Subway Controversy

Today the New York Post published a shocking shocking photo on the cover. A man, pushed onto the tracks of a New York subway is attempting to get back onto the platform as a subway train is bearing down on him. The man in the photo was killed by that oncoming train and sparked a controversy.

The photographer, a freelance photographer for the Post, snapped frames of the ordeal. He states he was "attempting to get the driver's attention with his flash" to save the man's life. What is important here is not what the photographer was attempting to do.

He is a photographer for a news gathering organization, his job is to capture news. This photo shows that he was in close proximity to the victim, close enough to maybe lend a hand. Photos can be deceiving when it comes to proximity. Look at some hotel sites in major cities. There are some great photos showing how close to something each hotel is, but in the end, that is not always the case.

But this whole situation sheds light on the role of a photographer. Are they there to help or are they there to take pictures. This photographer is not a first responder. This situation might have happened so fast, the only thing he could do is to throw up his camera and snap a frame. This photo doesn't show how fast that train was moving. This photo doesn't show a realistic view of how close he really was to the victim.

This controversy of photographers is nothing new. Take the photo Kevin Carter shot in Sudan in 1993 for instance. He frames a chilling shot of a starving child being stalked by a vulture. People were critical of Carter for not helping the little girl, but was it his responsibility to do so? His job was there to capture the news. Bring light to a subject often in the dark. He was told not to touch the victims of the famine. The guilt Carter lived with had to be astronomical because three months later Carter committed suicide.

If we are putting the onus on the photographer of this photo to have helped this man, why aren't we putting anything on the crowds of people who were also on that platform? Why aren't we up in arms that other folks didn't jump in and help? If you want to blame a photographer for doing what he saw as the only thing he could do, you also have to blame every single person on that platform at the time for standing there and letting it happen. Why didn't the crowds of people subdue the man who pushed this guy onto the tracks? Because when humans see things that are unbelievable they freeze. They stare at them and sometimes they may never understand what they just saw until it was over. Firemen, paramedics, soldiers, and police officers are trained to run to danger. They are trained to help people; a photographer in the subway waiting to get on a train is not.

This photographer should not be lambasted. This was an unfortunate situation that had a terrible outcome.

I happen to think the photo is a metaphor for America.