It seems that Marco Vernaschi asked the parents of a murdered girl in Uganda,  Babirye Margret (10) to exhume her body so he could  photograph her as part of a story on child sacrifice he was working on with the backing of the Pulitzer centre and aided by Ugandan NGO, RANCHO.

The debate surrounding the exhumation has taken Lightstalkers by storm with various angles on the story being brought in ranging from the ethical aspect; the legal aspect and the fact that this may not have happened in a Western country.

http://marco-vernaschi.photoshelter.com/gallery/CHILD-SACRIFICE-Uganda/G0000×1HawSRNvQo/?bqH=eJzL9A0PdfYrTY8PSg4rMHULNSo2NS6vLEhyMC1MjO0MjQwsLJyj_d0sXU3AIIKQ4_E8uAgv7LAfLUAkKiau2e8u6OPj2tQJDZFAEfQHDs-&_bqO=58

http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/illegal-exhumation-a-debate-about-marco-vernaschis-methods

http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/africa/child-sacrifice-uganda

Firstly I must point out that I do not know Marco Vernaschi personally and have only done research for this blog from the internet so I have not first hand information regarding the events that toke place in Uganda.

Having said that it seems obvious that the illegal exhumation has raised some serious points with regard to our profession and points that need debating.

Secondly my personal view is that from a professional point of view I condemn the exhumation.

It seems outrageous, even with the aim of telling the world about child sacrifice, that a photographer would alter reality by digging up a DEAD girl of ten years old.

From a personal point of view I have daughters and I ask Mr Vernaschi to think of what went through the minds of the parents when they where asked to dig up their daughter.

If this had happened to me and involved either or both of my 7 year old daughters I would have found the request totally unacceptable.

Thirdly from the point of view of being an African and having worked in Africa for most of career I wander if this would have happened in a rural village in Kent, England or a small town outside Roma?

There seems to be a perception by many non African’s that Africa has a different set of standards with regard to human rights and that as journalists, SOME, feel that they are thus able to take advantage of this percieved difference in thinking and approach to life and thus step over the boundaries that hold together non Africa societies.

That said Africa does not do itself any favor being continuously producing bloody civil conflict, dictators, strange traditions and violence at any opportunity.

Finally with the advent of the social media and the proliferation of ‘photographers’ with digital cameras, the world of photojournalism can ill afford this type of unethical behavior lest the profession wakes up one day to find that the general public does not believe the ‘truth’ we are trying to carry in the photo essays and stories that aim to inform those out there would cannot see for themselves.

A woman lies amongst the rubble of a broken building, looking up at the photographer, Haitian Daniel Morel.

The former Associated Press staffer realized the importance of distributing his pictures as quickly as possible. What happened next, and decisions yet to be made in a Manhattan courtroom, may come to redefine how photographers and big media interact with the freewheeling world of social media.

1: Daniel opened a Twitter account and uploaded 13 images to an associated account at Twitpic tweeting that he had exclusive images of the earth quake. ( http://twitter.com/photomorel )

2: Shortly afterwards  Lisandro Suaero, located in the neighboring Dominican Republic and previously unknown as a professional photographer, stole the 13 images, uploaded them to his own TwitPic account, and tweeted that he too had exclusive earthquake pictures.

3: At about 9:45pm AFP copied the images from Suero’s account, and subsequently began offering them for licensing to their international clients.

Effectively what happened was that his images seem to have been stolen from the internet and used by AFP and  Getty Images for sale with no permission or said agreement.

Both parties are now fighting it out in a Manhattan court room but the implications are possibly very damaging to photojournalism.

Some would say that Morel was not wise to have posted images on a social network site that can be seen by anyone with an internet connection and it thus left the door open for parties to ’steal’ the images.

However the fact that AFP distributed the images without his consent has far reaching implications.

