Would you have taken this photograph?
Discussion
bbc_web_site said:
It was 22 July 1975. I was about to leave the offices of the Boston Herald for the day.
A call came in about a fire in one of the city's older sections of Victorian row houses. I rushed to the house and followed one of the engines to the fire. I ran to the back of the building, because on the way there they kept yelling for a ladder truck because there were people trapped in the building on the fire escape.
The fireman was reaching out for the ladder when suddenly the fire escape gave way
I ran to the back of the building and when I looked up there was a woman and a child on the fire escape and they were basically leaning at the furthest point from the building because of the heat of the fire behind them.
In the meantime, a firefighter called Bob O'Neil had climbed on to the front of the building on the roof and saw the pair on the fire escape. He lowered himself on to the fire escape to rescue them.
I took a position where I could photograph what I thought was an impending routine rescue. The ladder went up to pick them up - they were about 50ft (15m) up. Mr O'Neill had just told Diana Bryant that he was going to step onto the ladder and asked her to hand the baby to him.
Debate
Mr O'Neil was reaching out for the ladder when suddenly the fire escape gave way.
I was shooting pictures as they were falling - then I turned away. It dawned on me what was happening and I didn't want to see them hit the ground. I can still remember turning around and shaking.
It transpired that I wouldn't have seen them hit the ground as they fell behind a fence where the bins were. When I did turn around I didn't see them but I saw the firefighter still clinging onto the ladder with one arm, like a monkey, with all his gear. He hoisted himself back up the fire escape to safety.
Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up
They say the woman broke the child's fall. The woman died later that night.
At the time, I didn't know that the picture was going to be so big or have such an impact. When I started looking at the negatives I was looking at the rescue picture, where they were holding on to each other. I didn't even look at the next frame, I didn't know exactly what I'd got. I knew I had shot them coming down, I didn't realise how dramatic it was until I had developed the film.
The picture was first published in the Boston Herald and then picked up and published in newspapers all over the world. There was much debate about showing such a horrific picture.
I was never bothered by the controversy. When you think about it, I don't think it was that horrific. The woman at the time was not deceased; we didn't show a dead person on the front page. She did die, which is a horrible thing. I didn't think it was that bad, but then I am the photographer, so I'm biased.
Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up.
My photograph prompted people to go out and check their fire escapes and ushered in a law that meant that the owner of the property is responsible for fire-escape safety. It was also used in many fire-safety pamphlets for many years.
Thirty years later it's nice to know that I did the right thing. I haven't seen anything like it since. I've seen pictures that I wish I'd made but I haven't seen anything as dramatic as that, and I've seen some pretty good pictures.
When you say a picture tells a thousand words, this one certainly told 10,000.
I think newspapers are getting killed by TV. I'm not in newspapers any more. I didn't leave because I thought this was going to happen. I left because I needed a change. I think newspapers are getting killed by TV, and TV is getting killed by itself. Because there are only so many pieces of the pie, all these cable and sports and things like that.
I'm glad I'm at the end of it. It'd be pretty tough to come into it now. It's not as much fun as it used to be, I can tell you that.
Mad Dave said:
I'd have taken it, unless there was something I could have done to help them. If I was powerless to help them in any way then I would snap away. Whether or not I published the photographs afterwards would be another issue.
I'd never seen the photos in the series before, but they are very powerful. The only one I had a moral problem with was the Latin American girl, I couldn't understand why she hadn't been hauled out.
pdV6 said:Maybe, maybe not. Yes, in those exact circumstances he'd already started shooting and didn't know what was to be the outcome. But it does highlight a moral dilemma, at least in my mind. Given potential tragic circumstances, do you take photographs to make a record (in this case it helped change the law regarding the safety of fire-escapes), or do you stop out of respect for the people involved or just because you don't want to see it happen...? The photograph of Omayra Sanchez takes that further - the photographer knew that she was helpless and was going to die. I don't know if I could have taken that photograph.
Needs the story to go with the images in order to decide.
pdV6 said:
The photograph of Omayra Sanchez... I don't know if I could have taken that photograph.
Indeed.
It's very hard to reconcile the fact that it's important that people hear/see these things, which on the face of it is an altruistic act - with the fact that the photographer profits every time the image is published...
Not sure where I stand on this. I think the photo needs to be taken, but I couldn't have done so.
I would still take the photo, but maybe not publish it. You can decide at a later date that the shot was not suitable, but you cannot recreate the photograph if you don't take it. If you feel bad about profiting from such circumstances then give the money to charity.
I would take the shot.
I would take the shot.
It’s a tricky one. Some would call it art, some would call it sick. The photograph doesn’t graphically depict the whole story, but as it has already been taken, I think it does have a place in the history of the story.
Not sure I could have taken the picture, I think I’d have been more inclined to put down the camera and see if I could help.
Unfortunately there will always be sick, ghoulish people who would simply want to look at images like this and others for their own weird kicks.
It is stunningly dramatic photography, but you have to wonder if it was worth the cost.
Not sure I could have taken the picture, I think I’d have been more inclined to put down the camera and see if I could help.
Unfortunately there will always be sick, ghoulish people who would simply want to look at images like this and others for their own weird kicks.
It is stunningly dramatic photography, but you have to wonder if it was worth the cost.
simpo two said:
Not sure I could have taken the picture, I think I’d have been more inclined to put down the camera and see if I could help.
Hmm, put the camera down, run 50+ yards *and* catch the victim - all in 0.5 second?
Um....Possibly not in that way, Simpo. Didn't quite mean it that literally.
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