gypsy photo: November 2007

Scott Bish loads his plate from the lunch buffet at The Beaumont Club in Beaumont, TX, Tuesday, October 30, 2007. Beaumont Enterprise, Tammy McKinley

The story is about the do's and don'ts of buffet eating. This man is clearly displaying a dont. Evidently the editor wanted a do but didn't bother to tell me that.

I had an interesting discussion with the features editor over this pic. His concern was because I cropped out the head of the subject he wondered if readers would wonder about the identity of the eater. My arguement was that because I cut off the head of the diner, he becomes an "everyman". The editor was also concerned that because I asked the diner his name, he might assume that his image would appear in the paper and would be disappointed that I cut off his head. One-It's my job to get thier names, Two-I don't think we can allow what our subjects May assume dictate how art is edited.

A family member taunts the media as Beaumont Police officers and SWAT members remove weapons from a home where a 61 year old white male barracaded himself earlier in Beaumont, TX, Sunday, October 28, 2007. Beaumont Enterprise, Tammy McKinley

While not an excellent photo, it does bring up an interesting point. I did get some crap for turning in a pic with a man flipping me off. But, some papers allow these type of photos and some don't. And since I am new here, I didn't know the policy on that. Personally, I feel if that what was happening on the scene, then that's what I should photograph. It gives an accurate description of what was going on. But editors are notoriously more sensitive than photographers, and the non-dancing-around-flipping-me-off photo ran in the paper.

On another note, this is probably why newspapers shouldn't allow photographers to post top page photos without editorial approval, because I would have posted the one of the guy flipping me off.