But as a photojournalist, I'm still struggling with what is crossing the line and what is not. We've discussed this in my actual ethics class and my indecision on which pictures should be posted did bring up a nice discussion in the Prairie Lab.
Last week, I talked about a few incidents, including the death of a race car driver. The morning after the crash (and probably minutes after), there were pictures of the crash, including Dan Wheldon's car in the catch fence, all over the internet/papers/etc. That made me reevaluate my ethical standards for my pictures, especially one I had taken the day of the crash on the soccer field.
To most people, this looks like an awesome shot... to some people, it's a picture of the second before a girl's season ended. My issue with the picture was the second part of that sentence combined with the situation of the pictures I talked about above. The fact that she is also my friend added a third element to this.
This picture was posted on our school's photobook's facebook and is open for everyone to see, and in fact, the player commented on it and wanted us to leave it up. But before she told us that, I wondered if I should pull it due to the situation that happened right after the shot. Honestly, the thing that had me keep it up was another person telling me (toned down version) "If I didn't know the girl, I wouldn't care about what happened afterwards since it's a cool shot".
This picture taught me a ton (as did the accident that got everything started for me) both about photojournalism and just regular journalism as well. It definitely is a situation I couldn't have learned in class and throws a whole new dimension into learning about the "real world" that I could only have by being associated with the clubs I am in right now.
Until next time,
Mel
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