When not to take a photograph!

[Angelo]

Last year I had several opportunities to photograph people, should I say, not at their best moments.
I must confess, I could not do it although my mind and hands reacted to the moment.
Even when capturing an image that I find not flattering to the subject I will erase it and say to myself "I never took the photo".
Example: someone fell flat on their behind. Fortunately no injury and we laughed about it afterwords.
What are your feelings?

[JohnT]

I try to live by the simple principle of "respect the person." If making a photo of the person would, in my mind, someway disrespect them, I'll refrain from even putting the camera to my eye.

[JMI]

Well said.

[kayumangi]

Good or bad, a picture can really tell a story. With that said sometimes you have to decide whether you are a participant in the scene or an observer documenting something for posterity.

Most of the time I choose to be the observer.

[Truckman]

Originally Posted by JohnT

If making a photo of the person would, in my mind, someway disrespect them, I'll refrain from even putting the camera to my eye.

I'll make an exception to that for politicians caught in flagrante delicto......Ben

[Angelo]

I'd be a lousy paparazzi for I could not document something
that, like john said, would show disrespect.
That famous photograph taken in Vietnam or Cambodia, that showed
a Vietnamese officer firing at the head of a captured N. Vietnamese.
I just could not do it...
There's a story about that particular image and the photographer. Let me see if I can find it.

[Flea77]

For me, the image I captured would have to be of such significant news, creative or historical value that it would outweigh the idea of preserving the person's dignity. In my mind that value would have to be huge.

Allan

[MrBeta]

I guess I'm the type of person who'd try to capture it and then decide later whether to actually "use" it or not. Better to have it and not need it...

[Angelo]

Here's the Vietnam photo I was thinking about.

Vietnam Execution - FamousPicturesMagazine

Take a minute and read the history having to do with the lives of those
involved, and how one image changed their lives...

[Imagebuffet]

If I could, I would have a recording of everything I see. That doesn't mean that I would necessarily publish it. But, I could not always decide in split second which photo should be kept, and which should be deleted. I'd rather shoot the photo, then decide.

I witnessed a fatal accident scene last year. I was on the scene within a minute of it happening. A body lay in the road. I felt uncomfortable photographing that body, but I did it, anyway, because I felt it could be important. I sent copies to the police. Their accident photographers did not arrive until after some things had changed at the scene, which I know because I was there.

[photojournalist]

Angelo, the photo you're talking about is a pulitzer photo by Eddie Adams. He passed away recently. The only workshop I ever attended in my professional career was the Eddie Adams workshop in NY.

Paparazzis and photojournalists are not the same.

[tukaniray]

I remember that photo ... and I remember the controversy around it ... Of course I wasn't born during the time of the photo ... I remember reading about it all over the place during my time in College.

I didn't know the full meaning behind the photo ... but that definitely is a touching story.

I agree that photographs taken for info (photojournalists) are taken for the moment and what one does with that moment is up to him or her.

I feel when going through your own photographs that have taken a moment, you need to sit back and play major roles of those who are going to see your photo. (thinking out of the box). I have began to learn that in the past 2 years now. I have to say its a good thing to step back and think of a shot taken before giving it away.

I too would feel regret from taking a shot that ruins another's long term life. So I am one to respect those I have taken from bad angles or bad moments and just either put them aside or throw them away.

-Ray-

[JMI]

Indeed. War - ANY war - is incredibly brutal and I doubt anyone who hasn't experienced it can fully appreciate just how brutal. This sort of thing happens more than anyone wants to admit. Capturing such images was Adams' job. An important job. Not at all the same thing as, say, the pathetic spectacle of Brittany Spears shaving her head. Also, Adams was already a combat vet. I doubt it was a life altering event for him.

[Angelo]

Khampha, thanks
I can understand Eddie Adams just by reading a a bit of that article.
He thought he was going to shoot an interrogation when in fact it was
an execution.

[janikphoto]

Originally Posted by photojournalist

Paparazzis and photojournalists are not the same.

Exactly! And I hope he wasn't suggesting that. Shooting for one of the biggest newspapers in the country - and a newswire service that distributes images worldwide - I've had to take pictures of some pretty tense, negative and unflattering moments. However, it was important that those moments be captured. Life isn't all balloon animals and party hats, unfortunately.