HAVE CAMERA: It’s a Dirty Job

Visual journalism is like an old saying, it is what you make of it. The job can be as dirty or as prim and proper as the photographer wants to make it.

I wouldn’t go as far to say this is Mike Rowe worthy, but he doesn’t have the market cornered on dealing with poop.

  At a recent assignment, I was standing under power lines and heard a “plop” on my hat. I looked up, with mouth open, and saw one lone bird on the line.

Fortunately it was not an Osprey, but a smaller bird. After confirming my suspicions I did the next logical thing, photographed it.

A few weeks back I got to break out my waders to get this shot of the first birds affected from the oil spill.

As I waded in an AP photographer comments, “That (vegetation) looks radioactive.”

That didn’t bother me. It was the thought of alligators that prompted me to put out my tripod first, feeling below the surface.

I was assured there were no gators in the pond. If a gator did get me, it would have been well documented by the gallery of media on the bank.

Another really nasty moment I remember was lying down in fish juices to get a shot of a catch being weighed – made by a pair of anglers. I wanted to frame them within the scale they were using.

Whether you’re a fan of cleanliness or not afraid of getting dirty just remember to stay safe – a trip to the hospital costs more than a drycleaning bill.

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