Scary new breed of fauxtographers.

[fstopper89]

This makes me want to cry. Thanks to FB’s ticker feed I stumbled upon this guy today. He’s a 19-year-old kid from a nearby town who is playing “cop” and even has a whole wardrobe of custom apparel to make him look like some sort of official member of the press. He’s a member of the “press” alright, his own  made-up news sources operating under two different names, where he serves as Director of Communications and Photographer, and has a badge to prove it. He has three fan pages including one just a fan page for himself, besides his personal page. He apparently drives to every accident, fire, or traffic stop scene and hides from a safe distance to take pictures of the scenes and then posts entire albums on his Facebook pages. Some people commented that they’ve seen him poking around and he’s been asked by fire and police personnel multiple times to stay outside of the police line tape. How disgraceful for this guy to call himself a photographer! Real photojournalists are required to follow certain codes of ethics and he clearly is not.

Here he posts photos of blood and tissue where a pedestrian was struck and killed. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.442514585825958.1073741839.327972200613531&type=1

Here is the album I heard about first; there were multiple fatalities in this accident and the album has images of a covered body by the vehicle. A fire department’s FB page issued an apology (though they are not affiliated with this guy) that these images graced the internet before family was notified of the deaths. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.443666599044090.1073741841.327972200613531&type=3

Obviously, what is visible out in the public whether it is a fire or an accident is “fair game” for people to view and take pictures. But people like this guy, operating under the guise of a photographer only for 5 minutes of fame have NO tact. When there is a fatality it’s respectful to not post photos of body bags or blood.

[mamarizzo]

That is not just scary, that is disgusting.

[cameraclicker]

At least focus and exposure look good.  I don’t know how the various bricks & mortar newspapers got started but in most respects they are businesses like any other and there is always a bit of uneasiness between the fifth estate and authorities.  And always there is a race to get news collected and published.  Facebook is a bit of a strange place to start a newspaper, but I think it is a strange place to start any business.  As we have already seen many “photographers” have started businesses there, so my sensibilities are probably off.  I’m not aware of anything special you have to do to start a newspaper.  The ethics I am aware of are to tell the truth, fairly represent the news, and limit editing to contrast, brightness, white balance and cropping.

I grew up with Time Magazine, Life Magazine, National Geographic and Time-Life Books, all of which has undoubtedly shaped the way I think of photographs and news.

Here are a couple of Pulitzer winning photos:

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm12.html

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/world_news&id=8652396

[dont.care]

sometimes the best way to drive a point into peoples heads and to deter people from doing things is to show them how “real” life is and how mortal they really are. sometimes showing a highschool full of kids photos of bodies in cars after an accident makes a big difference in decisions they make. In the army during BCT and AIT and ever so often we’d be shown what happens to bodies that get hit by rockets or what happens if you’re blown up by IEDs or when your shot.. No one can ever prevent death for when its your time its your time <period> but sometimes you can lessen the exposure of unnecessary death due to stupidity just by showing what actually happens when people don’t pay attention or get drunk and drive or whatever case you have playing with loaded guns without respect from them.. It’s a grizzly reminder, but people need to be reminded they aren’t impervious and in this day in age, most people think they are immortal.. what I find in America is people are too sheltered from reality and lack the obvious perception that they can die.

[Loke]

I’m a photojournalist and I’m looking at this guy’s photos and he’s nothing more than the equivalent of an “ambulance” chaser.   He’s just there for the gore…I don’t see anything of any journalistic importance other than there’s a dead body..fortunately (with mobile photography and instant news), and unfortunately just like in portrait photography, you have citizen photojournalists that have no idea how to tell a story or have the training involved to scope one out ..you don’t have to  have a degree in journalism of course, but you should know what it entails, follow the code of ethics as outlined in NPPA or similar (you don’t have to be a member, but anyone interested in becoming a photojournalist or working as a photojournalist would know about this organization and others like it )

 

[fstopper89]

Last February there was a horrific accident in the county where 7 high school girls were speeding over bumps in an SUV and hit ice. The vehicle rolled several times and ejected the girls. 3 of them were killed and apparently one was mangled so badly she was hardly recognizable. A few images were posted in the paper and online but none showed body bags or body parts. One photo had a little tiny bit of blood on the door of the vehicle. People suggested the photo of the mangled SUV be shown to all high schools. We didn’t need to see the bodies to know the horrors of teens and poor decisions.

