This image doesn't have a lot to do with the following blog entry but it's one of my favorites and I haven't yet taken an African safari so my stock of elephant photos is sadly lacking. But I have seen and read some things today that bother me a little bit and I always like to share so here goes.
There's a lot of hoopla going around the web right now about GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons posting a video of him shooting an elephant. Of course the folks at PETA have chimed in and some other animal rights groups are suitably outraged and I suppose that's all well and good. Every adult is entitled to their own opinion and if it is different than mine it doesn't really matter. I don't expect to agree with everyone nor do I get distraught when everyone doesn't agree with me.
For the record, I couldn't care less about Mr. Parsons shooting an elephant. If he has the money and it's not illegal, more power to him. Last I heard, elephants weren't on any one's endangered species list. Furthermore, there is evidence that the elephant in question was doing a great deal of damage to a small village's crops but I'm not here to debate that. You can find all the information and more by doing a google search and form your own opinion. I promise I won't ridicule you or respect you less regardless of what that opinion is.
What I saw today that raised my eyebrow was the reaction from the photographic community of which I consider myself a member. The outrage and vitriol was far beyond what I'd expected to see. One of the photographic bulletin boards I watch from time to time had a thread that, unless I miss my guess, will soon have photographers calling for Mr. Parsons to be drawn and quartered. I'm not surprised that there was some reaction, photographers are some pretty sensitive folks for the most part. I was, however, a bit stunned at first by the vehemence of the opinions. Then I thought about some of the photographic sensitivity I've experienced in the past and I got a big bite of the reality sandwich. There are 2 incidents that I've been involved with in the past that should have tempered my surprise...listen and learn.
I mentioned earlier that I watch some photographic bulletin boards online. One of the boards, Nature Photographers Network, was a source for my first experience with the depth of feeling that some photographers have for the environment. One of the threads was bemoaning the loss of Glen Canyon which occurred in the 1960's when the Glen Canyon dam was built on the Colorado River creating Lake Powell. I was just back from a houseboat trip to Lake Powell which might not have been my favorite vacation ever but is certainly top 3, and being new to the game of online bulletin boards I chimed in with my thoughts that Lake Powell was truly the Jewel of the Desert and a wonderful resource. I added that though I would love to have seen Glen Canyon before the dam, I really felt the resulting lake is a beautiful and wondrous place. I was immediately assailed by one of the photographers on the board who dismissed my knowledge, credibility, and even my humanity for espousing such an opinion. By stating that I enjoyed the lake I had established my credentials as a cretin of the first order. I conducted a private e-mail exchange with the other photographer and after we both expressed our views in a much more civil manner we agreed that we will always disagree on this matter and moved on. To this day his images and soulful essays are an inspiration to me and someday I hope I'll have the chance to buy him a cold adult beverage and discuss photography.
The second time was much more amusing because I didn't start the fireworks but was around to witness the effects of some simple differences in philosophies. A few years ago I was at a photo seminar put on by Outdoor Photographer magazine here in Denver. The format was to bring in 2 prominent photographers to give presentations of their work over the course of a weekend. The first day of the seminar was conducted by David Stoecklein. David is a wonderful photographer and if you have ever eaten at a Black Angus Steak House you've seen his work. He is famous primarily for his images of horses and cowboys but he's also a very successful commercial photographer and part of his presentation was centered around advertising photography and some of the tricks of the trade of a working commercial shooter.
Keep in mind, there were between 100 and 150 people attending this seminar, all lured there in the hopes of learning the magic behind David's horse images and make no mistake, there was plenty of that to go around. But he also spent some time before the lunch break talking about how he had created some of the advertising images in his portfolio. When he came to an image he'd shot for Jeep things began to get interesting. It was an image of a Jeep Grand Cherokee sitting on top of a seemingly impossible to climb mountaintop. In his narrative describing the image he disclosed that (paraphrasing) "...we had to go up and cut down about 6 trees so the helicopter could set the Jeep down on top of the hill..." With that disclosure there was an almost audible gasp from the audience. Six trees destroyed? A helicopter to put the Jeep in place? To a group of self described Nature Photographers this was akin to blasphemy. And the amusing part? After the lunch break, a meeting room that had been nearly filled to capacity before David's unfortunate utterance was half empty for the afternoon session.
Yep, photographers are a sensitive bunch. I shouldn't have been surprised.
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