Capturing the Moment

On the same day last week that I saw Crunch 'n Munch for the first time in the vending machine at work and decided to try it since it was just a small bag and only 50-cents, I found the picture I was looking for in April when writing about the month in 2004 that Crunch 'n Munch was sold at Yankee Stadium instead of Cracker Jack.  See "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" in the April archives.

Okay, this this picture is back lit and not as good as I remembered, but it made me think about how we take pictures in our personal lives compared to the way we shoot the news.  In the news world, this cute picture of the salesman happily smiling and showing me his box of Crunch 'n Munch is a no-no. Its called "staging." Yes, I asked him if I could take a picture of him holding a box so I could see. In news, we are supposed to capture the moment without interfering. Actually, that's what I tried to do with this other picture, but I knew you wouldn't be able to tell what he was selling. In shooting news, the photographer would have had to somehow get close enough to shoot a tighter shot of just the box, of course without disrupting the vendor's selling. Often when we are shooting a story, the subject will ask us what we want her to do. My line is, "Pretend we aren't here."

So here is a tip if you see a news crew out in the field. If you want to be on camera, don't start waving at it. Remember, we are supposed to be capturing what's going on as if we aren't there. So what are you waving at? 

This next problem you might have encountered with your home video camera. Out comes the camera, you are rolling, yet everyone stands in line as if to take a family photo. Or have you noticed as soon as you pull out the camera, whatever action is going on ceases, or the story they are flawlessly telling turns into "uhhs." It can be a challenge. But it's so much fun.