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When others make the rules

When you’re playing someone else’s game you’ve got to play by their rules. Even if you don’t like those rules.
The assignment was to photograph a team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting people who had violated the conditions of their residency. However, before I could accompany those police, I had to agree in writing to several conditions.

First, I couldn’t show the faces of the police. Second, I couldn’t show the faces of the persons arrested unless I obtained written permission from those people. Third, I had to stay a reasonable distance back while photographing the agents and last, I had to obey all commands of the officers. I had to agree with all four rules before I was permitted to ride along.

I don’t have any problems with rules 1, 3 and 4. It was rule no. 2 , not showing the arrested person’s faceï¿½ that I like least because from a strictly legal point of view, it’s illegal and I had to sign away that right to get any photographs.

Generally speaking, the law says that whenever a person is in plain view (that is, in public) anybody can photograph that person and publish that photo. But in order to get photos of the operation, I had to sign away that right and abide by ICE’s “no faces”ï¿½ rule to be able to ride along with the officers. I could have refused to sign the ICE document and then ICE would have not allowed me to ride along and I wouldn’t have gotten any photos. And that would not have made the other editors happy. So it was a choice of faceless, headless photos or no photos at all.

By not showing the arrested person’s face I couldn’t show that person’s emotions, emotions which might have told the story better than any other photos. In fact, one of the people arrested began to cry which said as much for his situation than any other photo I took of that person.

But I was playing ICE’s game and I had to follow their rules, like it or not.
So I ended up with a bunch of headless, from-the-back, awkwardly cropped photos. Not great photojournalism but the photos do give readers a tiny glimpse into the ICE operation.

Here’s a sample. These photos appeared in the print version of the Herald-Republic and on our Web site.

An ICE agent places an arrested man in a holding cell

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Immigration and Customs Enforcement policemen gather for a short meeting in their Yakima office Wednesday, Nov. 28 before going out to arrest two men for violating the terms of their legal residency. To accompany the ICE team, the Herald-Republic had to agree to not show the officers' faces.

ICE agents gather for a briefing before the morning’s operation

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Immigration and Customs Enforcement police take a man from his West Valley before dawn on Wednesday, Nov. 28. The man was convicted of child molestation in 1994 which violated the terms of his legal residency.

A man just arrested for violating the terms of his
legal residency is led from his home.

A man arrested for violating the terms of his residency is handcuffed
at the ICE Yakima office before he’s put on a van and taken to a detention
center in Tacoma.

Another person headed to the Tacoma detention center waits
to be put on the transport van. Other handcuffs lie on the floor
awaiting use.

–Gordon King

Food for the soul

Here in the photo department, we give thanks for daily inspiration, provided by a few Web sites and blogs. Some are funny, some are informative, and some are just wacky. These are places we visit often. Enjoy!

The Turkey (Multimedia / video / audio):
http://www.multimediashooter.com/ (a blog of multimedia projects, showcasing some of the best multimedia journalism going on right now)
http://www.mediastorm.org (a smorgasbord of multimedia pieces)

The Stuffing (our favorite part of the meal! Daily Inspiration):
http://www.aphotoaday.org/ (inspiring!)
http://www.sportsshooter.com/ (not just sports, a gathering place for photojournalists, with new portfolios and projects posted daily)

Gravy (Heights we aspire to):
http://www.auroraphotos.com/ (a photo agency with some interesting projects)
http://www.magnumphotos.com (documentary journalism, covering global and social issues)
http://www.viiphoto.com (same as above, sort of)
http://www.poyi.org and www.cpoy.org (Pictures of the Year International and College Photographer of the Year contests, a lot of great pictures and stories and archives of past years’ winners)
http://www.bop.nppa.org/2008/ (another international contest, lots of great work)

Cranberry Sauce (Weird! Fun!)
http://www.interact10ways.com/usa/index.asp (interesting to play around on, my favs are “light” and “information”)
http://www.facesinplaces.blogspot.com/ (faces!)
http://www.wefeelfine.org/ (how are you feeling?)

