Re: [Leica] Photographers named in Diana event

[Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>]

At 05:08 AM 3/8/98 +0000, you wrote:

>All of the arrested had police press cards and that, to my mind, is what
makes the 
>difference between an armchair journalist and a true journalist. Newspaper
staffers 
>are, after all, just freelancers with staff jobs. 

First of all, "press cards" are mere pieces of paper. They mean nothing.
Journalists are not journalists because they are sanctioned by a government
body. They are what they do. That's what counts. For $30 you can buy bogus
press credentials from IFPO and get laughed at by real photographers as you
try to get into football games or presidential press events (which are
bogus by definition, maybe IFPO belongs there before us?).

>I've had the pleasure of knowing many photographers, who work in a wide
range of 
>disciplines. Respectful professionalism is not singularly practiced in any
genre and 
>I'm puzzled by your apparent disdain for the practices of 'freelancers'.
All of the 

I have no disdain at all for these people in particular, if they are
photojournalists just making some extra cash so they can continue to pursue
their true "callings." What I object to are the papparazzi, those who are
not journalists, but celebrity photographers who like the two that drove
Arnold Scharzzenegger off the road, make their money using unethical,
intrusive methods that go beyond human decency. I don't know about the guys
who were near Diana that night. That's not the point. The point is the
broad-brush method some people use to paint a whole profession by the few
bad ones that get all the notice. Kind of like judging lawyers by the
O.J.Simpson trial, or Doctors by the Kevorikain method. Sure, journalists
are involved in those too, but then I don't justify anyone's bad actions.

>Big but is that, anyway you slice it, these were (and usually are) fully
legitimate and 
>talented photojournalists who work for the same type of agencies (and some
of the 
>same) as the greats everyone is so damn in awe of. I know of no newspaper,
great, 
>awful, big or small, that could even function without freelance
photographers. As 

My paper does, and many do. We use NO freelancers. Seriously. We use the
AP, but most of those pictures are terrible quality, or boring. Few stand
out as great work. And by the way, AP is in the process of raping their
freelancers as we speak. Expect quality to go down.

>you've pointed out, there is only maybe 5 magazines left on earth that
actually have 
>staff photographers. Because of that, no magazine could hold interest
without 
>freelance photographers. 

I didn't come up with that number, 5, but National Geographic has re-hired
some staff. Life now has some staff and I believe Time does too, as does
Newsweek. They also rely on feelancers, but they also need staff. You twist
my comments to say I am hostile to feelacers. I said I wouldn't respond to
this thread any more, but I had to object to your characterization I made
of freelancers.

>Herb Ritts,   Yuck,

>Bruce Weber,  Yawn

>Sebastio Salgado,  Awesome

>Dan Winters, Dominique Issermann,  Who?

>Deborah Turbeville, Sarah Moon,  Artists. They're certianly not
journalists by any stretch of the imagination. 

>Irving Penn,  Some wonderful stuff, some inane stuff, always true to his
vision. 
Doesn't use Leica <G>

I could run down a list 100 times longer of freelancers I respect, I adore,
I admire, I despise. But I would never deny them the right to work, or that
others like them, hate them, admire them. I even have a friend who is a
Papparazzi in Washington, D.C. I don't respect what he does professionally,
but if you knew his life story, you'd cut him slack the way I have. He at
least treats people with enough respect that he causes no harm. He's just
annoying (especially for the Secret Service) with his air horn.

My point, which maybe you missed, is that many photographers, such as Mary
Ellen Mark, do commercial work so they can pursue what they really want to
do. That is, photojournalism in the classic sense. Most magazines and
newspapers don't support that kind of work any more.
==========

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

Logic: The art of being wrong with confidence...