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The heavy artillery has arrived in preparation for President Clinton's visit tomorrow, and the heads of State who will address the GA in the coming weeks. The Secret Service has swept the UN garage. They've brought in car-sniffing canines and helmeted SWAT teams. From my 9th floor office, in the Secretariat, I can see the roof of the UN library and General Assembly where SWAT teams are in place. They have binoculars and weapons. I think this will make a great picture, but I think better of taking out my telephoto lens, knowing full well, they've probably got their sights trained on every window within a 3 block radius. I don't want to risk getting arrested, or worse, a bullet in the head. The intense security and Secret Service presence notwithstanding, my credentials allow me unrestricted access whereas the press must be escorted by someone from DPI. The access I have is pretty awesome. However many of these photo ops are offered to the mainstream press as well and wire services like AP, Reuters, and AFP cover most of them. In spite of my unparalleled access, our pictures are largely the same. Almost every press conference I cover for the UN, (usually after a statement made in the General Assembly)is followed by an article in The New York Times the following day. The Times rarely assigns photographers to cover these press conferences but the content is part of their daily international coverage of UN affairs during the General Assembly. My photos are distributed to the Missions and constitute part of UN internal coverage, mostly for the record. When told of my UN job recently, a newspaper colleague remarked: ASo you won't be seeing your photos on page one (!) anymore with that 5 point photo creditY@ Well, that's partly true. The UN is not a photo agency but the photos will appear in internal publications and around the world in newspapers, magazines and other publications that write about the UN with a photo credit that reads: UN/DPI Photo by Susan B. Markisz. But the UN doesn't have a clipping service, so I'll probably never see them. Today I photograph the arrival of the President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki and his wife Nanele with the SG and Mrs. Annan, as well as a meeting with the Prime Minister of France. Later on I photograph several press conferences in S226, the official press conference room. Thank goodness for TV lighting. There's no need for flash there. The pace has picked up considerably since I started 10 days ago. The SG and GAP both have meetings throughout the day, there are treaty signings and there is General Assembly coverage as well. Before the day is over, I photograph 14 official meetings and/or press conferences. In spite of the seeming simplicity of the assignments, one of the biggest assets for this job is stamina. I used to answer my email when the rest of the world was asleep, but now fall into a deep slumber before the 11 o'clock news or I don't function well the next day.
UN/DPI photos by Susan B. Markisz |
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Susan
Markisz
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Contributor
since 1998
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Behind
the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism |
