This Pic Really Is One Which Stood Out form The Kenya Standoff
 

Out of all the pics on this attack in Kenya this pic really stood out for me

http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/11...F-LATEST-O.JPG

yeah that guy was in a few pics...he was brave going in there to get people out.

Al Shabab are claiming 3 of the attackers are Americans.

Thats a great pic.

Great moment captured. Brave people including the unarmed photographers that are shooting it. CRAZY!

Desperate for the gold......don't kid yourself:warning

I'm never impressed with photographers at big emergencies, people more concerned with taking pictures of a frightened little girl than actually helping her. It was like at the Boston bombings, the cameramen were practically climbing over each other to get pictures of the carnage - put the cameras down and help people!

If you're a photo journalist your job isn't helping people, it's documenting what occurred. If they get involved they severely limit their ability to report. It might seem callous, but it's the best way for them to do their job and report what happened.

but then you end up with the situation like you see on the news now where there are more cameramen around that shopping mall at the moment than police and like in the situation I mentioned in Boston, some of the far off pictures were actually obscured by each victim having a scrum of cameramen trying desperately to get better pictures of blood and gore than their competitors.

Anyway, so what if its their job? if I saw a car crash and people needing help would I tell them that I need to blog about it first? how do we not know that the guy in the OP's post with the chequered shirt isn't a photographer by trade who actually has humanity in him?

Photojournalists are trained to take the shot then help. Without them what truths would not have been seen through time? I get the suspicion of them but if it was just for money they'd be better off being a paparazzi.

And in Boston it was a marathon that already had a ton of press there.

but that's my point, there was a staggering amount of press there and they ALL wanted the bloodiest picture. not one of them seemed to think "hold on, there are a 100 cameramen here, I'll help instead" - they all thought that the best way of helping was by being the 101st cameraman.

I'm sure if you want to rewrite the curricula for training photojournalists, the schools that teach them would just love to hear from you.

You don't know which photographers helped and who didn't and you can't tell that by them having got a shot. Like I said, I get the reaction and there can certainly be overkill. However, in my view, there is great value to being able to see aspects of what took place rather than merely relying on what you are told.

:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

Reminds me of Napalm Girl, Kim Phuc, from the Vietnam War.

all the experts here

You are completely right. Exactly 0 photographers put down their cameras to help and we know that for a fact. Yup!

Says the guy that always misses the shot... :winkwink:

http://static1.businessinsider.com/i...ary-scenes.jpg

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." - W. Gretzky :upsidedow

:stoned

ADG

Stands out for sure, more than words can say.

When we get Google Glass the World will be a better place........

that just shows where your priorities are, what's most important? Getting a great action photo or helping someone in need?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...63_634x583.jpg

This is another really sad photo, even though the two children and their mother survived, how fucked up are their lives going to be now? It's just heart-rendering seeing those children clutching the mars bars (that, apparently, the terrorists gave to them!).
And yes, in this case I can see why the photographer took the picture as, even though they are obviously traumatised and have to stand next to a dead body, they were in a safe(ish) area and the mother is just out of shot.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ing-lives.html

Depends on what your job is.

There is life as we would all like it to be, and then there is reality. Photojournalists take photos. Heroes help people. And having witnessed a few tragedies / situations personally, I know that some photojournalists also help people when they are not taking photos.

You could also argue about the 99% who actually flee and don't help anyone but themselves. At least the photographers are documenting what happened. The majority people don't do anything at all during a crisis.

But doesn't that just make it worse? If a photographer stands his ground to take pictures and not run then he/she is in enough control to make a conscious decision to prioritise whether taking pictures or helping people is more important?
After all, I'm not taking about situations where the photographer is in danger but situations where other people need help. People often complain about members of the public videoing situations like we are discussing then uploading them to youtube rather than helping victims, what's the difference between the two? Because one has a job title of "photographer" doesn't give you any moral right to not help a person in distress than a mechanic.

in some situations I would agree but this is one that is better left to people that are better trained and armed with something other than pixels.

Yes very sad, and says alot about the human race. Children no matter their colour, race or origins should have to go through this crap and we as the adults are supposed to protect them but it seems that we just stuff up their lives with all our bullshit wars, terrorism, and shootings. Look at the expressions on their faces... so very sad

What a sad world we now live in :disgust

Very true.:2 cents:

Telling the story has the value. The shot that was just alluded to showed history and and made sure it wasn't forgotten. I also think of photos from concentration camps. There are times when capturing an image has a positive or at least important impact on the world as a whole.

When this discussion began, images from the American civil rights era came to mind because it has been a topic of discussion recently over here because of the March on Washington anniversary.

Images such as these came to mind...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...LN-blog480.jpg

http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/hi...04/photo01.jpg

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopo..._635/image.jpg

http://wpmedia.blogs.vancouversun.co...-on-street.jpg

http://kdwillis.files.wordpress.com/...th_sit_in2.jpg

Do you decide not to take a photo and put your camera down to help or do you take the shot and show people at large what is really happening and help to start the wheels of change?


And as far as Kenya goes...if photos aren't shown then, sadly, there isn't a human connection made in the West. They are simply African people where messed up Africa stuff happens. Instead, you show stuff going down in a mall that has the same sort of shops as us, kids that look like our kids, etc.

if your job defines your character, you most likely don't have any...

Sarah Jayne, you are missing my point a bit, I have no issue with any of the pics you posted. my issue is with the photographers who (for instance) upon seeing an accident, take photos first.
All of the pics you showed were political events where a photographer actually DOES help by taking pictures but how can that little girl in the first picture in this thread be helped in her ordeal by being filmed as she runs for her life?
(Yes, I know that I have no idea what is behind the cameraman - her mother could be there for all we know but I hope you get my point that there could just as easily be no one there but the unknown.)

