When others make the rules
November29200711:37 AM
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 face – 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” 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
ICE agents gather for a briefing before the morning's operation
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
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 face – 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” 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
ICE agents gather for a briefing before the morning's operation
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