A Rally for August Break

One of these days, I’d like to tail a real photojournalist for a while, just to see how they work. I’ve got this mental picture how “real photographers” work (whether they’re portrait, documentary or fashion photographers), but I’m finding that most of my mental pictures are at least partly wrong, so I’d like a chance to confirm this one.

In my head, “real” photojournalists are aggressive, shoving people aside for the sake of their shots. They charge headlong at the action, shooting with abandon, sort of like an infantry soldier in hitting the beach in one of those D-Day movies like The Big Red One or Saving Private Ryan.

Unfortunately, while I love the idea of telling stories in photographs like they do, that way of working feels completely at odds with who I am. I don’t think a person like that would get a shot like this – a quiet view of the story behind the story. The bigger picture. So one of two things needs to happen – I either need to change my mental picture or change my goal.

Well, I suppose there’s a third way – do the job the way I think it should be done.