Friday, 16 March 2012

Photographs not taken


I've been following a recent thread in the OCA Photography, Film & Digital Media forum entitled 'Photographs Not Taken: what makes a photographer freeze?' This links up with The Guardian website which ran an article on the subject and gave several instances when a photographer missed the opportunity to take a stunning image or wouldn’t take it on ethical grounds.
 


I've been photographing for 25+ years now and the one area I find difficult to photograph is when people are distressed in any way. Years ago I was photographing a company football match and one player ended up with a badly broken leg. The ambulance was called and whilst we waited its arrival, my colleague tried to goad me into taking a picture of this poor man in agony. It was something I couldn't and wouldn't do and the moment passed. I'm still glad that I didn't record this man's suffering. What does it make me, an idiot for missing the opportunity or a better person for having passed it up?


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