It’s happened before and it will happen again. The fire tones went off on Aug. 12, and despite the hustle and bustle of the newsroom, I was able to hear what should have made for a decent photo of a serious, but very light hearted situation.
The call was looking for response to an older child stuck in an infant’s swing at a local park in Airdrie. Funny, right? I typically make that assessment when I arrive.
I arrived at said park, and saw there were a couple firefighters attending to the young girl, who was obviously distressed, but not in any serious trouble. Now I realize this can make for a great story, but then it happens.
As I am shooting away, I see a woman approaching me from the group attending to the girl. I know why she is approaching, as I have encountered this many a time.
“Are you with the Echo?” is the first question the woman hollers while sauntering up to me. I politely respond no, as she continues my way. Two more frames are clicked off by the time she is right in front of me.
At this point, typically, the person who is approaching me starts to get upset. They have started talking to me, but I haven’t stopped shooting.
“Who are you with then?” she replies.
I am with the City View, have been for a couple years now, and have been working in the area for four years in total, and this is the first polite, genuine request I have come across.
“Can you not put these pictures in the paper?” she asks, complete with that magic word we are taught to use as children. I am a little stunned by this point, as people who have created news somewhere in the public in the past typically take a more aggressive approach to my attendance.
I recall an instance a few years ago where a local scrap metal company lost a load on the northern-most tip of Main Street just before Dickson-Stevenson Trail.
I was shooting photos of a man loading up his trailer with pieces of car and scrap metal, when a woman started cussing at me from a distance.
She was irate that I was on site, taking photos of something that blocked a major road in Airdrie for at least two hours. It turned out she was the wife of the owner of the scrap metal business. I did my best to calm her down, let her know I was there not to embarrass the company, but to let Airdronians know why they couldn’t use a certain section of road in town. She insisted on getting my information, which I duly delivered, complete with my editor and publisher’s phone numbers, in case she wanted to take it to the top.
Forgive me madam, but you have treated me without respect. I, in turn, was polite to you despite the rare set of vocabulary I heard from someone I didn’t expect it from.
We ran the photos.
I have seen a whole lot of terrible accidents, fires and unfortunately death in this photojournalism gig, and with the many emergencies I attend, I take something from each one. Be it a terrifying car accident last winter along Eighth Street that made me realize how slick our roads can be without appearing to be covered in ice, or a gut-wrenching four-house blaze that left four families without homes, I am not out there for fun.
Back to the park incident.
This is the first time I have been asked politely by someone to not publish photos from an emergency situation, despite the funny aspect of it.
“This is hilarious,” she said, “But I just don’t want my daughter’s photo to appear in the paper.”
I can respect that every day of the week. As much as I would love to share the story of one girl’s miscalculation for which swing to sit on at the park, it’s not necessarily the embarrassment this woman is protecting.
We did not run the photo.
Remember folks, the moment you step outside of your house and onto public property, you become a free model for the photographers of the world. Nine times out of 10, I will approach the individual after taking their photo, to get names and information to publish with the photo. But keep in mind that cameras are everywhere. It’s not just the newspaper photographers of the world that are shooting you, it’s random people with cell phone cameras, amateur photographers, and even closed circuit cameras, many of which you don’t even know exist.
Privacy goes out the window when you step out into the sun. Public parks, sporting events and emergencies are all fair game, so in the future, make sure you choose the right swing to avoid a visit from me, and the fire department, when you get stuck.
And if the instance does arise and you don’t want to be in the paper, politely approach me and ask, because there is a good chance I will respect your request if you are respectful to me.
