Comments on: Ready to record history

By: ProfJohnMac

ProfJohnMac — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:29:22 +0000

I leave the debate about propriety, boycotting and such to the working pros. I am part of a group that is intensely interested in the implications about captions.

A key concern is subsequent info to the effect that pictures from the restaging were published in print and online with captions that did not indicate the restaging. Be sure to see the stuff on the NPPA site by Donald R. Winslow.

I will conduct a panel on captions (content, form, accuracy…?) at a national journalism educators’ conference (AEJMC) early in August. Can you, or any reader, point me to specifics?

John McClelland, emeritus faculty, Roosevelt University, Chicago. jmcclell@roosevelt.edu or john.r.mcclelland@gmail.com

By: grannybuttons

grannybuttons — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:01:13 +0000

I have to add that one thing which irritates me about live TV coverage of such events is the constant clicking and flashing of cameras. I’m glad those are kept to a reenactment session!

By: grannybuttons

grannybuttons — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:59:33 +0000

If Obama’s re-enactment was phony, then it has an honorable history.

Re-enacted events are as old as broadcasting – as old photography, possibly even as old as painting.

For example, Winston Churchill would sometimes repeat his live wartime radios speeches for recording. And he’d be photographed doing so. The most famous example was his 1940 ‘We shall fight them on the beaches…’, which was a repeat of a non-recorded parliamentary speech.

I daresay you’ll find equivalents from Franklin Roosevelt and of course there’s the famous flag-raising picture at (?) Iwo Jima.

By: billyjean100

billyjean100 — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:28:05 +0000

I agree on the great shots, but am shocked that events are re-enacted! How phony.

By: jboal

jboal — Wed, 04 May 2011 02:42:34 +0000

Hmmm…going to have to agree with Mark Loundy on this one. Why couldn’t they allow photographers a shot during the speech? Even if it’s from the back of the room with a long lens.

Lovely photos from outside the White House, however.

By: lenshneyder

lenshneyder — Tue, 03 May 2011 21:59:53 +0000

Thank you for posting this. Surreal is a perfect way of describing the event. I stepped off a plane and heard a man say “so she couldn’t tape the amazing race because Obama just announced that they killed Bin Laden and it’s on all the channels.” I grabbed my mobile and started looking through the news and there it was. I almost missed my bag on the conveyor belt.

When I started to see the pictures of revelers, and the photo of the young man with the face paint and flag draped around him like a cape I became a little unnerved and then I read a friend’s post on Facebook:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King, Jr

Just thought I’d share… those words are haunting in light of our joy at the death of our enemies.

-L

By: MarkLoundy

MarkLoundy — Tue, 03 May 2011 07:32:41 +0000

Why does the White House Press corps not refuse to shoot re-enactments? No number of disclaimers is going to prevent misleading viewers into thinking that they’re looking at the real event.

–Mark Loundy
Twitter: @MarkLoundy

By: Buzz71

Buzz71 — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:02:04 +0000

JReed, man thanks a lot i felt as if I was there. Sept 11 I was working late days and I decided to write about it.
Great photos and I could only imagine the feeling you had last night. Thanks for being there.

By: sonopard

sonopard — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:57:03 +0000

At the risk of regurgitating what others have and will say, let me note that the last image is a great shot.

You managed to capture the gravity of the job in many aspects, especially in the context with the series. It wouldn’t work so well standing alone, but the shot is still great and as such portrays you as a real photographer as opposed to just an image-taker.

By: rachorch

rachorch — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:29:30 +0000

Thats an amazing insight into how events unfoled for you, well done. the post’s amazing.