ywenz said:
Okay don't take this personally, but where is the journalistic value of these pictures? Why does every photojournalist wanna be think every car accident they witness is news worthy? Were these "subpar at best" shots worth getting into a confrontation for? I'm pissed that I just wasted my time looking at them. I'm glad at least it wasn't a serious accident...
ywenz, I don't take it personally. You're entitled to your opinions. But your comments are more than a little belligerent, and not in keeping with the generally friendly nature of RFF. If you're "pissed" that you "wasted your time" looking at a couple of 40K jpegs for a few seconds, what are you doing on the Internet?
😉
I posted the pictures as an example of the issue being discussed, along with what I believed was some reasonably thoughtful commentary.
I have probably seen the aftermath of several hundred of auto accidents in my life, and actually witnessed a few. This was the first one I actually photographed. I took pictures for three reasons:
1. Once I got past "Thank God no one was hurt," I found the situation of a bus stop being wrecked by a VW bus humorous. So did the photo editor of one of our daily papers, so I wasn't that far off.
2. The accident site is at a fork in a major arterial. My employer's previous building is triangular, and divides the two streets that diverge from the fork. There had been numerous near misses where someone thought they wanted to go one way, then changed their mind and swerved at the last minute. At 45 mph or more.
If someone hit the point of the building's "triangle" dead center, their vehicle would have ended up going through glass and could have killed or severly injured the occupant of the corner office, a very nice woman I happen to like. I had been helping her with a computer problem that very morning, so I had an "I could have been there" feeling. I thought that if a picture of the accident were published, it might slow some people down, or help get a sign or a traffic light altered.
3. The pictures could be seen as humorous (as in "No, we didn't mean
that kind of bus stop!"). So I thought they might get into the paper if it was a slow news day. Which would mean that I'd make a few dollars, and the picture editor of a major metropolitan daily would know my name. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If that makes me a photojournalist wannabe, so be it.
The pictures are indeed not that great. They were Jpegs taken with a quickly borrowed 3-megapixel point-and-shoot. I didn't open up the shadows because the picture editor asked me for an unadjusted version. I did not wish to interfere with the police, traffic or the tow truck. I did the best I could under the circumstances. However, note that you did not see all the pictures I took--some show the driver, so I don't have them on my site.
I would not have gotten into a real confrontation with the driver. If he had continued to insist that I not take pictures, I would have backed off. However, I think that it is important, particularly in a post-9/11 world, not to immediately give in to everybody who thinks they can rewrite the law to suit themselves.
--Peter
