This photographer sucks..

[frommrstomommy]

Seriously!

The photo that broke a mother?s heart

 

[tirediron]

Sorry, but to me that's something blown grossly out of proportion. Look at the composition; the children are exactly centred on the bench, the teacher is on the [image] left side at the back, everyone's hands are crossed; this has been the bog-standard forumula for elementary school class photos since there have been elementary school class photos. Could the photographer have done a better job at composing and "included" Miles better? Certainly. Should he have done that? Absolutely! To say, "the photo is discrimination and a reflection of a society that still attaches stigma to disability. “Kids can be cruel but this comes from adults, which is even worse,” she said. “Adults should know better.” to me seems almost slanderous.

This may well have been the first time the photographer was faced with a situation such as this, and given that it`s Life Touch, he may not have been an experienced photographer, just trained by them in the `Light one here, light two there, snap, snap, next please`routine. Coming across a situation that may not have been mentioned in the training, he didn`t know what to do, and did what he thought best at the time.

 

[amolitor]

The kid's posture looks perfectly consistent with a wheelchair bound person, not "straining to be part of the group" and the wheelchair was placed as close as physically possible to the stands. The kid also looks happy as a lark, in this admittedly tiny pictures.

To make this better, you really have to break the stock setup apart and rethink it, and reposition everything.

LifeTouch doesn't really use "photographers" do they? They're lightly trained technicians.

 

[Designer]

I don't get why the parents were so upset. Is it because of the 12 inches of empty bench? Ah, well, some people just gotta take offense.

 

[jaomul]

That is very sad but may be down to lack of knowledge or experience as opposed to intention. I thankfully think I dont know anyone who would do this on purpose and I imagine they are few and far between

 

[rexbobcat]

I also think this was slightly exaggerated. I do think the photographer was on the wrong, but the parents' comments are on the level of those parents whose kid was put into a coma by bullies at school. It's a photo. Most of the kids are too young to know any better, and I'm sure the faculty was trusting the photographer to know what he was doing.

How is the mom qualified to comment on the mentality of society when she doesn't have the full story of what happened? Or maybe she does and the reporter of the story just didn't explain it.

 

[frommrstomommy]

I can understand people saying it would require a whole different setup.. which may have been a production. I think they could have easily had his chair on the left, teacher standing in the "empty" space to fill it in and it would have probably been worlds better with just that small change that wouldn't have altered the whole setup to accomplish.

If you click the photo, a 2nd photo will appear below of the boy and I'm assuming his mother... his positioning is not just his normal posture based on that photo I believe.

 

[DarkShadow]

The teacher could have helped him out of the chair and put him on the end of the bench while kneeling down to support him from a fall and removing the chair from the picture.I would have never stuck him in the back and off to the side.

 

[tirediron]

The teacher could have helped him out of the chair and put him on the end of the bench while kneeling down to support him from a fall and removing the chair from the picture.I would have never stuck him in the back and off to the side.

Is the teacher allowed to do that? Is the teacher authorized to do that? Does the teach know how or have the physical strength to do that?

 

[480sparky]

Can anyone say, PhotoShop?

 

[DarkShadow]

The teacher could have helped him out of the chair and put him on the end of the bench while kneeling down to support him from a fall and removing the chair from the picture.I would have never stuck him in the back and off to the side.

Is the teacher allowed to do that? Is the teacher authorized to do that? Does the teach know how or have the physical strength to do that?

If they have to help him to the restroom, then they must have permission to move him as needed.At least they could have put him close to the other children.

 

[Designer]

PhotoShop

 

[e.rose]

Sorry, but to me that's something blown grossly out of proportion. Look at the composition; the children are exactly centred on the bench, the teacher is on the [image] left side at the back, everyone's hands are crossed; this has been the bog-standard forumula for elementary school class photos since there have been elementary school class photos. Could the photographer have done a better job at composing and "included" Miles better? Certainly. Should he have done that? Absolutely! To say, "the photo is discrimination and a reflection of a society that still attaches stigma to disability. “Kids can be cruel but this comes from adults, which is even worse,” she said. “Adults should know better.” to me seems almost slanderous.

This may well have been the first time the photographer was faced with a situation such as this, and given that it`s Life Touch, he may not have been an experienced photographer, just trained by them in the `Light one here, light two there, snap, snap, next please`routine. Coming across a situation that may not have been mentioned in the training, he didn`t know what to do, and did what he thought best at the time.

Having WORKED for Lifetouch 2 years ago...

I agree with this entirely.

Photographers who work for Lifetouch are RARELY actually photographers. There's only one other person that I know that works for them that is also a legitimately good photographer.

One of the girls that I started with didn't even own a camera of her own. Not even a point and shoot. And she was hired and trained.

LT photographers are trained to do the same thing over and over and over again... and when something is different it's briefly addressed in training, but not really practiced.

Seems to me that whoever took this photo probably did what they ALWAYS do... because they were trained to do so... and probably doesn't really have any TRUE comprehension of what composition is and when thrown in the curveball of a child unable to sit on the bench... just did what he/she always did and then tacked the kid onto the side... because to them, that's logically where the wheelchair fit.

Should they have had the common sense to slide the class over? Sure... but I HIGHLY doubt this was an intentional act of discrimination.

It's more like an unintentional lack of common sense.

 

[amolitor]

Can anyone say, PhotoShop?

PhotoShobblplbbbb

.. no.

 

[Kolia]

I bet I can tell who's a parent and who is not here !