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| Look at how dangerous that is. He could hurt his back with that kind of posture. Honestly, some people just don't think. (Teehee) |
In a world dominated by graphical media ranging from magazines to memes to blogs, it should serve as little surprise that people actually need to take all these pictures. Perhaps a law of averages issue, but it turns out that Photographers have a much rougher time of things than you might realize.
Taking good pictures is a tough job. Making a living by taking pictures? A very tough job. However, some articles I've read as well as the stories I've heard from photographers in real life has made me come to realize just how difficult and occasionally a life it is to be a photographer. Depending on their chosen choice of subject material, the dangers they have to deal with can come in many different forms.
We'll begin by considering the mundane. Photography is a hard thing to live off of. There's tons of laws about what's an okay picture to take and what isn't, there are so many photographers that the going rate for being one is usually fairly miserable. All things considered, just surviving as your ordinary photographer is probably a dangerous task in of itself in just trying to make ends meet.
The real fun however, comes in when you consider that photographers that look for the less common shots end up in even more danger as you would probably expect. The rarer the shot, the more it's worth obviously, of course, the higher it's cost in effort and blood seems to be an accurate analogy.
A few months ago, Petapixel.com brought to my attention a case in which one such unfortunate photographer who was in the process of taking some rather high photographs of a beach was assaulted by a woman who felt that he had invaded her non-existent right to privacy in a public place. The unfortunate thing about the story, his footage was taken at such a height that the people in the shot are completely indiscernible from ants. An unfortunate turn of events which are sadly just one of the dangers that comes with trying to get more interesting photographs.
Of course, this unlucky individual is not the only photographer to have a bad day on the job. In this article by thephotosociety.org which was posted in commemoration of National Geographic photographer Wes Skiles, they compiled a list of reported incidents involving about 45 photographers who were out in the world trying to get the best shots. With things like panther attacks, hanging out the edge of a helicopter over a volcano, frostbite, avalanches, dysentery, flesh eating parasites, abductions, stonings by religious groups and various other ridiculous sounding incidents, it's hard not to wonder at the seemingly endless number of bad days a photographer can have. (And I thought I was having a rough day if I couldn't get out of bed early...)
While perhaps not as outwardly hostile or life threatening as these previous cases, there also some of the more interesting, still potentially dangerous things that a photographer does in their search for artistic shots. In a series of portraits name "Tinderella" by Australian photographer Kira Cheers, the 26 year old photographer took it upon herself to make interesting shots that exposed the strange world of online dating by going out with these people on the internet. Disturbing profiles of men that like to wear stockings aside, there's a definite element of danger involved in all cases of online dating. Not to say that it's a bad thing in of itself, but the ability to create fake profiles on the internet makes a general skepticism a healthy life choice when doing such things. (If you're going to do it, please don't go anywhere secluded until you're positive they're not a psychopath... you'll probably live longer that way.)
In any case, I find it fascinating to consider the different ways of life that people have in the world and that we may ourselves never actually experience or understand the difficulties of such a lifestyle as we continue through life on our own courses. While we may never know exactly what people like these sometimes unfortunate photographers may go through simply to survive and to thrive, it's an interesting to think how these people define their lives by the dangers they survive, and the pictures they get while staring danger in the face. Glamorous? Perhaps not with dysentery. Interesting? Now that is far more likely. Fun? If you're the adventurous type, or simply enjoy the livelier parts of life, most definitely. Though I might suggest getting your will in order if you're going to do this sort of thing.
In any case, that's all I've got for the dangerous lives of photographers. It is certainly possible that there are many more aspects to their lives that I have glanced over in this somewhat basic look at what they do, and so would greatly appreciate any input in the comments below or via Facebook/Twitter if you so wish, or if you would like to read more thoughtful articles such as this one, perhaps concerning writers or some other similarly impassioned career path, then be sure to say so as well
Of course, I would greatly appreciate any sharing of this article with friends of yours, perhaps even the photographers in your life who feel under-appreciated for their work. (A travesty to be sure.) I'm sure they will appreciate the thought. If you would like to read more articles by TCSA then do be sure to like the official TCSA Facebook page or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left so that you can get the latest articles, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post, hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Safe adventures my friends.
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