Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: LesPalenik on June 05, 2018, 08:19:34 am

Title: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: LesPalenik on June 05, 2018, 08:19:34 am
Italian man taking selfie of an accident with Canadian woman struck by a train provokes public outrage.
He was himself captured by a news photographer who complained "we have completely lost a sense of ethics". Radio host Nicola Savino told listeners that the human race was "galloping towards extinction".

(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/1166C/production/_101867217_rt_saracenog_20180604171429.jpg)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44356361
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: JoeKitchen on June 05, 2018, 08:45:08 am
I often wonder today how many people would actually stop to help someone in serious need versus how many would just take out their phone, let the person lie there and record it instead?   

How many people would just let a person die in front of them that they could have helped saved (and would have a couple of decades ago when we did not always have a camera on hand) just for the pleasure of getting it on video and posting it? 

Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: RSL on June 05, 2018, 09:16:20 am
Pretty good street photography, though.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: MattBurt on June 05, 2018, 10:10:13 am
I was going to say good photojournalism. :)

I guess this is one way to make the selfie even more tasteless.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: RSL on June 05, 2018, 10:11:59 am
Why not?
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: LesPalenik on June 05, 2018, 10:22:21 am
Pretty good street photography, though.

The iPhone selfie shooters should learn first the geometry basics. Judging from that picture and the distance between the guy in shorts and the people on the tracks, the face of the image maker will be substantially bigger than the actual accident scene. By extending the arm two feet in the opposite direction, the accident scene will appear even smaller (most probably, not important for selfie shooters).
 
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: RSL on June 05, 2018, 01:15:32 pm
Right, Les. "Self" is the significant part of the word "selfie."
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on June 05, 2018, 03:26:25 pm
That's the European police state in action: "Police caught the young selfie-taker and forced him to delete his picture."
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Bart_van_der_Wolf on June 05, 2018, 03:43:26 pm
That's the European police state in action: "Police caught the young selfie-taker and forced him to delete his picture."

Nonsense, and you know it.

Cheers,
Bart
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on June 05, 2018, 03:57:17 pm
Nonsense, and you know it.

They didn't force him?
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Bart_van_der_Wolf on June 05, 2018, 04:23:02 pm
They didn't force him?

Nothing to do with police state. No such law.

Cheers,
Bart
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on June 05, 2018, 04:32:45 pm
Nothing to do with police state. No such law.

So it is just police acting outside of their legal prerogatives (i.e., illegally)?
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Bart_van_der_Wolf on June 05, 2018, 04:35:05 pm
So it is just police acting outside of their legal prerogatives (i.e., illegally)?

Correct.

Cheers,
Bart
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Alan Klein on June 05, 2018, 04:50:50 pm
OK>  So is there anyone here who slows down his car to gawk at the accident on the side of the road?  We should suspend your license for two months just to show you how to care for your fellow man.   Ever shoot a cell phone picture of it?   Four months!

The article says he got there when others were already helping this poor person.  Nothing he could do but shoot.  Of course the journalist photographer got his picture so he could get lots of applause by getting it in the newspaper.  Why wasn't he helping the injured?  He'd rather get slaps on the shoulder for embarrassing the other fellow.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Two23 on June 05, 2018, 06:27:37 pm
The news media should have showed him doing this, then shown a photo of him with his name.  Let the public judge him.


Kent in SD
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: LesPalenik on June 05, 2018, 11:06:34 pm
That's the European police state in action: "Police caught the young selfie-taker and forced him to delete his picture."

I'm not sure which place is more paranoid about picture taking, Europe or America.
A few years ago, I was walking along the Ocean Blvd from Sunny Isles to Hallandale and on that walk I was taking pictures of some of the houses beside the road. Mostly details such as gates, windows, balconies, flowers, etc. Suddenly a police car drove by, a big burly cop stepped out, asked me if I speak English and then told me they received a report that I was aiming my camera at a bedroom window and photographed people inside the bedroom. Which would be of course impossible. Fortunately, he didn't ask me to delete the pictures, just advised me to stop shooting. I obliged and headed straight for my hotel.

