people: February 2009 Archives

In the course of a typical work day in any newspaper, photographers might have some time between assignments. One way to best use that time is to look for 'free art', or interesting pictures that don't neccesarily go with a story. A good place to find free art is at schools. Kids are terrific subjects and the photos show that most are typical-- they have a immense curiosities, laugh a lot, and aren't bogged down by adult worries of bills, jobs and relationships.

And those photos also show our readers that all kids don't do drugs and steal cars. And I believe people enjoy seeing photos of things other than fires, crashes and murderers.

Some school districts have their own public relations people who bring our attention to good stories. Karen Steinrock of Northern and Julie Romig of Central regularly send us ideas. It might be a reminder of a school board meeting, or just Grandparents Day at the elementary schools, like the photo above.

But this photo, taken about 12 years ago, wouldn't be allowed today. Privacy concerns are keeping positive photos of kids out of the paper and the web.

I was told yesterday that I couldn't take photos of an entire school's participation in a fund-raising program for the Heart Association. Now, these photos wouldn't have won the Pulitzer Prize, but they would have showed students in a positive light, and provided some sense to the public that all kids don't show up on the police logs.

Now, I understand privacy concerns. We deal with it all the time, and work hard to assure the safety of students. If little Johnny can't have his picture taken, we have a simple solution-- we don't take his picture. But we don't ignore all the other kids in the school who are truly doing a good deed. We were told that whenever we wanted a picture in this particular school district, we had to show up at the administration building, in person, for permission from the superintendent. Then trek back-- and it could be almost nine miles-- to the school for pictures.

Even for baseball, basketball or any other athletic events, they said, we had to get prioir permission from the superintendant to take photos. We've never heard that before.

So this brings up an interesting point. If this school is competing in the county's cross country meet, for example, does it mean we can't shoot the event at all because of this school's participation?

Most schools welcome us into their buildings, spell out simple privacy rules and let us take good photos of good kids doing good things. Some make it difficult. Where would you go?

This photo, taken 28 years ago, has always been a favorite of mine, not because of any photographic excellence, but because I remember the personality, even as other memories fade.

This little girl (I'm not even sure of that because of the snow suit) was obviously not happy about shoveling the walk-- but she had resigned herself to the fact that it was going to happen. The shovel was bigger than she was tall, the snow drifts nearly as high. But as I drove down the York street, I saw her sitting there, comtemplating her next shovelful.

But she was a cutie. And she sparkled when I spoke with her.

As I drove away, she was right back at it.

We occasionally take this kind of picture when, while cruising through town, we see a possible photo. But whenever I take pictures of children, I give them my Daily Record business card so they can show Mom and Dad who was taking their picture. Parents are understandably concerned when they run home and say someone was taking their photo. With a business card, they have a telephone number, email address and business address that parents can use to check credentials.

Even with that, parents have called the police to warn someone is taking their kid's picture. I stick around and talk with police to be sure they know what's going on. It's best to talk with parents before taking the picture, but sometimes, it's just not possible.

And if parents don't want the picture in the paper, it's not published. In fact, I deleted a Christmas blog entry because a parent didn't want her daughter's last name on the internet. Given her concern, I deleted not only the last name, but the entire entry.