For further reading follow these links:

A: http://www.jeremynicholl.com/blog/2010/05/03/afp-steal-photos-then-sue-photographer-2/

B: http://www.1854.eu/2010/04/agence_france_presses_slap_to.html

C: http://www.100eyes.org/2010/04/daniel-morel/



Right wing AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche was murdered by two of his farm workers in his bed on his farm a few kilometers from the Platteland town of Ventersdorp. The murder took place amidst a racial controversy in South Africa involving ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema, who openly sings a struggle song that includes the lyrics “Shoot the Boer”.

With this as background, there was a rise in racial tension the week after the murder, both at the opening day of the court case and at the tense, but quiet funeral of this “boer leader”. Social networking sites and newspaper websites around South Africa were also inundated with people’s viewpoints from both sides.

Covering the court case and the funeral became a difficult and sad week for me as the two parties to the story, the white AWB members and the black farm workers and unemployed from the nearby township, faced off outside the court house while the two suspects inside awaited their future. To stand between the two sides and photograph people shouting racial slurs filled with such sadness.

Just how can humans hate each other SO much because of the difference in skin colour and cultural differences?

Although there are clearly racial divides on South Africa it was very depressing to witness this level of openly displayed negative emotion. Although, for those who lived through the horrid 1980’s, photographing the struggle of our democracy, this may very well have been a commonplace event or show of hate.

The other interesting aspect of the week’s coverage of the murder story was the local and international media coverage of the story. Most of the world’s major news networks, newspapers, agencies and local outlets covered the court case and funeral, and although there were very few media outlets that reported a biased story, it was stunning to see how fast and effectively the average South African was polarized by the event. This is obviously from media reports as the vast majority of the 49 million South African’s were not in Ventersdorp to witness the events.

This brought my thoughts to the question: just how much of a role does the media play in fanning the flames of discontent and racial strife, and to what extent can the media be held responsible for the widespread hate? Is this murder and the coverage thereof simply a starter motor or ignition for feelings which people already have – and are they simply waiting for an event like this to start to air their hate and racist feelings?

Would this hate boil over if we lived in a society WITHOUT media? Or is the media coverage which, like it or not, remains a polarizing tool, a major factor in the thought processes of the public?

Dare I say it? As a member of the international media, I alas feel the media had a huge effect this week in driving a wedge between South Africans, and were also probably responsible for reinforcing the opinion of international readers that South Africa is unsafe and not worth traveling to.

Let us hope and pray that one day our society can live in some form of harmony and that we will honour the constitution that so many fought for so long to institute.

Ultimately the middle of the road South African has been held ransom between the two extremist sides of the political spectrum, the AWB and Julius Malema.

Over the past two weeks I have been editing Winter Olympic images as part of
the EPA Photos and DPA teams based at the main media centre in Vancouver,
Canada.

One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind was just how the images were
getting from the photographers cameras high in the mountains surrounding the
city to the end user – the newspapers and websites. Another thought was how
long it takes and what IT resources are needed to make this happen.

What I found out is that an enormous amount preparation is vital for this
type of assignment, and planning from the agency in conjunction with the IOC
is also very important.

The IT department started their work two weeks before any photographers
arrived and they effectively cabled entire mountainsides with LAN cables,
and from there to the designated EPA photo positions that were agreed on
during earlier meetings with the photo manager of the IOC and EPA sports
editor, Gernot Hensel, as well as with IT manager, Ole Bratz.

A total of 4 kilometres of LAN cabling was laid, including 40 LAN stitches
and mountains of other IT hardware. EPA had to also supply its own servers,
desk top computers, power sockets and other office hardware.

According to Martin Leo, from EPA Photos IT department, the worst venue to
cable was the Ice Hockey stadium. He spent the best part of a day crawling
under spectators’ seats to cable the venue and had to share the stadium
floor with dead rats and mouse traps.

The main reason to cable the Ice Hockey venue was to access images from the
remote cameras that were preinstalled in the roof of the stadium directly
above the nets of the ‘field’. These remote cameras are fired by the two
photographers covering the hockey from pitch side and edited in real time by
EPA editors in the main media centre, with images moving from the camera to
the media centre via LAN cables.

Some of the events, on the other hand, allow photographers to edit their own
work and transmit the edited and captioned images to the desk via LAN
cables. Most photographers are using Photo Mechanic with code replacement to
add captions, before moving the images to the desk.

