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Sue Paterno overwhelmed with emotion from all the support
from the people who attended her husband's memorial. |
I don't want to discuss a "what if she were black" type of discussion, but the feedback I have received from this photo of Sue Paterno at Joe Paterno's memorial once I have posted it on Onward State's facebook page makes me wonder what is more important to people's interest. The reason why I decided to publish this image was because it is deep and emotional, a type of photograph photojournalists kill for, and was a one in a million shot for me. As I pushed and shoved other photographers to just get an image of Sue Paterno as she enter the Bryce Jordan Center court, this was the only image that came out crystal clear. My initial reaction once I saw this in my camera file was "Yes, I got my money shot!" but then a second later I realized "Oh my God, Sue crying is my money shot." As a photojournalist, I was overjoyed with the image I just captured, but as a student, I wanted to grieve over the loss of Joe Paterno and let this private moment remain private.
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| Vulture Stalking a Child - Kevin Carter |
The positive feedback were mainly praises of an excellent example of "capturing the moment" and thanking me for sharing with people who could not be there. The negative feedback, however, ranged from demanding me to take it down to calling my a heartless scumbag. I'm opened to anyone's opinion but when my sister texted me saying that it's distasteful for what I just did, I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. But then I wondered, there are thousand of photos of moments way more horrific than this. First off, from what I've been told, it is an honor for photographs to be taken at a soldier's funeral as it shows that we are acknowledging their death. And second, what about the photos that we are so familiar with from third world countries and countries in war? Would people in America think it would be too much to see a photograph of a father in mourning while holding his son's bloodied body in the middle of the street? What about the famous photograph "Vulture Stalking a Child" by Kevin Carter? There is an overwhelming sense of sadness people get when seeing this, but there was no argument for the publisher to take it down. The photographer, however, got shit for not assisting the young girl who was on her way to a health clinic. Editors later published that they are unaware of the girl's status to whether she made it to the clinic or not. It would be considered unethical photojournalism if Kevin assisted the girl. As journalists, we must not interfere with our subject. As a result from the guilt (and drug addiction/mental history) Kevin committed suicide.
But why would people care way more of a wife in mourning than a child starving to death? Is it because we care about people of importance more than people in need? I understand that people in State College and Penn State have a connection with Sue Paterno in this time of grieving, but if these two photographs would be put up next to each other and someone had to choose which one affects them more, which one would they choose? Many would say the starving child is more informative to the awareness of poverty, but the same can be said for the awareness of Penn State in mourning to the rest of the world. Be honest, which photograph affected you more?
