"I made sure they were able to get their stills and video and would release what information I could on-camera. This mutual professional respect worked extremely well. I never considered the media to be the enemy."

Thanks for what you do and your professionalism. Most contact with emergency officials for me are positive. The biggest issue is when there's a body lying in plain view. I shoot video as a profession (TV) and stills for social media. I've had officers come unglued over body pics. I invite them to review my footage. It's funny how the conversation changes when they see I've artfully hidden the body behind other objects!

At the end of the day we both have a job to do. Neither of us want to deal with what we're dealing with so let's get it done and move on.

As for folks here there's some good ones but with any group there's the turd in the punch bowl as well. Some of the best have left likely due to the snark.

Take care and enjoy retirement!

Very special veggies!

While the answer above is very correct and informative I too have decades of work. I'll tell you a couple incidents that's more along the moral question you ask.

I was covering a search for a young boy. He had been playing in the rain and was swept into a storm drain that immediately dumped into a creek. Dad and a clergy member were along the banks as well as many police and firefighters. They located the body and as luck would have it I was right there. So was dad. It was a horrible scene but the preacher thinking fast suggested everyone join hands in a circle and pray. I was telling the story to the director of photography and he ask what I did. I said I dropped my camera, joined hands and prayed. Many years later I'm not sure he approved but it didn't matter. I had documented the story and there would be opportunity to get the emotional shots later. In that moment my moral obligation was to pray with the group.

Another scene was a house fire with a child fatality. They had bagged up and loaded the child before the priest arrived. When he arrived the family requested last rites. A cop came over and explained to the media they planned to pull the body out for this. He made the simple request for us not to be a distraction. All of us walked away and allowed the family their space.

Documenting the most horrific scenes is an important job. Sometimes we upset family and it sucks. At all times you must be human.

Back in my newspaper days the vivitar 283 with a white index card rubberbanded to it was my go to. I would hate to have something 9x11 and try and move with it. I'd really suggest as others have to try the cheap method first.

This is good advice!

Daylight and dark difference! Really some decent folks there.

I think you've nailed your problem, "preconceived result". If you see something cool to shoot, say a lighthouse at the ocean stop thinking about all the photos you've seen before. Instead think about what's in front of you and how you can take this view, capture it and maybe even make it better.

Things like the sun about to break through a cloud may call for a pause. If fact anything changing is reason to let the photo happen.

Questions like what does the background look like and do you want to make it sharp, soft or blow it away?

Clear your head and look at what's in front of you and work the scene.

While over your budget the Olympus TG-5 or 6 would be a good camera. Will shoot raw if you wish. Decent app to download pics. It's also tough! Put a silicone sleeve on it if you wish more bounce protection.

So many answers here! If you want to best quality and boken fill the frame. That doesn't mean with just the animal! You should compose your shot and make that composition very close to full frame.

Leaving a bit of wiggle room with today's high megapixal cameras isn't bad but going out and shooting with the thought of cropping everything isn't a good plan either.

If you want a headshot of a bear then fill that frame with the bear's head. If you want a shot of the bear eating berries then fill that frame with the bear and berry bush. It's all about composing in the viewfinder.

Back in my newspaper days (late 70's-early 80's) we would typically shoot the assignment and process the film. A photo editor would edit, marking frames and crops. We would then print the photos marked. Often you would have a horizontal, vertical and square because you never knew what the layout guy needed.

The negs were then filed. You were limited to burning, dodging and cropping. Even in those days you would take heat over something like burning a sky to make it darker than normal etc.

A photojournalist should be able to get their exposure and composition right in camera. Taking a jpeg straight is about as close to a negative as you can get. Also it's been pointed out that speed matters.

Boy all this crap about the photographer making the difference etc is clearly wrong. All you need is one of those fancy Sony cameras and set her on 30 fps and you'll get killer shots! Nice Pic!

Sounds like you're pairing like its an earpiece etc. On phone turn on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

At this point in the snapbridge app I would tell it to forget the camera to start new.

Doing this from memory but go to camera menu and turn on wireless. Then go to the snapbridge app and do add camera.

It should discover your phone and you'll probably have to alow the pair on both phone and camera


I other words let the app do the pairing.

Snapbridge is flakey but I use it almost every day to download pics for social media. I haven't done remote control but hopefully you'll be able to connect and see if it meets your needs.

I think I like it better vegan....

You might want to look at a fluid head. Hudson Henry has several videos on them. A YouTube search for "Approaching the Scene 180: Fluid vs Ball Heads for Still Photography" will get you to one of them. I don't shoot off a tripod a lot but I have a fluid head and I like it

[quote=gwilliams6]Oh with Associated Press exclusively using Sony gear for all its staff photographers and videographers worldwide, you can be sure there will be many Sony A9III, A1, A9II shooting at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, along with Sony shooters from Gannett Media and foreign media.

As Canon fanboys dont want you to know, the Top News Services in the world, including Associated Press; Canadian Press; UK's Top News Service, all Gannett Media including USA Today have ALL moved exclusively to Sony mirrorless gear for all their staff photographers and staff videographers, worldwide, just a fact.

AFP (Agence France Presse) helped develop and test the Nikon Z9 and they use Nikon Z9/Z8 for their staffers.

None of these top professional News Services chose Canon mirrorless for their staffers, none, just a fact.. Stringers/freelancers use whatever brand gear they personally own.


You do realize businesses go out to bid. I work for a major TV network and the last round was Sony. Before that was Panasonic. It's not that brand A is so much better than Brand B. The fact is a bean counter somewhere figured out how to hold on to more beans. As a professional photographer I really don't care, I can make TV with whatever they want to give me. Professional still photogs are the same. They may not be happy with what they're given but they'll make great photographs with whatever.