The 9 editors working shifts from 1oam to 12pm use FotoStation software to
edit, caption and transmit images to the EPA Photos head offices in
Frankfurt, Germany, where the images make the final part of their journey to
clients around the world via a satellite feed.

The process of shooting an image, moving it to editors, sending it to
Frankfurt and then moving it onto clients takes less than 2 minutes.

After the first week of the games, 10 000 images were moved to the clients,
with 16 000 images having been edited by the desk.

This makes me think how different the workflow would have been decades ago,
before high speed internet, before cameras that are now effectively powerful
computers, and before smaller and faster laptops.
The one thing that I can guarantee is that photographers would have shot
less images and would probably have focused on the winners of the events,
and not been forced to shoot images of most of the athletes, transmitting an
endless stream of images.

As editors, the modern high speed imaging work flow forces us to look at
more images than before, as clients expect their feed from major sporting
events to be all-encompassing, to be counted by the ‘weight’ of images, not
only important moments.

Thus, as an agency you are expected to produce not only the winning moments,
winners, podiums and stunning features from EVERY event, but MORE images
than from previous Games.

The more images, the better, and so the circle of needing to move more
images to clients faster than before is unending, and I am sure the workflow
will get faster and

Editorial photographers used to jump from one story to another. News was news — whether sports, conflict, celebrity or natural disaster. A photojournalist would shoot a head of state one hour and a celebrity the next. And he or she would do so with the same talent, the same intense dedication to quality.

Today, many photographers prefer to categorize themselves in self-assigned niches. News photographers hardly talk to sports photographers anymore. Everybody has their group, association, blogs, and forums.

Photography has its social classes, almost like a feudal society. It has its kings and knights, its jesters and courtesans, and of course, the peasants.

So where do you rank on the totem pole of photo-snobbery? Here’s a quick take, starting with the photographers most respected (by snobs) –

1. Conflict Photographer. The bigger the scarf around the neck, the more important you are. It’s like a medal of honor. Conflict photographers are treated as heroes, regardless of the quality of their images. It is not so much what they bring back that matters, but what they go through to get it. They even earn more credentials if, heaven forbid, they are wounded or killed. The path to legendary status is then almost a given.

2. Fine Art Photographer. If your works seems to carry a hidden message that no one understands, or is “disturbing,” or both — you’re in. The more academic titles you have, and the more awards (even unknown awards) you’ve received, the higher your ranking on the totem pole. Books, exhibits, and speaking engagements are a plus.

3. Documentary Photographer. Even one photo story on dying children in Africa goes a long way. It’s even better if you use multimedia. A crappy documentary photographer is 20 times more respected than the best red carpet photographer.

4. Magazine Cover Photographer. It doesn’t matter that the end product is highly retouched by on computer. Magazine cover photographers often enjoy privileged celebrity status; it helps to be a great schmoozer. Being a good photographer is irrelevant. It’s all about who you know.

5. Corporate Photographer. We’re heading down the totem pole now — but taking pictures of CEOs and lawyers still brings respectability. The longer you do it, the more respected you’re likely to be. Not for your talent, but for the mere fact that you have been around for so long.

6. Commercial Stock Shooter. The higher the nose is pointing, the more important the photographer.

7. Sports Photographer. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

8. Wedding Photographer. So plebeian.

9. Celebrity Photographer. If you are a photographer with a lot of talent shooting every day because people hire you all the time, then you are a “peasant,” a laborer. Especially if you work in the celebrity field. Although everyone will tell you that celebrity photography is what sells these days, it is considered by photo snobs a sub art form, a dirty job, like cleaning the sewers. Celebrity photographers are completely ignored at photo festivals, trade shows, photo museums and even workshops. They are like a family member you keep locked in the basement.

10. Paparazzi Photographer. The scum of the earth, right? How dare they take pictures of people without their approval! Of course, documentary photographers also invade privacy, don’t they? But I guess that’s OK because it’s in Africa or Afghanistan and not Hollywood.

