunch of the other guys with bigger cards and batteries got it) OR > he knows everyone else has pretty much the same thing he's got. > > Thing is, if you're freelance, if you're in the same place as the > bigfoots and you DON'T get stuff as good as they do (especially in > situations like this that are probably fairly simple shots with > comparatively low risk) you get no more phone calls, especially if > you're tied to one of the major wires. And if you don't have BETTER > than the staffers and the contract guys have, you don't sell much in > today's world, because the OTHER guys' work is already paid for and > you're an extra expense. > > So he's got to have at LEAST as good as theirs to keep his string, > and better than theirs to get much in reuse in those conditions, and, > well, what's a desperate, on-the-edge-of-nowhere stringer to do? > "Well, it WAS like this two minutes later; nobody'll know..." > > And I suspect that if his laptop were better his shot probably > wouldn't look that much different from everyone else's.... > > And nobody would know he was a fake and a liar. With the right > connections he could even run for the presidency in most places... > > > > > -- > > > R. Clayton McKee http://www.rcmckee.com > Photojournalist rcmckee@rcmckee.com > P O Box 571900 voice/fax 713/783-3502 > Houston, TX 77257-1900 cell phone # on request > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >