Re: RE: [Leica] photographing dead people.....

[Cmrausr@aol.com]

It's all judgment. If it's a significant historical event or a large scale 
tragedy, depicting death directly is one thing. If it's one of the thousands 
of small tragedies that happen all over the world every day, private citizens 
are entitled to their dignity when it comes to the direct depiction of death. 
There are plenty of things to photograph at fire or wreck or drowning to 
illustrate the tragedy without showing death itself. 

Good photojournalists should have the judgment to know when to pursue an 
event full bore, and when to back off and look for something that tells the 
story without direct confrontation. Bodies or body parts rarely add to a 
story of tragedy, and any photographer who spends much time pointing his 
camera at those scenes, is missing other, more significant illustrations of 
the event.

Scott Stewart