and a photojournalism educator doesn't hear it...
Next week, at a journalism educators conference, I will lead a couple workshops. During my presentation, young journalists often ask the following question, or a variation:
If you were in a life threatening situation, would you photograph the event or try to help the people involved? A recent event helped me refine my answer.
Most Saturday mornings, I take my daughter and son to the Redwood Heights Recreation Center in Oakland. My five year old daughter practices ballet, and my three year old son usually plays on the playground. This Saturday my three year old son acted his age, so I stayed home with him, and my wife took my daughter to ballet without us.
A few minutes after ballet class started, my wife called; she was scared. A large tree had fallen onto the nearby playground structure. Surprisingly, nobody was hurt. On most weekends, children are busy playing, sliding or swinging, but on this Saturday morning, the playground was vacant.
My son and I were lucky that we weren't at the park, but I kept wishing I had been there. A couple of hours after the tree fell, I went to the park and photographed the fallen branches. Later that night, I woke up several times wondering how I could have saved children IF I had been there, and IF there had been children swinging. I also imagined how I could have organized the children and the parents so that people felt safe. I would have managed the crisis.
Perhaps I might have photographed the children and parents, if it would have help establish order. I might have even told the children, "OK kids, let's get in a circle away from the tree and get in a circle, and I am going to take your photo so I can show other kids how they should act." Or I might say, "Let me take all of your photos so we know who is in the group." This second sentence is more important if we are missing people. But I would be more concerned about saving people and creating safety. If I can use photography to help in the moment, I would do so. Otherwise, I would wait.
These are my personal feelings, and I wouldn't recommend that everyone do what I do. For years, I judged myself because I was unwilling to photograph situations that I considered unsafe. I thought that I was weak, but that was not the reason that I didn't photograph accidents or life threatening events. Finally, after gentle mentorship from Jim McNay, I realized that I do not want to risk interfering with people when they are saving lives. I would love to document these people, but the risk isn't worth it.
Back to the potential situation: I would have risked my life to save the children. I would have decided quickly and decisively. I would move just as quickly for a stranger as my child, at least I think I would. Of course, there are some things that I would do for my children that I wouldn't do for other people's kids, but in a crisis situation, I don't think I would distinguish. I also think this is why children trust me.
Somehow, children just know.
Redwood Heights Playground - Images by bryan farley
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