A boring assignment in Ankara

S

scott kirkpatrick

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Jan 7, 2007
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Bill, you must have asked yourself this -- it's a boring assignment. The Russian Ambassador is going to make a few remarks at an art exhibition, but a plainclothes cop in a dark suit shoots him and then goes nuts about 10 feet from your position. Would you still be there and shooting when it ends several minutes later?

scott
 
I think folks do the job that they are trained to do, almost regardless of profession. ( I remember photographing a surgeon operating on his own child with steely calm and sobbing afterwards.) Anybody who photographs in areas of any kind possible conflict is going to occasionally face totally unexpected violence. You’re not afraid because you don’t expect anything to happen. When it does happen, you operate on reflex. If you are a photographer, you push the button. There’s very little thinking or courage involved. And most of the time, when you start to think again, the threat has disappated.

“I stared into the face of danger and did not flinch,” is a pretty effective party line, but not really what happens. Most of the time it’s over before you have a chance to think. Courage is when you have time to think and don’t back out. Most often that’s when you get on an airplane to fly into an area of conflict. Sadly it’s not the only time.
 
i remember crossing into Northern Syria in 2012 with no premonition of how crazy things would get, and how quickly it would happen. the very first night i spent on the Syrian side of the border we were shelled for 4 hours straight. taking photographs was the only thing i could do to avoid losing my marbles on the first night. actually, photographing was the only thing that helped me keep from complete meltdown the whole time i was there. to call it courage would be as far from the truth as one could get.
 
That whole The Russian Ambassador shooting scenario in Ankara looks so staged and fake, just my gut feeling.
 
xayraa33 said:
That whole The Russian Ambassador shooting scenario in Ankara looks so staged and fake, just my gut feeling.
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What part do you think is staged? Do you think the ambassador is not really dead? Or that everybody was in on it except the ambassador?
 
ksb said:
What part do you think is staged? Do you think the ambassador is not really dead? Or that everybody was in on it except the ambassador?
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The whole thing reeked of bad acting, like a C grade movie.

I say no one died and the whole thing was another staged terrorist act, like we been having these last few days, one after the other.

The elites have been cutting too many corners in their staged terror pantomimes lately and the fakery is obviously beginning to show.

You are free to believe anything the controlled news media tells you, I will just go along on my gut instincts on this one, and this one does not pass the smell test in my humble opinion.

Like I said, you are free to believe what ever the news media feeds you. I just don't buy this one, sorry.
 
emraphoto said:
It pains me to read stuff like this. It pains me to consider the friends and colleagues lost trying to bring a greater understanding to the public about what's unfolding in The Middle East and in particular, the meat grinder we know as Syria while I read the non-stop refrain condemning all press from armchair quarterbacks.

The erosion of legitimacy surrounding their work, by folks with nothing more than a 'gut feeling' makes me sick to my stomach.
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First of all I am not commenting on Syria or Afghanistan or Libya or Vietnam or the Battle of Midway or on the Second Opium War.

That is too bad you feel that way but it does not change my outlook or my opinion on this particular incident in Ankara.
 
emraphoto said:
I'm not sure you understand what I wrote. I wasn't asking you to change any opinions.
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You did not like my original opinion and comment because it has the possibility to paint journalists and photojournalists in a bad light because they could be party to a news hoax if what I believe to be true is actually true perhaps ?
 
xayraa33 said:
That whole The Russian Ambassador shooting scenario in Ankara looks so staged and fake, just my gut feeling.
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I'm sorry, but your "gut feeling" is informed by the outer limits of what is charitably called delusional thinking. How you can possibly believe this is truly bizarre!
 
And no one ever landed on the moon.

A man lost his life, shot in the back by a coward. Show some respect!

Do you seriously think he is enjoying a Winter break on the edge of the Black Sea?
 
xayraa33 said:
The whole thing reeked of bad acting, like a C grade movie.

I say no one died and the whole thing was another staged terrorist act, like we been having these last few days, one after the other.

The elites have been cutting too many corners in their staged terror pantomimes lately and the fakery is obviously beginning to show.

You are free to believe anything the controlled news media tells you, I will just go along on my gut instincts on this one, and this one does not pass the smell test in my humble opinion.

Like I said, you are free to believe what ever the news media feeds you. I just don't buy this one, sorry.
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Oh, OK. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. It's better to go with the facts you can uncover rather than your gut feeling.
 
johannielscom said:
If it actually were staged and fake, wouldn't it look a lot more real then? Just my gut feeling of course!
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Maybe that it is why it was so amateurish, the perpetrators indirectly want to tell us it was a snow job. Just a way to have some weird fun with us or to see if we notice it was all just acting, and very bad quality theatrics at that.:)
 
Saul said:
I'm sorry, but your "gut feeling" is informed by the outer limits of what is charitably called delusional thinking. How you can possibly believe this is truly bizarre!
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I say believing everything the TV set tells you is delusional thinking.

Not everything you are told by that electronic box in your house is the absolute truth.

But accepting that fact might come as a shock to you and might damage the world paradigm you been conditioned in, so it is better to attack the messenger and go on living your normal life without any upset or cognitive dissonance, as it is so much easier that way and less stressful too :)
 
Oh 2016....
Heartbreaking to read this nonsense after everything.


xayraa33 said:
The whole thing reeked of bad acting, like a C grade movie.

I say no one died and the whole thing was another staged terrorist act, like we been having these last few days, one after the other.

The elites have been cutting too many corners in their staged terror pantomimes lately and the fakery is obviously beginning to show.

You are free to believe anything the controlled news media tells you, I will just go along on my gut instincts on this one, and this one does not pass the smell test in my humble opinion.

Like I said, you are free to believe what ever the news media feeds you. I just don't buy this one, sorry.
Click to expand...
 
xayraa33 said:
I say believing everything the TV set tells you is delusional thinking.

Not everything you are told by that electronic box in your house is the absolute truth.

But accepting that fact might come as a shock to you and might damage the world paradigm you been conditioned in, so it is better to attack the messenger and go on living your normal life without any upset or cognitive dissonance, as it is so much easier that way and less stressful too :)
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Right, and my "gut feeling" says you are not a real person, it must be a troll robot typing. I won't provide any evidence to support my claim, but I just know some people who agree with me. And my post is not real either, it's a hoax. 😊
 
valdas said:
Right, and my "gut feeling" says you are not a real person, it must be a troll robot typing. I won't provide any evidence to support my claim, but I just know some people who agree with me. And my post is not real either, it's a hoax. 😊
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What ever rocks your boat, Valdas :)
 
xayraa33 said:
I say believing everything the TV set tells you is delusional thinking.

Not everything you are told by that electronic box in your house is the absolute truth.

But accepting that fact might come as a shock to you and might damage the world paradigm you been conditioned in, so it is better to attack the messenger and go on living your normal life without any upset or cognitive dissonance, as it is so much easier that way and less stressful too :)
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So you substituted your TV with YouTube and you did the exact same thing but of course it's totally different and that gets you the right to tell others how naive they are.

Sure.

Anyway, back to the original question and the land of the sane: I've never been in the same position but I suspect you get to work since it's a) what's required and b) keeps you sane and composed in the eye of personal danger.

As an assignment, I've shot the funeral of a 1.5 years old girl who died suddenly (cradle death) and her parents asked me to shoot it all. At the graveside, the whole family lost it.
It wasn't until that night when I was scoring the images that the emotions of the day hit me personally.
That's the closest I've been to a situation like that of the ambassador being gunned down.

No matter what, it's good to have been able to see the images and I applaud the photographer for continuing to work the scene in the face of violence, no matter what helped him do that.
 
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