Sunday, January 9, 2011

I uploaded a photograph here of a spot news event where a man died. But in coming to edit it I decided to take it down. This is the part of my job I want to do less and less. As a professional, death has been my frequent subject matter from day one. My first day as a newspaper intern I covered a fatal house fire, and the shot ran lead the next day. Standing in the store and seeing my photo in the paper for the first time was such a pivotal moment in my life, but it happened because a man died in his own home. I promised myself that I would never forget his name. Of course, I have. Which is probably as it should be, I'm not carrying the weight of the ethics of human curiosity on my shoulders. Just the weight of my responsibility in how I ethically serve that curiosity. Which if you've read this far, You can see I take pretty seriously. So this year, no photographs of fatal car accidents, murders, suicides. There is enough grief and loss to go around already.