The dilemma of photographing tragic events

I've been busy with schoolwork but this topic is a bit overdue.

On October 30th around 1:15pm, In Soo Chun, a 61-year-old former UW employee lit himself on fire. Students tried to put out the fire using their own clothes. Then the police and ambulance came and took him to Harborview hospital.

He later passed away.

I was working at my other job when it happened, but I can't help but imagine what I would've done if I was there..
As a photojournalist, I feel like it would be my duty/responsibility to take a photograph...
but, as a human being, I feel like it's my duty to give my all to stop the fire and help the man.

so what would i do? take a photograph or help the man?

the world needs to know the truth...but at what cost?

there have been other situations like this one too. Below for example:

According to this website, this is the story behind this photograph taken by Kevin Carter:
"Immediately after their plane touched down in the village of Ayod, Carter began snapping photos of famine victims. Seeking relief from the sight of masses of people starving to death, he wandered into the open bush. He heard a soft, high-pitched whimpering and saw a tiny girl trying to make her way to the feeding centre. As he crouched to photograph her, a vulture landed in view. Careful not to disturb the bird, he positioned himself for the best possible image. He would later say he waited about 20 minutes, hoping the vulture would spread its wings. It did not, and after he took his photographs, he chased the bird away and watched as the little girl resumed her struggle. Afterward he sat under a tree, lit a cigarette, talked to God and cried. "He was depressed afterward," Silva recalls. "He kept saying he wanted to hug his daughter."

..."Carter was painfully aware of the photojournalist's dilemma. "I had to think visually," he said once, describing a shoot-out. "I am zooming in on a tight shot of the dead guy and a splash of red. Going into his khaki uniform in a pool of blood in the sand. The dead man's face is slightly gray. You are making a visual here. But inside something is screaming, 'My God.' But it is time to work. Deal with the rest later. If you can't do it, get out of the game." Says Nachtwey, "Every photographer who has been involved in these stories has been affected. You become changed forever. Nobody does this kind of work to make themselves feel good. It is very hard to continue."

A year after he took that photograph, he received the Pulitzer.
He then later committed suicide.

And here is the image that ran in the Daily that was taken by a by-stander. (Justin Norman):


There was a big debate whether or not as to run this photo or not. It was voted for and I'm glad it did run big on the front cover...because personally, coming from a photojournalist standpoint, i think that the world needs to know the truth.

..the question is, at what cost?

Portrait of Semih Tareen

I took some photos of film-maker and music composer, Semih Tareen, a while back for the Daily. He was coming out with a new horror film, Yellow, which was shown at the Seattle Film Festival back in May.
Anyway, being a film-maker and all, he had some experience with lighting and equipment (which I did not at the time) and with our collaborative knowledge and experience, the photo-shoot turned out pretty sweet.

Here is the photo that ran:

The photo definitely works. but I really like the photos below better because his film Yellow was inspired by giallo films (giallo is actually italian for yellow), which incorporate dramatic and colorful lighting like below.

Although an awesome photo, I felt like it didn't portray him in the way that he was meant to be. Imean, he's a horror film-maker, not a murdering psychopath. Nevertheless, the shadows are sweet.

..and here is the photo that should've ran instead (and also portrayed him the way I think he was meant to be. his "essence" shall we say):

Unfortunately, the reason the 2nd or 3rd photo didn't run is because the paper ran in black and white and not color. I begged for the paper to run in color, but I was told there was nothing that could've been done...

Argh.


His film: Yellow
and his website as well: http://www.semihtareen.com/

Mayor Greg Nickels, President Emmert and the starstruck feeling

I remember when I first saw Mayor Greg Nickels. It was last year at the Green Festival held at the Convention Center in Downtown Seattle. Seeing him in person was a bit overwhelming to me. Maybe because of the whole "celebrity" thought. Youknow, the thought of someone important/famous being in your midst. These were the photos that ran in the paper (with him present):


Although the above images work, I like these bottom photos as well..perhaps even more. They seem to carry more personality and importance than the other images do. They're more portrait-like than the photos that ran. Of course though, the article was about the event and not just on Mayor Greg Nickels, so I can see why the above photos were chosen over these bottom ones.



The same overwhelming feeling applied when I first saw President Emmert. I guess I was a bit starstruck and didn't take any photos the first time he was at an event. But the second time I saw him, the feeling was gone. And I'm not saying I feel that he's less important, but maybe the celebrity-status was diminished after the initial encounter.

Anyway, President Emmert was giving his annual address and the photo above is one of the images that ran in the paper. (this is the 2nd time I saw him) I think the photo is okay at best. I mean, it has the diagonal from his head, to his hand, to the W in the background...but I feel like it's missing something.

This is the other image that ran:

This photo definately works but it's too similar to another photo that another photographer took, but on the other side of the room...

I can't help feeling that there maybe should've been another photo that ran instead.
Here are some of those:


I like this image above primarily because it represents what he was saying about moving forward and how we need to think about not only the next following years, but 10 years ahead from now. My editor noted that it kind of looked like he was giving a Nazi salute. I can see what he's talking about and agree that this photo shouldn't run, but I still like the representational/symbolic aspect of the image.

I feel like the photos that don't run in the paper are my thoughts that don't quite develop well enough.

They're like fragments of my mind...Incomplete ideas waiting for that extra something to be whole

Homecoming Rally 08'

(10-17-08) Homecoming rally
None of these ran in the paper. But I'd choose them if I could.



the one above is my favorite..but the focus is off. At times like these, I kinda wished my lens could auto-focus...or if I had better focusing skills. ..Damn my bad eye-sight


most of these are blurry. I should've used ISO 1600, instead of 800 and a slower shutter-speed. The like the concepts/ideas nevertheless.



It seems that my photos turned out to more about Harry the Husky and Anttimo Bennett (the ASUW president) than the actual rally. But then again, what's a homecoming rally without them?

The homecoming game was the next day. Huskies Vs. Beavers

We lost 13-34.

Go Huskies...

Photographs and sense of "self"

Photographs.

They have something magical about them. For me, it's the sense of a soul.

A sense of life.

Regardless of what type of photograph you take: portrait, landscape, fine-art, documentary, etc. I believe if you look hard enough you can see the photographer himself/herself. So in a way..everything is self-portraiture. Or should be at least.

Well, what about portraits you say? Sure, you can capture someone else's essence, but by doing so, I think you are in that photograph as well, physically or not. An example is this photograph by Dorothea Lange titled Migrant Mother:

Great-depression. Sad. Powerful. Iconic.
As I look at this image, I not only see the woman and her children and everything else that is going on in the picture...i can "see" the photographer herself. Perhaps what she was trying to convey. Perhaps her intentions. But it's not just about the subject in the photograph, it's also about the photographer as well.

I just think it's amazing to be able to take a photograph and let it become a part of you. It's like every time you take a photograph, you're making a tiny little imprint of yourself.

It's like what Ansel Adams said: "There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer."

I guess where I'm going with this is that because of this feeling that each photograph is a part of me, I find it hard to delete some of them and feel strong about certain images running in the paper or not.

When it comes to choosing photos for the paper, the process is similar to putting yourself out there for someone to see and then they'll choose certain qualities they like about yourself, which you like as well, but other times they might choose those other qualities that are okay, but you prefer those other ones better.

And you want them to like your better qualities, not the others.

So I've created this blog to post those forgotten photos. those photos that didn't quite make it but perhaps should of.