Indirect Objects

Load. Aim. Shoot. Photographers are scary, and if you’re snapping pictures in Britain you might want to pay a lawyer to schlep your equipment. Much has been said recently about the capricious bullying by police of photographers in public spaces, and a recent protest in Trafalgar Square helped bring the issue to the general public. British police have been invoking Section 44 of the Terrorism Act to stop people on the street who are armed with cameras and Look Suspicious. Well, don’t we all? Please watch this footage for a first-hand encounter with The Law. I lived in London for many years, and much of my work had bits of people passing through the image frames. My tactic was to act like a tourist and pretend I was focusing on something else. The camera I use now, a Fuji 6×7, says Professional in large white letters across the front, and while I’m grateful for its confidence in me, I don’t know if it means I look less, or in fact more, suspicious. If you are planning a trip to England and will be taking pictures of any kind, please know that the police might not like the look of you, and might like to make this perfectly clear.

The Metropolitan Police released the above poster in 2008 and I have desperately coveted one ever since. Do you seem odd? Pretty sure I do. I promise a nice little gift to the first person who can get me one of those posters.

I’ve been thinking about text, typography, and layout as I put together this book, so I thought I would fling a little of this at you. Not that you’d notice. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Typi non habent claritatem insitam; est usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem. Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores legere me lius quod ii legunt saepius. Claritas est etiam processus dynamicus, qui sequitur mutationem consuetudium lectorum. Mirum est notare quam littera gothica, quam nunc putamus parum claram, anteposuerit litterarum formas humanitatis per seacula quarta decima et quinta decima. Eodem modo typi, qui nunc nobis videntur parum clari, fiant sollemnes in futurum.

Zoriah Miller has an offer you can’t refuse. For only $4000 apiece, you and three other lucky souls can learn all about photojournalism on a workshop in sunny Haiti. You “should be prepared for minimal comforts” and will still need to cover all of your own expenses, including a tent. Remember your sunscreen, and send us a postcard. Read all about it HERE.

I know that doctors and other crisis workers have developed ways to cope with trauma so they can push aside emotions and get to work, and that we rely on photographers to show us the scale of such devastation so we can make better-informed choices. It’s just difficult to see how Mr. Miller can ask for $16,000 for a single week’s work in Haiti, without any mention of how that money will be used. Sure, it’s his income, and he can spend it as he wishes. The four lucky workshop participants might feel that is a good use of their money and time, and it may be a win-win situation. Is it the cost of the workshop that doesn’t sit right with me? I don’t know if that’s the case, because it seems like it would be troubling even if he offered his advice and companionship for free. I hope photojournalists who are in Haiti right now are rolling up their sleeves and pitching in, and that any others planning a trip there will be prepared to do the same. I assume that is exactly what is happening, and that, from the start, workshop participants assume they will also be helping in disaster relief. While we hear and read about unimaginable tragedies from the comfort and safety of our living rooms, we need photographers to do some of the hard work of gathering and transmitting images. These photographers need to learn their craft somewhere, somehow, and maybe this is how it is done.