Ever had a scoop?

kuvvy

kuvvy

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No I don't mean a vanilla ice scoop, but a shot that's proven to be newsworthy.
Despite having carried a camera every day for decades I've yet to come across a newsworthy shot. Sure, having a camera to hand on a daily basis has proven handy to capture family shots, that spectacular sunset and the odd street shot but again, nothing that would make the news.

So have you done better? What was the event you captured? Did it make the newspapers or TV? What gear did you use? As many of us here are film users, if you came across an incident today would you feel it an advantage / disadvantage when compared against digital users?
 
Actually, I shot something semi-newsworthy for the first time yesterday--a health care town hall meeting with the congressman from the next district over, Michael Arcuri (D-NY). I just souped the last roll and need to get these up on flickr soon, but here's a kinda newsy-looking one. The event was pretty interesting.

file.php
 
I was recently overseas shooting a job at the same time the country was prosecuting high ranking members of the former millitary regime. I went to the trial of the head of the SSS (security forces) at the time and his right hand man (HITman). I had snuck in a very taped up canon g10 and managed to capture a few frames. At the end of the proceedings the SSS fella came right up to me and gave me a menacing look (I was the only westerner there). Little did he know I was busy snapping away.

They are the only images of the trials known to exist. I was very happy to get them as they were very difficult to produce.
 
Never. Emraphoto's pics don't count: he was trying to get news shots (and all kudos to him for doing so). Just carrying a camera and hoping hasn't worked for me in 40+ years either. I think I did an AP column about it once. You are not alone!

Cheers,

R.
 
emraphoto said:
I was recently overseas shooting a job at the same time the country was prosecuting high ranking members of the former millitary regime. I went to the trial of the head of the SSS (security forces) at the time and his right hand man (HITman). I had snuck in a very taped up canon g10 and managed to capture a few frames. At the end of the proceedings the SSS fella came right up to me and gave me a menacing look (I was the only westerner there). Little did he know I was busy snapping away.

They are the only images of the trials known to exist. I was very happy to get them as they were very difficult to produce.
Click to expand...

!!!

May we see them?
 
I'll post one or two tonight. I can't post all of them though as they are in the hands of others.

Bare in mind that getting them was quite a feat so "sharp" is not an applicable yardstick.
 
I caught the moments after a truck got wedged under a low bridge, peeling back the trailer.

I emailed the local paper, as I had the roll developed within an hour, but they didn't respond.

Next day they had a shot of the truck being unloaded after being removed from the bridge. Oh, well.
 
We have those idiot protesters coming to town soon, so lots of newsworthy opportunities. However (and a big however), the area is going to be sealed off, and I don't need to be tear-gassed.

In January, we had the big Super Bowl victory parade, and I hug out of the window of our building, took some shots and put them up on the newspaper Web site. The photo staff was a bit steamed, but I didn't care. I wanted photos on the site before the parade had ended. The Web staff occasionally has to overcome the print "shoot for tomorrow" mindset.
 
aad said:
I caught the moments after a truck got wedged under a low bridge, peeling back the trailer.

I emailed the local paper, as I had the roll developed within an hour, but they didn't respond.

Next day they had a shot of the truck being unloaded after being removed from the bridge. Oh, well.
Click to expand...

Newspaper photographers get real touchy about using a freelance photo when they can shoot one of their own -- even if the freelance photo is a better shot, which sounds like the case here.

And if the staff happens to be unionized, there are very specific guidelines for the use of freelance photos vs. staff photos. Some newspapers even prohibit reporters from taking photos. Who would have known, right?

My favorite shot was one that I took in the mid-1980s of this mail truck that lost its brake while parked and slipped down a hill and landed in somebody's driveway -- the headline was "His truck runneth over."
 
Newspaper budgets keep tightening, staff photographers are a dying breed, more and more the pix are shot by a reporter with a digital point and shoot. The Miami Herald and other major papers are always looking for people to email them photos. All you get for the effort? A credit line. Whoopie-Do!
 