Part of the issues people are having with this Asher kid are that he is posting these photos almost immediately. Generally photos that may identify someone such as those with visible license plates or photos with bodies are delayed until immediate family is first notified. How terrible to see a photo online 20 minutes after an accident and see it’s your mother or someone before they are positively identified!

We have an excellent head photojournalist for our newspaper. He not only takes news photos to an artistic level, but ALWAYS shows tact in his images. He has never posted something with body bags or blood/gore. I’ve seen his accident photos where a stretcher with a person on it is there, but their face is blocked by the responding officers etc.

Asher, on the other hand, has a fake press badge he printed on his computer. For crying out loud, the kid asks on his page and website for donations so that he may upgrade his camera equipment and pay for gas to “cover” these incidents.

[Loke]

I’m surprised the cops haven’t scrutinized him more…..we have to fill out an application for a press badge with the cops where I live to be able to get close enough to stuff like that.

 

[fstopper89]

he proudly boasts on one of his pages “Looks like some media relations is in order” on a video he shot titled “confused firefighter.” He was shooting video of the multiple-fatality scene when a firefigter came running toward him yelling “Sir! Sir! You’re beyond our line! Please get back!” He made up some “media”websites and FB pages and therefore thinks he is official media. He has clothing he probably had ordered from a screen printer with “Sheboygan Daily Incident Response” in bold on the back which many people probably see that and believe it’s legitimate. He has official-looking badges with a firefighter symbol, the Maltese cross, and a firefighter commented on the image of it warning him that it looks like he’s impersonating a fire official. It’s pretty sad really. ANY one of us could make a FB page regurgitating news and scanner calls and order custom clothing and print a press badge. He apparently ran for mayor last year and another public seat this year and someone posted the story from the real newspaper. In it it cites his past he’s not proud of, like creating a fake Twitter page for his opponent to slander him (the guy’s lawyer had to send Asher a cease and decist letter for it) and also sent vulgar emails to the recent opponents for a town seat. He’s made a terrible name for himself and hopefully he will be scrutinized further now.

Today even I saw a scary accident photo a real photojournalist posted on his page (I went to college with the guy). It was a bad rollover where the car went down an embankment next to rr tracks. the roof of the car had been cut to remove the victim. the photo showed the mangled car, and in the background the firefighters carrying the stretcher. the victim was not visible, from the way he shot the photo. Her name was not posted until later when the police released it. She was ok, not dead. Out of curiosity I scrolled through his photos on his page and he mostly has positive news-worthy images as well as some acidents and fires. But the difference between his and Asher’s is that he had images that showed the news, told the story, yet exhibited tact. That is excellent photojournalism.

[Thom]

Why are you even posting the links? Seems to me, it’s exactly what he/she/it was hoping for.

[stef]

Loke, there’s not really anything as a press badge. A civilian can go where any other civilian is allowed, and he can shoot from there. Some PDs issue media credentials and allow those folks better access. Removing someone from a public area for lack of credentials needs to be tested, challenged, and beaten. You don’t get more rights as a civilian based on your job…. in theory.

 

 

[fstopper89]

Police can set up tape around a scene to prevent civilians from entering. If this guy was jumping inside it without the proper clearance they can ask him to leave.They may allow people from actual news outlets inside, because typically these people are aware of how to respect boundaries and what kind of photos should be shown publicly. That usually comes with a college degree in journalism or photojournalism. Some scenes however the police probably wouldn’t let media nearby or inside the police line until the immediate emergency was handled, because anyone else might be in the way.

[Loke]

Stef I am a freelance photojournalist and member of the NPPA….yes, I know there is no “press badge” and that one can go anywhere as a civilian where you are on public land but if you want a chance  to cross the yellow tape with other media you have to apply with the police department to get better access than the average Joe. How this policy applies is dependent on the police department and will vary nationally. Of course, you can always fight it but typically it isn’t that easy to just walk up and ask. Maybe this guy had connections, or whoever looked at him thought he was valid as a photojournalist, perhaps he was published somewhere else.

[Loke]

and of course, you can still be denied access at the dept’s discretion.

[Loke]

well I looked at his page again…..he was behind the yellow tape and using his tele zoom  so looks like just poor taste in judgment, so yes I was mistaken as I thought he was within the yellow tape… he is  just like any other bystander that holds their mobile phones up to take pics of carnage and that’s it….smh.

[michaelnovo]

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see this as being a “scary new breed…”.  Some kid who feels like photographing crash scenes.  If he does it for what he thinks is good or bad I don’t see the big deal.  Whoever wants to look at his shots can look and who doesn’t want to can avoid them.  Am I missing something?

[Author]

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