Photographs of London bombs

[kags]

The media is full of photographs taken by members of the public, in particular of the immediate aftermath (first seconds) of the bomb exploding on the bus. I hope I never find myself witness to anything so horrific, but I imagine my response would be to either run away very fast, or to go and help - not to take photographs. This is not a criticism of the photographers, it hasn't stopped me looking at the photos, but I just wondered what people thought about this. Do you think it is right that these graphic photos should be shown, particularly when no victims have yet been formally identified?

[bazwillrun]

The Media will do anything to get stories pics interviews etc.etc. They will push the rules as far as they have to and sometimes break them.

I used to work for the Mirror Group of newspapers so believe me i know what goes on.

Television is all about viewing figures and Newspapers is all about sales. If they thought that they could get away with showing you picture of the mutilated bodies they would.

Do you remember the Zebrugge ferry disaster, on the news theres a reporter as survivors are  being bought back to shore.

Middle of the night, freezing cold soaking wet in shock with a blanket around his shoulders and the question to the man as he walks past "How do you feel ?" the man was to dumbstruck to even answer. Saw him interviewed on TV some years later and when asked about that, he replied that he just couldnt believe how stupid the question was

Sums them up really 

On the day of the london bombings the BBC web site was asking people to get in touch if they were there or had any pictures.

They need to sensationise everything, and by printing them they are saying to you "look this is what happens when a bomb goes off  you arent intelligent enough to imagine the horrors without our pictures".

The more sensational the more sales

[Andy008]

Bombs going off and people getting torn to shreds isn't very nice, but it's the world we live in.

Stuff like that happens every day in Iraq. If you ask anyone working in an A & E department they will tell you the same story.

I have through bitter and painful experience come to realise the world is a horrible place, so better to accept this and get with it than pretend otherwise.

As for the media attempting to profit from the situation, many of the media community work in and around the bomb sites, they could just as easily have been killed.

[kags]

Andy008 - I agree we shouldn't pretend the world is any nicer than it is - just think that if I was searching for a missing relative I wouldn't want to see a picture, possibly of them wounded or dying taken by someone on a mobile phone, all over the press and internet before I knew officially what had happened to them.

[MargeB]

Heh, that was the first thing that struck my mind when I saw them. You wonder what was going on in their heads. Right, bomb, people struggling and screaming, dust everywhere...right, get the mobile on it, can't wait to show my mates.

Reminds me of de Niro's '15 Minutes'.

[bazwillrun]

Andy008 you have one tonights  first prize for naivety.!

[alli mac]

I feel total pain when i think what the familys are going through waiting for news of their loved ones, every minute must seem like an hour, it makes me cry when i see this on the news. We know exactly what has gone on, how dare they come into our country and take such innocent lives because we dont live up to their standards, like the paper said today if it was up to them there would be no discos, bars, swimming pools, youth clubs, sunbathing, holidays, fashion etc if thats the way they want to live then stay in your own bloody country, and i dont mean that racist as i've lots of mixed friends who fit in so well but sadley thay all dont all see it that way.

[Andy008]

Or maybe I don't, seeing as both my father and several friends work in and around Edgware Road and Euston/King's Cross, I have two friends who are police officers with the Met., I work as a nightclub doorman, hold a 1st class business degree, spent 5 years in the Territorial Army, and have had several friends who are soldiers go to, and thankfully come back from Iraq.

Hardly "naive".

[Andy008]

"Andy008 you have one tonights  first prize for naviety!"

Replace "one" with "won", and "tonights" with "tonight's", remember your spacing as well.

[Hippy]

I carry a camera with me everywhere, not just the little phone one, but a minature Pentax and a larger format Olympus. I have found a few occasions where I have happened across events that were photogenic or, heaven forfend, newsworthy. I have snapped the events (always in a public place and always avoiding graphic body parts ripped off etc.)  and got in close and personal with the result that I have had some rather saleable pictures.

I am not a paramedic, but if I were the only person around with first-aid skills and saw a person in distress I would, of course, think first of the other person's wellbeing over any photograph. Ususally, there are plenty of people in charge, or alternatively no-one in charge and I am not an official "in-charge" person nor would I want to be. I am, however, a person who can produce reasonable photographs and use visual senses to find the right angle and lighting etc. to make a shot work very quickly. Some people are good at other things. That's life.

