by Amy Weston/Wenn.com via NY Mag
To borrow a line from The Clash, “London’s burning”. And the photographs of the mayhem are stunning. The above shot here is by Amy Weston/WENN.com, as seen in NY Mag. (That image and a bunch more images from NY Mag here).
I’ve been been near riots of this magnitude on two occasions – Paris in 2005-6 and Seattle WTO riots – neither of which I photographed. I’ve also seen a guy get hit by a car and had my camera at the ready but did not shoot. And plenty of other things that I’ve not wanted to photograph. As a pure photographer, only-career-I’ve-ever-had guy, I’m not sure what’s in me that doesn’t pull me to want to shoot so many of these photos, even when I’ve had the chance (like this post). I’m deeply moved by such images -ala London riots, or trama, or the war in Afghanistan. Often times these images are so important to our culture, but at other times it’s shallow and cold to shoot them. I’m especially conflicted with the images coming out of London.
How about you… When do we shoot? When do we help or decide not to spread the horror?
UPDATE: Interview with the photographer (Amy Weston) that captured the stunning photograph in the earlier post below in an article over here at my Google+ page …offers some insights into what she was thinking and plays well with the ongoing discussion here on the blog and over at my Google+ page. (Add me to a circle if you’re G+ing so I can meet you too).
This is a tough one for me. I find myself at times wanting to shoot but feel more that I should help.
I have always bought into the “Samaritan’s Law”…if I could help in any way…lay down the camera and do it…if not…I think you have to shoot tempered with compassion and the “journalistic” filter…not a sensationalist filter.
For me, it goes back to high school. A girl friend was also a photographer and there was a house fire on her street. She didn’t take any photos (I wasn’t there), but for days after kept talking about the pain of seeing photographers at the scene just recording the destruction and not in any way helping with the rescue, and possibly being in the way. That just stuck with me forever (or at least the past 35 years).
You make an excellent point, John. And as someone who is former military and First Responder and does Security work, I cannot say how many times I just wanted the people with cameras to just vanish so we could do our jobs. I have had to say too many times, “Yes, I am a photographer too. Now get out of my way so I can do my job!”
I lost my home to a fire in the wee hours of the morning in 1996. There was snow on the ground and did they think to offer me or my children a blanket? Shoes? No. They were all about getting pictures of the flames consuming my home. And my gear! But oh, the art! When I saw those pictures published, I felt so angry at their lack of compassion. That was my life. But all they could think about was documenting the moment and our pain and anguish for their own gain. It was one reason I gave up photography for so long.
Now, as a photographer, I am a human, and humane, first. If someone needs help or comfort, screw the picture. My karma does not allow me to do otherwise.
Pictures are important but video even more. With videos, you can easily broadcast the real situation. Our regular news channel are so deeply control by our government that I don’t trust any of them anymore… Everything is modified to fit what they want us to see. I am not paranoid, it’s just a fact. It,s amazing how different a story in Afghanistan are reported in the states and in Canada. Now they are very similar but before we had all our troups there, the story was different. So it always depends on the situation.
Videos and photography that are taking by us and if they are broadcast freely, reflect the reality. It reflect the pain that are on the planet.
We are at a point where a great revolution is about to begin, companies has taken too much from people just like religion and the monarchy did centuries ago…. Human never learn from the past…. People are tired… We are loosing are liberty and freedom, we are loosing are savings because our government aren’t doing anything to control the banks and oil company…. it’s a free world for businesses… not our society… how many things are being tolerated when it’s a company that is doing it? Take the example of the pig factory in North Carolina that hires illegal mexicans but the authorities don’t say anything as long as the company give 15 names per month…. everybody looks good…. except those who risk their lives in that factory because yes, one of the month dangerous job in the us in 2011 is to work in a pork or beef factory… If people would see how the animals are treated in there, nobody would eat any beef and pork…
So yes Chase, if we want our world to be free, if we want real justice to prevel, we should take as many photography and video as we can and broadcast them all… I know I’ve been going way too far in my comment but hey…. at some point, things needs to be said out loud!!! 🙂
cheers
Ghislain
And at the same time, all the loosers that took the opportunity to steal from someone else should be punished 🙂 hehe
I agree Ghislain.
That is why I stopped eating meat in 2007. It was because of people who were brave enough to infiltrate the system and risk bodily harm to obtain images that speak to us on so many levels. They have touched me deeply and changed my life.
Shawn
Hi Shawn, at the same time, there are still some farmers who really care about their animals and treat them with respect. Of course they kill them in the end to sell it to us, but at least they were free, eat well and had lots of space during their life.
I won’t stop eating meat, but I buy my stuff locally and I try to buy everything BIO without OGM. It’s really hard, it cost a fortune but at least I won’t eat any medicine 🙂
I too am a pure photographer. Never studied, straight in at the deep end working internationally across many fly away destinations, primarily in motorsport, and i feel that it’s at our own discretion what we shoot. However, have you ever seen something and not shot it, that someone else has, then wish you had snapped it.. Or thought about what a good shot it would have been, what a moment in time it was, how iconic it could have been for that split second. In such instance as the London Rioting, I would love to travel down from my home on the east coast of the UK to London, to capture some of this ‘horror’. Not so much for the graphic content that may be there, but for the shock and impact that the images can give. I’m so thrown back from the sites i keep waking up to in the mornings this last week, and yet for some reason i feel there’s shots there to be had that would be like no other. I hate gore, pure horror and those graphic things, but i love images with news impact.. Things we can’t comprehend.
The strange thing is, i haven’t jumped in my car and driven down. I would fear a little to much for my gear, and my well being! I want to be able to capture all these moments, but the sheer hatred towards any media person(s) from the rioters themselves only puts me in a risky situation. If it were images of something slightly more predictable but also with the impact, i’d be there, but when it’s such a risk, I pay my respects to the balls of those who are there snapping