Why We Shoot

I met Michael King last week at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, but didn’t get to talk much with him. (I think I awkwardly stood near him as I tried to figure something out in my head … sorry, Michael.) I did talk with him on the phone once before, where I learned his boss is my old boss (and the one I respected more than any other – a damned good news guy, if you’ll pardon the phrasing).

He has a post up on the National Press Photographers Associations’ site and it’s really worth reading. He talks a bit about our friend Dave LaBelle, but more about remember why he’s a journalist. This part rings so true to me:

What’s making us less and less relevant to our readers is our neglecting to see every assignment and every person as worthy of our coverage.

It’s not about us. It’s about the people in the communities we cover.

How true.