Maybe there's something in that ramble to help answer yourr question, Kags. At the time of composing and taking the photos the subject people are anonymous other humans, and of course I have feelings for them, but not usually as I take the photos, but certainly straight afterwards. A sort of temporary detatchment.

[silly moo]

I blame mobile phone / cameras.
Or at least until I read Hippy's post.

"I have snapped the events (always in a public place and always avoiding graphic body parts ripped off etc.) and got in close and personal with the result that I have had some rather saleable pictures."

I find this quote unsettling, especially the word saleable.

[kags]

It was good to get Hippy's point of view, because as I said above I was finding it hard to understand why people would take photos rather than help or run away. I wasn't criticising the photographers, just seeking to understand them. My criticism is more with those who have published the phtots.

[Hippy]

Most things are for sale at the right price. S-Moo, is it the "product" or the "market" that disturbs you?

I have a dislike of the "product" tobacco, and think that its deadly effects should be enough to stop people using it. However there is still a thiving trade in the stuff. Should I condemn the corner shop owner who sells tobacco, or just reserve my disdain for its manufacturer? Or maybe neither, for so long as there are people who want the stuff there will be others who will supply it, and it is the user who fuels the whole process and should be abhorred?

I take photographs because I want to and wish to record visual images of what I see and experience. That some are saleable is a by-product of the whole procedure. I saw pictures of the bombings and had an immediate idea of how awful it must have been to be in the smoke,  heat and confusion underground, having to scramble over wreckage and worse to get out, and to be aware of the tenuous nature of life. Those pictures told a powerful story. As Kags said, while she may have had questions about the motivation of the snappers, "... it hasn't stopped me looking at the photos ..."

[kempie]

Ignoring the rationale behind the taking of these photographs, the police are now appealing for pictures to be forwarded to them as an aid in the possible identification of the perpetrators.

[Mrs_Pegasus]

I just read through the replies and was ready for a post similar to kempie.  I agree there are times when recording the event could be beneficial beyond the persons thoughts when taking the pictures.  Think about the concorde disaster, one person recorded it but if he had respected what was going on to the point of actually lowering the camera then the authorities wouldnt have had such solid evidence when trying to work out what went wrong.

I was appalled at Sky news web site that had a link to a gallery of pictures titled Bomb Victims!  At least the BBC removed all graphics from their site during the day so as many people as possible could access the site fpr information.

[Dom Tuk]

Andy008 i agree with your post and think bazwillrun was harsh in his post...as it is he did not explain why he/she thought so. Hippy thanks for that as well.

we take photos, watch endless news items on these mindless atrocities and talk about it as we are all deep down voyeurs of one type or other. The whole thing causes us pain but we are still glued to it. We see the pain and we wont want it to happen to us or our family but when it happens to others we are basically voyeurs. See how people slow down at an accident site??.

[eupraxia]

It's a dodgy thing to comment on but listening to the news on the BBC right now the media is the problem. They began to get on the muslim bandwagon the second the bombs went off.

Yes the chances are it was a fundamentalist group but casting suspisons the moment it happens , while feelings are raw, only makes for stirring trouble. Then they have the nerve to tell people not to start trouble.

The media has no conscience. But then they know we will watch no matter how bad it gets.

[jno]

from the Guardian in London, which may answer part of Kags' question:

Mr Ryley wondered how those caught up in the blasts thought to reach for their phones. "I think I would want to get the hell out of there," he said.

But Cynthia McVey, a psychologist, said the act of recording what was happening may have been reassuring. "Some people can show remarkable presence of mind in life-threatening situations and doing that can afford them some control," she said.

"The thing about these situations is that you have no control.

"I wonder, too, if it hasn't become second nature to people. If anything happens it's almost an automatic response; you get your phone out and record it."

[kags]

thanks jno, what an interesting article. I as thinking about it this weekend, we all have this desire to be involved somehow in these things, I found myself telling people that my brother-in-law was caught up in the chaos (thankfully he is ok), and my husband has been saying how his old LSE halls of residence are just near Russell Square - I guess taking pictures is the same, "look, I was there" sort of thing. But whilst it may be more understandable now, and I can see it will be helpful to the police, I still think the press have been a bit irresponsible. I guess if one prints the photos, they all have to.