Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: Schewe on June 11, 2017, 01:13:05 am
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I didn't want to simply too this out in the Trump II thread but I found this image and the story fascinating...this is NOT intended to be in any way political, just photographic.
A Photo of James Comey Takes the Internet by Storm (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/insider/a-photo-of-james-comey-takes-the-internet-by-storm.html?_r=0)
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/06/09/us/09comey1/09comey1-superJumbo-v2.jpg)
James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times
Doug Mills, the New York Times photographer who captured yesterday’s viral image of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, seated before the Senate Intelligence Committee, is no stranger to the political spotlight. Since joining The Times in 2002, Mr. Mills has photographed presidential administrations — and the spectacles surrounding them — in Washington, aboard Air Force One, and in Afghanistan, among countless other locales. What follows is a lightly edited Q. and A. about his coverage Thursday from Capitol Hill.
Your photograph of Mr. Comey took the internet by storm — especially on Reddit, where it earned more than 60,000 “upvotes.” How did it come together?
I knew it wouldn’t be a contentious or heated hearing — or at least I didn’t expect it to be. Mr. Comey had handed out his testimony the day before, so some of the air was already out of the balloon. And for me, what that meant was: A tight shot showing one of Mr. Comey’s facial expressions wasn’t likely to be the most intriguing picture. (When hearings become heated and contentious, many times the witnesses become angry and their faces show a lot more emotion.)
--snip--
I wasn’t sure how well things would line up — where Mr. Comey would be, or what would be behind him. But, as it turned out, he was perfectly framed by the chairs behind him. Even before I looked at the picture, I thought, “Wow, this is going to be nice.”
Read the story...nice shot Mr. Mills!
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Read the story...nice shot Mr. Mills!
+1
Good use of his monopod.
Cheers,
Bart
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I think it's the only way to shoot the guy. I mean he's over six feet tall and towers over most of the photographers and members of Congress which I believe is the real reason Trump fired him.
Comey made him look small in the press physically and ethically. Yooz fahyood! Hit duh bricks!
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Love the shot, but I had a funny reaction when I saw it.
Late in the hearing, the chairman scolds photographers about standing up and threatens to clear the room of photographers.
Sure looks to me like this photo was involved in that particular side play! ;D
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new meaning to the word "fishbowl"
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Looking closer I count 22 photographers. Looking closer still, I see that 9 of the cameras are mounted with a short zoom with a red ring at the front of the barrel. Interesting statement about lens choice!
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#Lordy!
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A Photo of James Comey Takes the Internet by Storm (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/insider/a-photo-of-james-comey-takes-the-internet-by-storm.html?_r=0)
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/06/09/us/09comey1/09comey1-superJumbo-v2.jpg)
James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times
Read the story...nice shot Mr. Mills!
Brilliant. In an earlier incarnation, I spent many working hours — as a broadcast reporter, not a photographer — in House and Senate hearing rooms, including the better part of a lifetime (half a lifetime ago) covering the Senate Watergate committee, to which the Comey hearing has frequently been compared. Those venues are an almost unbelievable challenge for video and still shooters who want to produce images that will stand out from the pack. You really need to have your brain in gear to make this kind of picture. This guy did.
However, I'm not particularly enamored by the failure to fix wide-angle distortion. I understand that Mills was transmitting JPEGs to the Times, but they could still have been corrected if it wasn't for the paper's overly-rigid (in my opinion) restrictions on image "manipulation." (The Times editors even refuse to correct keystoning in architectural shots.)
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A nicely-down image that tells a much broader story.
Many times the photo that tells the best photo shows the context simply by stepping back and putting the rest of the story within the frame. That makes the image unique, stronger and more illustrative than just the photo line-up talking the same head/mug shot, the only difference being the angle of the shot.
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I can't imagine trying to keep your composure and answer difficult questions precisely in that environment. Yikes!
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Interesting that in the photo of Doug Miller holding his monopod you can see another photographers with a monopod. I think this image by Andrew Harnik of AP might be that guy.
(http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/shared/npr/styles/x_large/nprshared/201706/532125040.jpg)
Very close but Miller's shot has a wider view which helps make his shot more iconic IMHO. Although Harnik's image looks to be a bit better color unless you like that punched red look :~) Neither of the posted image had an embedded profile so can't tell if it's a profile issue.
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What is the photographer using on the left side under the guy with a Canon DSLR and flash trigger? And how is the lighting handled if everyone is constantly popping flashes?
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Chilling photo.
Having been in that chair, albeit on a MUCH smaller scale by orders of magnitude, I don't envy anyone caught in the gears of political partisanship on any side of any issue. It brings out the worst parts of human nature. It is the "modern" version of the rack.
This photo reminds me of images of people trapped in crushed automobiles, from my fire service days.
Rand
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A superb example of previs. I watched with interest before Comey's arrival the two guys with poles as they set up their gear and made test exposures.
Schewe's right, I think. The wider one tells the story better.
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More like a fairy-tale than a story!