It seems that everyday I read another crazy story in the photography world. Here are some of the latest in the crazy news department.
Beyonce vs. the Photographers
This might be the craziest response to a bad photo that I have ever seen. So it seems that when Beyonce sang during the Superbowl one of the wire photographers shooting the event for Getty took some less-than-flattering images of the music superstar. Hey,it happens. Not all the images I take are great and when you have a singer and dancer being photographed while performing the chances are you will get a frame or two that should be tossed out. Now, I know how the wire service photographers work, they either upload the images to their editors themselves or they have a runner that takes the memory card and uploads the images for the photo editor. What happened in this case is that whoever decided on which images would be released made some really bad choices. Images that showed Beyonce in a less than favorable light ended up all over the internet.
The reaction of Beyonce and her publicist was to try to get the photos pulled…. from the Internet. Now in case they didn’t know how the Internet works, this is a lot like watering the lawn, then trying to get the water back into the hose pipe. It is never going to happen… ever. It’s best to just ignore it and wait until the public attention turns to something else. That should be the end of the story but it’s not. It seems that Beyonce wants to make sure that no bad photos get out has banned all professional photographers from covering her tour. Now this might seem like a good idea in a world without smartphones, but if you have been to a concert in the last few years, you already know how many people spend the whole show photographing and recording the performance. If the news outlets can’t get photographs from their own photographers, they will get images from the crowd. And those are not going to be flattering.
So what is the answer? What is an artist to do to stop this? The reality is that they can’t. With smart phone having such great cameras and the drive of the populace to capture every moment of their lives, images will be taken and will be published. On the plus side, the attention span of the public is about a nano second. The only reason is that the Beyonce story has any legs is that the publicist overreacted and made a big deal about it. It is a classic example of making a mountain out of a molehill. Now, what Beyonce could have done is just not credential that photographer again. End of story.
Links to the story around the net.
- Huffington Post – Beyonce Bans Press Photographers From Mrs. Carter Show World Tour – LINK
- Guardian UK -Beyoncé bans press photographers from Mrs Carter world tour – LINK
- FStoppers – Beyoncé Bans All Pro Photographers From Her Concerts – LINK
The Kentucky Derby “Security” Plan
It seems that the Kentucky Derby has decided that cameras with detachable lenses are a threat. That’s right, and camera where the lens can be changed is now considered a weapon or a threat and is a security risk. Now I can understand that they banned backpacks since backpacks were used in the Boston Marathon bombings. I still have to remove my belt and shoes when I fly because one guy tried to set his shoes on fire one time on a plane. He didn’t succeed in doing any damage, but I still have to take off my shoes. It seems obvious that any type of bag will now be banned from all events. I can’t wait to see what happens when they start banning diaper bags.
But let me get back to the camera issues. Lumped into the new security rules for the Derby is the banning of pro cameras. I understand if they want to ban cameras, but to ban them under the security excuse is just not right. One of the biggest contributing factors to the apprehension of the Boston bombers was the huge amount of recorded images and video of the scene. Now they want to band pro cameras and camcorders. Someone please explain this to me. I actually have no idea what they are thinking. I understand if they don’t want any pro photographers taking and selling images that the Derby can’t control, but then just ban the cameras, don’t make it part of the new “Security”. The idea that folks at the derby will be safer because no one have a big camera is a joke. I would be laughing if it wasn’t so sad.
On a personal note, I love taking my camera to the horse races. I hope that these “Security” rules don’t become widespread.
- The Washington Post – Kentucky Derby bans backpacks – LINK
- Popular Photography – Kentucky Derby Bans Interchange Lens Cameras in the Name of Security – LINK
- PetaPixel – Kentucky Derby Bans All Interchangeable Lens Cameras for ‘Security Purposes’– LINK
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