DWB said earlier in this thread that "Photojournalists take photos. Heroes help people." sorry but that is bullshit, Being a hero is NOT a job it is a state of mind and it seems that many news photographers just don't have it.

Depends.

People are going to do what people are going to do. By that, I mean not everyone CAN be a hero. It's not in them. Many people freeze in their tracks, have no idea what to do, run away in panic, or suffer from the bystander effect. The people who actually ACT and help people are usually not the people you think they would be. Just because a guy can take a photo of an incident doesn't mean he is able to run further into danger to help someone. Many conflict photographers will tell you that they feel safer behind their camera, even though that is not reality. So there is probably some psychological thing going on there for many of them.

Also, if others are already helping, and your job is a photographer, why not document it and let those already helping do what it is they do?

In the photo you posted with the black man and white girl, what could the photographer have done to help the situation? And you do you know he wasn't hiding from behind something from a distance away, zoomed in? Just because the image was that close, it doesn't always mean the photographer was. That's why God invented the zoom lens.

So what you have because he was taking a photo instead of helping, is something that moved you and has helped tell the story of what happened. That is important. Perhaps not as important as saving that little girl's life, but letting the world know what happened is pretty high on the important list.

Just my :2 cents: anyway.

No one plans on being a hero, regular people just act and do what they think needs to be done. It's not a job, it's just what some people naturally do during a situation. Some panic, some instantly do what needs to be done. And you never know which one of those people you or someone around you will be until it happens.

Photographers take photos. That's what they are there for. Some of them help people along the way. But to say some of these guys don't "have it" because they are simply documenting an event, you're fooling yourself. Some of these stringers have balls of fucking steel waltzing into wars, disasters, conflicts, armed with nothing more than a camera, while 99% of the people around are running the other way, they run into the conflict, towards the bombs, and into the gun fire. They are heroes of another kind, and the world needs them to tell the story of what happened.

I've said I understand your point but I don't see those are all that separate of situations. Images such as the one of the little girl shows the Western world - and Americans in particular the humanity of the situation. If people don't emotionally connect they don't care. It is sad but true.

Also, as a variety of us have said, simply because you got one shot doesn't mean you didn't help afterwards. As you said, we have no idea what is out of frame or after it.

:thumbsup:thumbsup

I get the need to take pictures and agree the photographers are needed.
I just want to bring some sense into this argument.

This picture was taken by a famous photographer who later killed himself. In his letter he talks about this, and how it gave him nightmares for life. Probably the reason he went into the darkness.

Sometimes you need to be human. This picture defines one of the fundamental flaws of being human. After taking the picture the guy left and caught his plane.
http://iconicphotos.files.wordpress....pg?w=700&h=466

I love that quote and use all the time, when trying
to motivate people to take a chance or try something new!

:thumbsup

Oh my gawd. That pic is just heart breaking.


Fuck!:(

Love the Gretzky quote. I try to live by it every single day.

He also committed suicide later...

yeah i mentioned that in my post :)

That's one of the images out there that haunts me. This is the other one...

http://i.imgur.com/JmCIRBW.jpg

I'm not sure how you can even mentally process something like that in person. It shames me as a human to know such hunger exists, while the powers that be spend millions of dollars an hour fighting unnecessary wars.

This will bake your noodle: http://nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/

I've seen the image many times and it has always been heart stopping. The reality is though that there isn't much he could have done at that stage to help that child and that is probably part of what brought him to that point. What he did do was help to alert the world. I can't imagine what it is like to have watched that image play out for real in front of me.

I did once have the chance to speak to a photographer that was one of the first to go into the concentration camps and he felt much the same way as the photographer you mentioned and went through many years of mental health issues afterwards.

It is like this report, which is widely regarded as one of the best pieces of tv journalism. There wasn't much he could do to save people but he could show the realities and get people to pay attention.



https://youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=XYOj_6OYuJc - embedding disabled apparently

I'm not doing the GFY 'f you, you are all wrong' thing ..its an interesting discussion.

yeah it is a crazy world. :(
Many years ago, like 20 or more one of my friends brothers left medical school packed his bags up and went to Ethiopia. He wanted to help people, he spent his own money or his parents. Anyway when he got there he was in shock. I think he actually thought the entire country was in poverty.

The city he landed in was bustling, movie theaters, nice restaurants. Then he got taken tot he country side. He left in disgust a few months later. Their own people let them starve to death while they watch movies and eat in fancy restaurants.

Each country should start to watch for their own people. Stop meddling in foreign affairs.
Anyone not able to feed it's own people should be taken over.

i might get flamed for this but i will say that was staged. not the whole event, but just that shot. the girl appears to be in evident distress, there is a man wanting to help her, people are dead, people are dying, more people could be killed, gunfire is sprackling out in that complex, but i think that photographer was more involved than most of us think and he asked the man and the girl to be in that motion for his kodak moment.

Really sad thread... wish the world was a better place.

ahh these must be the kids that told off the dude

incredible story :thumbsup

Almost all humans are sociopaths to some degree. The fact you know that children are starving all over the world yet you go to Starbucks every day and order a $4 blended coffee drink and $3 scone or insist on paying $15,000 for a Toyota with a Lexus symbol on it shows you are a sociopath. If you cared one ounce of bettering this world then you would live way below your means and donate the rest to charity. How many people do this? Almost none. By the way this post was not directly at the OP but at the average person who lives in "rich" countries such as USA.

I heard the back story on this photo was that the photographer sat there and watched the kid all day until the vulture landed in the right spot for this photo.:(

the sad part is for how terrible the story sounds

that photographer did way more to help kids in africa than all of us combined