Here's the closest I've come.... I was waiting in shoe store on a quiet Saturday afternoon in downtown Madison, NJ while my wife was shopping. Upon hearing lots of sirens, I stepped out front to catch the following....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531245@N08/sets/72157619975105337/

From my flickr page:
"Police and fire fighters respond to fire in the basement of a downtown Main Street, Madison, NJ store. Madison's finest and bravest respond to reports of an alleged armed robbery and explosion. A suspect is taken into custody as fire fighters and police from several local towns respond to the emergency."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531245@N08/3646595268/in/set-72157619975105337/


3646595280_2d7e38f8e4.jpg


Cropped to show the alleged perp wearing a rather crazed expression on his face. He was actually laughing rather raucously as I snapped this.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3647425072_3c9ddb1d34.jpg
3647425072_3c9ddb1d34.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531245@N08/3646595276/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531245@N08/3646595268/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531245@N08/3646595284/

"Police and fire officials examine evidence at the scene of a suspected arson in the form of two pairs of shoes lying in the middle of Main Street, Madison, NJ."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531245@N08/3646595282/
3646595282_3015ff932d_t.jpg



3646595284_7b01d0f24d.jpg
 
Well, it doesn't count as coming from "just walking around", but I was at the anti-APEC demo in Sydney in 2007 and got better shots than most of a couple of naked protesters being arrested.

http://mfunnell.deviantart.com/art/APEC-Arrest-1-64859983

I figured they'd have to be bundled into the paddy-wagons, positioned myself accordingly and got a couple of shots where most of the pros there on the day missed them.

...Mike
 
Al, you got it right about budgets. Heck, didn't the Miami Herald outsource some of its copy editing to India?

Some of our reporters have come back with photos that they took. For most of them, it's good that they stick to words.

But we now have reporters carrying FlipCams and audio recorders. At our paper, we finally force them to stop using tape recorders. Mostly, because they would show up at my desk with a tape recorder and ask if I can get it into their computer. Ugh!
 
I don't know about the copy editing in India thing but these days it'd be possible. One of our forum members, Mukul Dube (alias Payasam) lives in Dehli, and he seems equally fuent in American English and British English. I'm still friends with one guy who used to get me to stay late and edit his editorial, but then he'd buy me a late dinner. The copy editors that stand out most in my memory were three young ladies over at the Miami News, an afternoon paper, before they folded. The memories have little to do with editing and this is a family oriented forum, so...

The best things I remember were the backstage passes to rock concerts and the floor passes to both the 1972 Republican and Democratic conventions in Miami Beach. I used the contacts I made when shooting news and features to get into political and corporate public relations photography. Today we'd call that networking.

Looking back on it I'm amazed that I could pull it off. One day put on a suit and tie and shoot a fundraiser for the local congressman, the big draw being a speech by a presidential candidate, everybody drinking too much Scotch and bourbon. A few days later I'd be wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt, bleached jeans, sandals, and I'd be at an after the concert party "getting my head together" with other substances.

The common thread through it all was that I still had a few hours work ahead of me, souping film and making contact sheets, and usually a dozen or more 8x10's as well. "Ridin' that train" with Casey Jones.
 
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Here's the article that I was thinking about. I can't imagine that this would be good for any product, because there are so many things about a community that you learn when you live there. And then there's the other issue of the Queen's English vs. U.S. English. I'm sure that other newspapers are watching this closely.

Al, I think the 1960s, '70s and '80s seemed to have more of a free-wheeling spirit -- certainly as far as the news industry is concerned.

These days, it's about survival, Web 2.0, social networks and trying to stay relevant. It sometimes seems as if good writing isn't nearly as important as it used to be.

If I ever get down your way, I want to hear some of those Miami News stories.
 
Back in the ‘80s I was shooting a “Ticker Tape” Parade for the Olympic Athletes down Broadway when some scaffolding fell and lots of people got hurt. Holding way too many cards in First Aid, CPR and EMT instruction from all over I put my cameras away and treated lots of injured. Took my last one to the bus from Mayor Ed, had two cameras and a bag and got the strangest look from him. Missed my chance for great pictures but helped a lot, such is life.

B2 (;->
 
ZeissFan said:
We have those idiot protesters coming to town soon, so lots of newsworthy opportunities. However (and a big however), the area is going to be sealed off, and I don't need to be tear-gassed.

In January, we had the big Super Bowl victory parade, and I hug out of the window of our building, took some shots and put them up on the newspaper Web site. The photo staff was a bit steamed, but I didn't care. I wanted photos on the site before the parade had ended. The Web staff occasionally has to overcome the print "shoot for tomorrow" mindset.
Click to expand...

ok, i'll bite. why exactly are they "idiots"?
 
It can happen any time

It can happen any time

In 2005 an Air France plane crashed and burned at Toronto airport. All the passengers got out. The front page photo in the Toronto Star was taken by a passenger on either his cell phone or a small digicam.

The paper's photographers are instructed to canvas people in such situations about photos and are authorized to make a deal on the spot. They carry a release form.

Sorry, can't find a link but it was a spectacular photo all over the front page.
 
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