Chucking out the competition

Anyone who read my Mermaid Day post below may be interested in checking out the Village Voice photographer’s coverage of the event. My first thought was that it was pretty weak. Then I thought, well, it’s tough to go to an event you’ve never covered so I shouldn’t be so fucking critical. The photos aren’t technically bad. But my feelings of collegial warmth didn’t last long. The Voice photos show only one aspect of the event. I’m not even talking about art. They fail as journalism. At best they are tourist photos. It’s probably more accurate to describe them as publicity photos.

And that’s what photojournalism has mostly become. I worked at a photo agency for several months before the 2004 elections and saw literally tens of thousands of photos come over the wire. The elite photojournalists covering the campaign happily framed their shots just like the set designers anticipated. Without exception they provided the campaign with heroic images of the candidate against dramatic backgrounds that were every bit as scripted and framed as the biggest budget Hollywood movie. The Mermaid Parade is not so well-staged, that’s a big part of its beauty, but the photographer’s intent was the same.

Am I any better? Perhaps not, but this particular post isn't really about me.

And all Mermaid Day photos are interesting on some level. If you want to see more, here’s 1521 Mermaid Day photos that people have uploaded to Flikr.