Although I love photography and my job, there’s times when I have to photograph stories which aren’t pleasant. Many subjects I’ve photographed are enjoyable - beach scenes, portraits, pets, etc, but when it comes to crime scenes and funerals, that’s a totally different proposition.
So it was, recently, I learned about a crime which happened relatively locally to me. A woman had been stabbed in her home by her son. Once I found out where the location was, I set out to find the house and get some shots. Soon I found the location, introduced myself to the Garda on duty and showed him my press pass. I took various pictures of the house, which had been sealed off by Gardai, from different angles and drove to a car park to edit and caption the pictures and send them to the various pictures desks.
Scene of stabbing in West Cork, picture used by The Echo.
The above image was picked up by the two local papers - Irish Examiner and The Echo. The Irish Sun also used the picture below.
Image used by the Irish Sun.
Not a nice subject to shoot, and rather mundane, but crucial in telling the story, which is what press photography is all about.
If you’re enjoying these blogs, do tell me what sort of post you’d like to see, whether it’s a specific story, my photography gear, how I send my images to the news desks, etc, etc. Until next week…