NEWS.
I would love if someone could clarify something for me.
This always comes to my mind when I see something like this in a magazine or newspaper.
So you're reading about some city or village that has been ravaged by some natural or man made catastrophe. Supplies and medicine cannot reach the area. All access is flooded or blocked. The people are dying with no help in sight!
Then you see a photo like this:
A photographer capturing a victim not 10 feet away...He's probably standing in the same rancid water himself. How did a paid news photojournalist get there? How did he get out? Do they just chopper him in, have him shoot a few rolls and then pick him up while others die? I'm not trying to be a jerk...i'm really wondering. Cuz if that were the case, that would be really wack.
Anyway, maybe a photojournalist out there can explain how this operates to me. Just curious...
This always comes to my mind when I see something like this in a magazine or newspaper.
So you're reading about some city or village that has been ravaged by some natural or man made catastrophe. Supplies and medicine cannot reach the area. All access is flooded or blocked. The people are dying with no help in sight!
Then you see a photo like this:
A photographer capturing a victim not 10 feet away...He's probably standing in the same rancid water himself. How did a paid news photojournalist get there? How did he get out? Do they just chopper him in, have him shoot a few rolls and then pick him up while others die? I'm not trying to be a jerk...i'm really wondering. Cuz if that were the case, that would be really wack.
Anyway, maybe a photojournalist out there can explain how this operates to me. Just curious...
posted by jeffstaple | 9:30 PM
7 Comments:
Hey Jeff-
Paul Kim from Future Relic here. As a former photojournalist, they usually go through a lot to get to these remote locations, but with the advent of digital photography and the internet those photographers were probably already there and newspapers are picking up the images through a wire service(i.e. AP, Getty, Reuters, etc.). The days of newspapers sending photographers across the globe are far and few in between. But I get your point. Like why did it take FEMA 10 days to bring water to the Superdome in New Orleans when people like Sean Penn are hanging out drinking on Bourbon Street while making documentaries within a few days of the hurricane.
Hey Jeff,
Photo agencies such as AP, AFP, WPN, and even NYT have photographer contacts all over the world that they keep on call for such occasions. That is why we are able to see images like that, its very rare for photographers to be choppered in right when the catastrophe strikes, that comes later, if at all.
I'm guess it was probably a local photographer. Practically every photojournalist trying to get a images out there ASAP is using a DSLR so turnaround time is really really short. Just snap off a couple pics, upload them up to the interwebs and theyre probably Post Processed at the receiving news agency.
I forgot to add, if you wanna see some pretty amazing photo's from around the world on the regular you can check out Reuter's. I think just looking through that can give you a better idea at just how many people have access to these cameras and take pictures in all sorts of situations and are not necessarily professional photojournalists..
where i come from, floods like that are quite common. and having worked for a newspaper some years back, i can tell you that the person who took the picture is either on an inflatable or standing in the rancid water. any press photographer worth his salt won't let a little rancid water get in the way of a good photo. they would just wade in if need be :-)
The secret is Clark Kent (shhh...) is really SUPERMAN... okay, keep this DL cause you know, it's a secret... or whatever Paul Kim said.
a lot of the photo journalist that i personally know station themselves in certain places and then transmit images through wireless ftp (cellphones connected to laptops). not sure on a case by case scenario (like the photo you posted) but often, the photographer's stationed there (most common in war scenarios or places that are in the middle of political upheaval). not sure why a photojournalist would just be chillin out somewhere in hopes of natural disaster striking, though, so can't say on this one...
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