11. Amateurs and Microstock Shooters. How dare they even make this list!

As a reminder, where you rank on this list has little or nothing to do with talent. After all, the “best” photographers these days don’t take pictures anymore and have assistants doing it for them. No one seems to mind.

http://stateoftheart.popphoto.com/blog/2008/09/perpignan-satur.html

During the xenophobic violence in Johannesburg, South Africa that took place in 2008, an extraordinary situation occured that still has me considering the approach of photographers in conflict situations.

Running battles between the police and protesters left a man lying wounded by a rubber bullet and as he lay in pain waiting to be tended to by paramedics, scores of photographers and cameramen formed a half circle around him.

As we framed and made our images, we tried to make a clean background for the image of the injured man.

On occasion a journalist would walk past the scene and get shouted and sworn at by photographers for ‘getting in the picture’.

After shooting the ‘clean’ image, I also walked past the scene and made an image of the media scrum from the other side and transmitted the image to EPA Photos head office in Frankfurt, Germany.

What followed later that year was a heated debate at the Visa Pour l’Image festival in Perpignan, France, with the discussion centring around the very nature of photographers on assignment, as well as the merit of the images which were put on the EPA wire service to its global clients.

The debated included photographer, Kim Ludbrook, EPA editor Maria Mann, Visa pour l’Image founder Jean-Francois Leroy, and AP photographer Jerôme Delay.

My feeling on the day was that there where many photographers trying to make ‘World Press images’; in other words fighting to make the money picture at all costs, even if it meant shouting at fellow journalists for walking in the background and clambering over each other to get the picture of a wounded man.

While being a Devil’s Advocate here, I am also part of the pack and know the feeling of pushing the boundaries of morality to get images partly because of the pressures involved in the industry and in my case, because of the highly competitive nature of news agency photography.

The second and more heated part of the debate is the question of whether or not the image should ever have been shot, never mind transmitted to Frankfurt and then put on the wire.

My view is that the image is simply another view of the reality that happened in that moment in time.

I can understand how many in the industry would have reservations about the usage of the image showing us looking like war paparazzi, but the sad fact is on that day we were acting just as the image shows.

Part of the issue also stems from the fact that once we are behind the viewfinder, we tend to become far braver, more interested in the IMAGE than what is happening around us and I am sure that many photographers and TV cameramen on that day did not act intentionally like war paparazzi.

Instinct took over.

In the space of six hours I had covered the fashion section of the 2009 Miss World Pageant and the grand final of the Mr Gay South Africa pageant in Pretoria.

I don’t know if the disorganisers of the two pageants knew that the events were taking place on the same day, but covering them both was a really interesting, if not weird experience.

The whole thing surrounding beauty competitions is one that leaves me a little cold, but at the end of the day it is a free world and if you were blessed with great looks, male or female, then hell – go ahead and make something of them!

The first of the two jobs for the day was the Miss World Beauty Pageant at the Turbine Hall in downtown Johannesburg.

115 of the world’s most stunning women parading down a cat walk in their heels was certainly enough to make me use the Canon auto focus to the best…

It rather seemed like some medieval cattle market, as the women were judged on looks and the costume they where wearing. No thought process involved…

Many tears where shed during the evening as those who where knocked out in the early stages sulked off to the holding pens and those who made it to the final five beamed with happiness.

The final winner was totally overjoyed and was unable to talk as her make-up ran down her face…

Bless her – she, like so many before her, also wanted to save all the poor children of the world.

Later in the day came the more interesting and enjoyable of the two events – the finals of the Mr Gay South Africa pageant at the State theatre in Pretoria.

The atmosphere was electric as the Apartheid era theatre bulged with much hugging and kissing as hundreds of supporters, family and friends enjoyed a great stage show involving some of the countries lushest gay men.

The smell of various lotions and potions was thick in the air and tight swimwear and see-through club gear was the order of the night. And I got the backstage view too, as the organisers had most kindly allowed me full access to shoot a photo essay on the action.

All heterosexual men out there – be jealous. Yes, some of the best built men in the country are the entrants in this prestigious competition. About time you started getting buffed up too??