Near Drowning Victim

Two boys took a small paddle boat out in rough waters. Thinking it

would sink, they left the boat to swim for shore. The younger one

could not swim against the current, so his older friend told him to

keep swimming while he swam for help.He reached shore and 911 was

called. After 2 hours in chilly waters, rescuers found the younger

boy.This near tragedy had a happy ending.Both boys are fine.

I freelance for local papers and A.P.Very tough getting in touch

with the A.P. and local news room staff on weekends, so I called

the ''big news only'' number because I really thought I had

something here.

 

P.S. Anyone know of any contest to enter journalism pics?

Comments Welcome

I'm happy the boy's okay, without your explanation it looks like the boy didn't make it. I hope you've got some other angles for the competition without the man's head and without the parasolstick. The competition you could enter is off-course; The World Press Photo. Good luck.

The boy fully recovered.He spent a night in the hospital just to be on the safe side.I met one of the families shortly after the rescue, told them how glad I was of the outcome and gave them my number in case they might want copies after things calmed down. They contacted me the next day and asked for photos, then thanked me for them. I provided them with photos showing the event from beginning of the rescue to the end.I understand your reaction because the photo looks like the outcome was not good.If there had been a different outcome, no one would of seen this photo.John

So where is that line drawn? Am I to decide or you? Neither, but I think a further discussion is in order.

 

Legally in the U.S., if you are in a "PUBLIC PLACE"; that is, anyone has access to it, you can LEGALLY photograph anything and have it published as "news," ( as per Supreme Court ruling. )

 

Why?, you ask? The courts ruled its because anyone could've seen what transpired and the photographer is merely showing what anyone else could've seen. He only took a picture of it.

 

Now morally is a different arena IMHO. Would I want to offend a family who's just lost a loved one, and how would I feel if it were my child? I lost a family member in a very violent, tragic accident. I'm glad those particular photos weren't published, but were made available to family members. And yes I viewed them in a private setting as did others. So personally that's where I would draw the line, but I can only tell myself to do that, I can't tell others.

 

Another viewpoint, I've heard and seen of a lot of rescue victims who are cognizant at the time of rescue vociferously tell photographers they don't want to be photgraphed, likely out of embarassment or shame etc.. Yeah I can imagine how humbled and stupid one would feel, and this comes from yours truly who had a SAR operation almost called out on me last year (made it back just in time.) So yes, I've seen both sides of it.

 

However, in the case of those operations and rescues where the victim is okay, I think that it's perfectly fine to photograph them, as was the case here.

 

Interesting note: I saw a shot of a river rescue a few years back on t.v.. The newspaper photographer won a Pulitzer (I think) for photographing the victim and rescuer the instant b4 they joined. It was a great shot! But the whole while the female victim was saying, "Don't take my picture, don't take my picture!" And believe it or not, it was hard on the photographer, but I agree with her taking it, and she did win the prize folks! So I think that's valid even though there's a degree of reservation. Things aren't always B/W people.

 

Just my humble opinion, I'll leave you to yours.

 

Oh and great shot, it should be published if it's up to me.

I like the emotion conveyed in this picture! The victim is in torment, and you captured it at the right time as he is being rescued.