Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, it's close enough to the subject, Dave; thanks for a thoughtful and informative post. Art Peterson - ----Original Message Follows---- From: Dave Yoder <leica@home.com> Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: [Leica] Re: Leica Users digest V10 #18 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 17:37:11 -0700 Well, OK, sorry if I came across as snooty. I get riled when people think violence is an appropriate response to a percieved social indiscretion. I've approached people I don't know and photographed them from up-close countless times, and I've photographed people from afar with a telephoto many times, almost never with any problems. The only two people offended were photographed with a telephoto. I think it's because they thought it was devious. When you're right there with the person, you've got nothing to hide. There's no formula to make this work, and sometimes it wouldn't work under any circumstance with some people (you apparently know who you are). Photography is not an act of assault, or an invasion of privacy when you're in a public place. In my experience, people who object are just plain cantankerous people no matter what, and dealing with them takes the fun out of it so I tend to avoid them. It's a matter of social grace, and I'm by no means good at it yet, but I'm learning. For me photography and photojournalism is an extremely (positive) social endeavor. I've made many great friends though this, and it's been a key into doors and events I would otherwise never have witnessed. And I don't just take, I try to give something back too (even if it's just a smile). I've been spending a lot of time photographing a family of Kosovar refugees the last seven weeks and it's been a gift to get to know them, especially the kids. I think it's obvious nobody was suggesting a pj should walk up to an accident victim or such and put a hand on them. And about Princess Di (she is very relevant to any discussion on photojournalism because of the repercussions to her death)--she died because she was not wearing a seatbelt. A mitigating factor was that her driver was drunk and driving at insane speeds in a tunnel. They were in one of the safest cars in the world, and the one person wearing a belt survived. By strange coincidence, I've got a Spanish friend named Mary (a story subject I photographed in Kobe after the earthquake who's now a close friend) whos ex-husband was right behind the Mercedez when it crashed (not an unimaginable coincidence if you know Mary). I questioned him closely about it, and he said there were no photographers anywhere around when it crashed. He said they were going so fast they were momentarily airborne when they entered the tunnel, and that the photographers happened upon them after the accident, but that they otherwise had been left in the dust at the hotel. He is a Limo driver for hotels like the Ritz, and the other drivers told him Henri Paul had come out the front doors before leaving and taunted the photographers to try to catch him. None of this is to defend any true paparrazzi, but some of the photographers were legit press photographers who happened upon the scene. Thought that would interest y'all. Sorry, nothing on subject. - --Yoder _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com