Yesterday, a letter was sent to the editor accusing our photographer Scott of staging photos. This is completely false. Not only do I know that he would not do such a thing, but I was right there with him when this so-called staging took place. When we shot the “junior golf crap” together last week, I was the golf cart driver, and Scott took photos as I zoomed around. Once stopped, I took a few as well. As we approached our first batch of golf students, we stopped about 80 feet away while Scott took a cute photo of two young boys sitting atop their parked golf cart. This is the primary reason for the letter. Because the golf course would never allow children to ride atop golf carts, them sitting up there must certainly have been the result of Scott telling them to do so. Not surprisingly, it was the director of the golf course who sent this letter. But maybe Mr. Director should talk to his coaches before making such accusations. Thing is, not only were those kids sitting on top of the parked golf cart, but they stayed on it when the cart was being driven. Also indicted in the letter was a photo of mine (though my name was never mentioned in this brutal email) of two boys behind the wheel of a golf cart. Obviously, the golf course would never allow young kids to drive, so that photo must have been staged as well. But here’s the thing, I didn’t take a picture of kids driving a golf cart. I took a picture of kids making noises like “vroom, vroom” as they jerk around the steering wheel. They are kids. They do this. Their legs do not reach the pedals. But get this, those kids did accidentally hit the brake off and ran over their teacher’s foot.
However, this is only background information. The bigger issue at hand is something else. Scott found out about this letter when a printed copy was left on his desk with a note that said “SCOTT, NOT GOOD” on it from the editor. Scott went and explained the situation. He did nothing wrong, and didn’t worry too much about it. When he showed me the email, I laughed at how ridiculous this guy was and made a point to mention to our editor that I was right there with Scott and that the email is indeed a load of crap. I got busy with shoots yesterday and forgot. Then again this morning, I meant to, but again forgot. We never thought the letter would actually run, so it didn’t seem a life-or-death situation. I finally remembered and said one simple little sentence to my editor: “Just so you know, that email is a load of horseshit.” And she runs, not walks, back to her office, yelling at someone to pull the letter, and gets on the phone to call Mr. Director and “give him hell.” But had I not said that one little sentence, it seems that letter would have run. And poor Scott would have had his name demolished by his own paper for something he never did. He explained everything, and it is unfair that his voice was ignored, yet one little sentence by me changes everything. I don’t know why my voice is taken as the truth, yet his is not. Sadly, I know he has always felt like I am the favorite child… and when stuff like this happens, I can’t blame him.
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This is a comment meant for “so-called photographer” posting. I have utmost respect for you for admitting all that! Is it really true? Ha!
Comment by Amanda Schwengel 06.27.07 @ 2:29 amLeave a comment
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Watch what you say. Due to excessive spambots, the following words within a comment automatically send it to the trash without my ever knowing: any word associated with the primary male and female reproductive parts, any word you might find on a porn site (including the relatively innocent and multi-functional "breasts"), any prescription drug name (yes, even prozac and amoxicillan are off limits), any form of the F word, and "mp3" is out too. Sorry. If for any reason you need to use words like these within the comment, I suggest you get creative and find another way of saying it. Also, because filters don't care how innocent your comment may be, words like title, analyst, cocker spaniel, Emily Dickinson, etc. are off limits. Can you guess why?
That honestly makes my skin tingle, what course was it?
Comment by Mike Terry 06.23.07 @ 10:01 pm