Dessert (to fill in any leftover spaces):
http://www./blog.robfinchphoto.com/ (a photographer at The Oregonian, great blog)
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com (a technical lighting blog)
http://www.thislife.org (love these stories)
http://www.npr.org (self-explanatory)

–Kris Holland and Sara Gettys

Something from nothing

Theoretically, press conferences should be easy to shoot. After all, your subject(s) have been brought to you and they’re not going anywhere until you’re done. The lighting is usually pretty good (thanks, TV folks). The press conferences usually don’t take very long.

But really, I think press conferences are hard to shoot. Press conferences, by their very manufactured and organized nature, suck the life and any possible emotional moments out of most photographic opportunities (but not always-see the blog entry “Thank you Craig family” below). And that’s what we, as photojournalists, are looking for – photos that have life and emotion. Photos that will connect with the reader, photos that have content and meaning.

So when I’ve got to shoot a press conference my first rule is “go early and stay late.” There may be some spontaneous moments with the subjects before and after the press conference and my best photos often come from those times. Failing that, I have to really get creative during the press conference to make any decent pictures. If the organizers have done their jobs properly, they’ve provided some sort of background or props (such as charts) I can include in the photo to add meaning to any photos. Sometimes there’s interesting light I can use spice up the photos. My goal is to always make photos which convey information to the reader but it’s a challenge to make something from nothing. And sometimes we’re given nothing at a press conference.

A recent press conference with noted author Salman Rushdie is an example of having little to work with for good photos. The press conference took place in a basement room of the Capitol Theatre in Yakima. A small, square table with a small sign for the Town Hall lecture series (the event at which he would soon speak) sat on the table. That’s it. Rushdie came into the room and immediately sat down. So much for my “going early” theory. I shoot a few tight head shots as insurance and then move on to trying to make a more creative photo. There’s only the video cameras of the TV stations to work with and by including those I could, at least, show the reader that Rushdie was speaking at a press conference. Some of my photographic efforts (all pretty cliche):

Rushdie framed in the tripod legs of a camera.

Rushdie through the viewfinder of a TV camera.

Tight head shot of Rushdie.

Looser, head and shoulders shot with the sign on the table.

An overall of the press conference scene.

We ended up using the tight head-and-shoulders shot in the newspaper. The others are graphically interesting but don’t impart much more information than the tight shot. Plus, that tight shot worked best with the page layout for that day.

–Gordon King

And they’re off

In a way, photographing election night is like shooting a sporting event except the players aren’t wearing numbers and the playing field is a tightly packed room which gets warmer and warmer as candidates, supporters, and members of the media sweat out the last few minutes before the results are announced, literally.

Like a football game, we photographers went into it knowing who our key players would be – I was assigned to cover Kathy Coffey and Susan Whitman, as well as look for other telling moments in the pandemonium.

Much like a sporting event, the center of the visual story is the elation of victory and the sad sag of defeat. The strategy, the plays, the cheering and the action has already happened. At the end, all of us are together in a small room, waiting for the scoreboard to light up. And when the numbers appear, it’s the reaction of the players that matters, joy or disappointment. It’s the way each player handles victory or defeat.

Leaning close to Susan Whitman after she read that she had only gotten roughly half the votes of her opponent she smiled softly, telling me that yes, she was disappointed, but that her faith helped her not put her entire self into the results, but to look at the defeat in the context of the many other important parts of her life. Her husband Rob put a hand on her back and she said they’d planned to enjoy relaxing together after hearing the results, whatever they might be.

A moment later, a loud whoop soared across the packed room. “Guess what, mom — I won!” Summer Derrey’s face lit up. Earlier, I’d watched as she’d done the meet and greet with the local political community. Poised and cheerful, only her nervous gesture of picking her fingernails gave away the tension that was finally released as she grinned into the cell phone, letting her mother, then her boyfriend cheer with her about her victory.

Being a good sport, in the political field, as well as on the playing field, seems something that both teams, for the most part, value. After the game, the softball team will head down the line, smacking hands and murmuring “good game.” The gesture may be heartfelt, or not. As the results sunk in, opponents in local races met briefly to shake hands before leaving to celebrate, to relax, to plan for the future, whatever it might be.

We make the pictures, the closing in what has been a long story, many innings. We try to show the way the players hold themselves, what their faces, stony or smiling, reveal about the game and players alike.

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When others make the rules

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Something from nothing

And they’re off

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