Jeff Cagle
i am a freelance editorial photographer living in the chicago suburbs. my portfolio is at jeffcagle.com.
get in touch: jeffrey [dot] cagle [at] gmail
Ask me anything
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One of the more interesting experiences I’ve had as a newspaper photographer occurred last week at a school board meeting to discuss potential boundary changes within one of the school districts out here. I was told to expect some fireworks with parents picketing the meeting beforehand. Check. Then I expected to make some generic shots of people filing in and crowd shots that captured the mood of observers at the meeting. Check and check. At some point I probably looked like the guy in the second to last photo as I waited for something interesting to happen.
What I wasn’t expecting was to be
toldasked by one of the school district’s PR staffers to not take photos of committee members looking over maps (last photo) at a public meeting in a public school, especially since my hip was in physical contact with the media table the district had set up for us.It was one of those instances where an average assignment turns into a reminder of just how afraid people can be of cameras, how much influence a photo can wield and why people in power seek to limit when and where cameras can be used.
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the harsh realities of war
“It is a graphic image of the harsh realities of war: the fatally wounded young marine lying crumpled in the mud, his vulnerable face turned to the camera. And it is one the US defence secretary would rather you did not see.” - story
I honestly don’t get all the noise over this image. I feel like I saw far more graphic or harsh representations of war as a kid, looking at Life magazine pictures of the Vietnam war.
Not to take away from the tragedy of this man’s life ending, but I just don’t get why anyone would be acting like we haven’t seen anything like this yet.
We haven’t really seen much like this from the current wars. The military keeps a tight lid on images depicting U.S. casualties. There are, however, some that have come out, like these images (warning: some are graphic) from Zoriah Miller.
Though Zoriah followed protocol of dealing with the images (no nametags, faces or identifying features of U.S. personnel, waiting until family notification until publishing) he was thrown out of his embed with the Marines and had to be under armed guard for his safety before they could get him out of the country. The New York Times ran a story last year about just how few images we have seen come out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Look for the images of Lance Cpl. Bernard to continue to make headlines.
