Regret
3rd of March, 2012 · 4 Comments
I did something yesterday that I regret doing and wish I could take back. I went out and took photos of a gnarly bad car wreck for work.
Part of my job as a reporter includes covering things like that. I observed all the laws I know about and I stayed out of the way and wasn’t a nuisance.
But more than anything, I remembered that I was taking pictures of someone else’s mom or sister or friend. I tried to take pictures that showed damaged vehicles and rescue workers while preserving the privacy of the injured people.
But I still feel like a scumbag.
It was news, and it needed to be covered for the newspaper, but that just feels like rationalization to me. As I stood out on the sidewalk and took photos, I really felt like a jerk. I still feel like a jerk. Those photos will sell papers. Photos I took of people who will likely spend the next few days in the hospital, maybe much more. People who, if they were as bad off as they looked, will never be the same. And even if they are the same, their insurance will go up, they’re cars are totaled, their families are worried, and their medical bills will will make their lives really hard.
And there I was, taking photos, being a vampire. I wasn’t hindering anybody, but I certainly wasn’t helping.
I know I didn’t do anything illegal, and I know I didn’t impede rescue workers. But I also know I didn’t do a damn thing to help anybody and I absolutely hate the idea of photos of me in a neck-brace and on a backboard being published in the local paper.
I hate that I took those pictures. I hate that I was available to go cover that event and that I wasn’t in the middle of an interview in Creston instead. Even if I never publish a single photo, I hate that I took them.
I wish I could apologize to the accident victims.
Aaron
on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 at 10:24 am
I can top that. There’s the time I took pictures of a crash, only to see emergency workers drape a yellow blanket over the dead driver, who I didn’t realize was there but was there nice and clear in the pictures (it later turned out the SUV had been stolen). There’s also the time a little kid got hit by a small Toyota truck and dragged down the street a little way (he survived, and Ensenada Way is no longer a through street). Those sucked. When covering those things, just try to find an angle that shows the damage and the rescue crew working without showing much if any of the victim.
Creig P. Sherburne
on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 at 10:50 am
Holy cow. That sucks. It’s hard to know how much that sucks. This job isn’t easy sometimes.
Mom
on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 at 11:50 am
You’re not a jerk. You took photos of a newsworthy event in this small town. You didn’t exploit anybody, either. PLUS, your photos could help one of the people involved by showing who was at fault. I think you’re traumatized by the event itself. It’s hard to see somebody hurt. It’s all unfortunate and I feel bad that you had to witness it. Mama hugs you.
Jim
on Sunday, March 4th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
I agree with your mom. Also, remember there was that guy on the street corner talking about how there were accidents there all the time? Maybe you could turn a news story about an accident into a public awareness piece about that street corner. Perhaps bringing attention to a dangerous intersection could be helpful in the future. Your photos would become punctuation to a point rather than anything to make you feel vampirish.