This past March, I stopped at a public beach in Naples, FL, took a few pictures of the beach, waves and the fishing pier in the distance, and then returned to my car with the intention to continue to the next sightseeing point. Suddenly a young couple ran after me and they demanded to see the pictures I took to make sure I didn't photographed their little daughter. Since I didn't have to worry about doing anything wrong, I showed them the pictures, but it was highly annoying nevertheless. 
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on June 06, 2018, 08:19:26 am
What are you/we critizing here? The fact that he was taking a selfie with the background injured/scene, or that he was taking a photo of the scene?

Would you criticize him if he was simply taking a photo of what was going on?

Why does no one criticize the journalist that took the photo? After all, he was also including the injured/scene.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: RSL on June 06, 2018, 09:22:10 am
Right on, Paulo.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: LesPalenik on June 06, 2018, 10:34:41 am
What are you/we critizing here? The fact that he was taking a selfie with the background injured/scene, or that he was taking a photo of the scene?

Would you criticize him if he was simply taking a photo of what was going on?

Why does no one criticize the journalist that took the photo? After all, he was also including the injured/scene.

Obviously, the outrage was mainly about the selfie aspect. As I mentioned earlier, the face of the image maker would cover many more pixels than the entire accident scene with multiple people. Not a very appealing composition.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: RSL on June 06, 2018, 11:05:38 am
Right, Les. A prime candidate for posting on LuLa.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: JNB_Rare on June 06, 2018, 12:53:52 pm
Ah, yes – tweets, blogs and selfies. There are so many ways to immortalize one's insensitivity and self-obsession these days. Seems to get some people into trouble, though. Like the Dancing Doctor (https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2018/06/02/windell-boutte-doctor-malpractice-suit-update-hartung-lklv.cnn).
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: JNB_Rare on June 06, 2018, 01:15:15 pm
What are you/we critizing here? The fact that he was taking a selfie with the background injured/scene, or that he was taking a photo of the scene?
Would you criticize him if he was simply taking a photo of what was going on?

Criticize the selfie? YES, IMO. Photographing the scene? It depends on the situation. The photographer might just be nosy or insensitive. OTOH, their document of the scene may become important evidence.

Why does no one criticize the journalist that took the photo? After all, he was also including the injured/scene.

Photojournalists are doing a job to provide visuals to a story. With a good agency/media outlet, editorial/ethical decisions are made as to whether the images are published. However, there are certainly times when photojournalists/media seem to cross the line, IMO. Sensationalist images generate $$$.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on June 07, 2018, 10:46:30 am
Obviously, the outrage was mainly about the selfie aspect. As I mentioned earlier, the face of the image maker would cover many more pixels than the entire accident scene with multiple people. Not a very appealing composition.

So the prejudice is against taking selfies. Anyway, it must be difficult to take a selfie with an appealing composition, given the 28mm -eq focal, inherent angle of view, and distance to self.

Others have criticized the selfie guy for not helping the injured, instead of taking the selfie, but then there was nothing he could do as help was already there. In this regard, I could criticize the photog for taking a pic instead of helping too.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: LesPalenik on June 07, 2018, 11:13:02 am
So the prejudice is against taking selfies. Anyway, it must be difficult to take a selfie with an appealing composition, given the 28mm -eq focal, inherent angle of view, and distance to self.

Others have criticized the selfie guy for not helping the injured, instead of taking the selfie, but then there was nothing he could do as help was already there. In this regard, I could criticize the photog for taking a pic instead of helping too.

I should have said -  the outrage was mainly about the insensitivity aspect of the selfie using a scene with the injured person as a distant background. My recommendation to improve the composition and document the scene of the unfortunate accident would be to step in closer and extend the hand with the camera in the direction of the helping paramedics. Using one's own face as a leading object would serve solely the purpose of "I was there", but not to the documentation or a warning aspect of the tragic scene.
Title: Re: Selfie with an accident background
Post by: MattBurt on June 07, 2018, 01:40:04 pm
I should have said -  the outrage was mainly about the insensitivity aspect of the selfie using a scene with the injured person as a distant background. My recommendation to improve the composition and document the scene of the unfortunate accident would be to step in closer and extend the hand with the camera in the direction of the helping paramedics. Using one's own face as a leading object would serve solely the purpose of "I was there", but not to the documentation or a warning aspect of the tragic scene.

This.