When I was in the fifth or sixth grade, I read a little book on which I loosely based my hopes and ambitions for the future. "The Highest Dream" was a novel about a young woman who, after graduation from college, went on to become a tour guide at the United Nations, and then on to important positions of diplomacy within the UN.

In 1974, after my senior year in college in Spain, while teaching English I took the Foreign Service exam at the American Consulate in Seville in 1974, where, apparently my diplomacy skills weren't sufficient enough to secure me a foreign post. On my return to the United States the following year, I figured that with my fluent, unaccented Spanish, I would be a perfect candidate to be a tour guide at the UN, a two year post, after which I would then follow my anonymous mentor and become a diplomat. After failing twice to realize that goal, I decided not go for the hat trick.

Fast forward to1999. It's amazing how life turns on a dime. It has turned sometimes rather dismally toward some frightening and uncertain paths in the last 10 years but my life has been nothing if not interesting, as was pointed out to me recently when a college friend called out of the blue to see how I was doing. The gods seemed to have purposely chosen that particular day for her to call me. "What's new?" she asked, rather unceremoniously.

I had just received a phone call that day with news that I'd been asked to join the United Nations on a three and a half month assignment as a staff photographer to cover the General Assembly until the end of December.

It's pretty scary when your dreams are about to be realized. When something you wanted years ago suddenly comes to fruition, you start to ask yourself: Is this IT? Twenty-four years ago, I didn't envision working as a United Nations photographer. It's pretty incredible how things turn out. And so, I was both excited at the prospect of steady work, but also, fraught with some anticipatory anxiety and concern over taking a 4 month hiatus from the daily newspapers which I've been working so hard to cultivate.

So, for the present, at least, I have a new job....and a new boss: Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations.

The first two months have come and gone and after long days, nights and some weekends, here'is how things have played out behind the scenes at the UN during the first weeks of the General Debate.

From the time I was a little girl, I wanted to work at the UN, first as a bilingual tour guide and later on as a diplomat or... something else. Years later, the "something else" turned out to be a photographer. UN/DPI Photo by Susan B. Markisz

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addresses the General Assembly. UN/DPI Photo by Susan B. Markisz

Behind the scenes in the General Assembly and Security Council

With the exception of the first two weeks of the General Assembly debate, coverage of the GA is a quiet affair. Booth 7, where we shoot most of the speakers, has space for 8 photographers in front and 8 in back. Those in front place their cameras and long lenses on high hats, which are bolted to a 12 inch square piece of plywood, and placed on a 14 foot long x 18 inch wide shelf. The base of the high hat is tethered to a short heavy chain which in turn is bolted to the underside of the table. The idea is that should some errant high hat and lens decide to go flying down to the delegates floor, it would stop midway. That's the thought at least.

During the first two weeks of the GA, there is a lot of camaraderie. AP, AFP, UPI and Reuters all share our booth. Every so often, someone from the international media comes in with short lenses. The booth photographers are helpful, allowing other photographers with compatible equipment to use the long lenses for a few shots of their prime minister or president The UN shoots digital for the website and film for the record. Our darkroom staff works well into the night to have color 8 x 10 prints ready by the next morning, of the previous day's speakers. These photographs are posted on the third floor in a gallery of sorts and they are distributed to all speakers and their missions.

The first two weeks are a flurry of activity: photographers running back and forth, from one booth to another, or to and from the "bridge" the area in the center of the GA, photographers up on the 38^th floor to photograph meetings of the SG and some head of state, photographers in GA200, the area just outside the GA Hall, where Presidents and Prime Ministers meet the SG just before or just after they 've addressed the General Assembly. There is a special chair which is brought in from GA200 to the podium for Presidents and Prime Ministers. Protocol dictates that before they address the Assembly, they sit in the chair for a few seconds, then make their address, and then sit in it again before they leave the podium. The UN is located within the United States, but it 's really a kingdom within its own walls.

Two months into the General Debate, the wires don 't cover much of the GA anymore unless the representative addressing the assembly is from a country in crisis, or the issue is one of current interest, such as the issue of US arrears. The UN photo unit continues to photograph all speakers regardless of topic. The other two staff photographers and I trade off GA duty.

One of the ironies of being in these impressive and generally quiet chambers is that it is not uncommon to hear high pitched cell phones ringing every few minutes. This prompted the GAP to admonish delegates recently to either turn them off or put them on silent mode, because of the disruption to speakers. "I'm very serious about this," he said, "or I may be forced to name non-compliant delegations."

Recipes for Lighting:

A couple of weeks ago, I ran into Eddie Hausner, a friend of mine, and senior photographer at the NYTimes. He said: "Hey Susan, I hear you 're working at the UN &is it still f4 at 1/60^th?

He said it had been some time since he covered the UN (days of Tri-X pushed to infinity), but he was surprised that we could shoot color with that exposure. I had been told by people in UNTV that the lighting had been adjusted for the still photographers on the podium and rostrum.

Similarly, in the Security Council, while the lighting is not quite as good, the exposure is approximately f4.8 @ 1/125. In Security Council, as with the GA, we have to photograph all speakers, as well as the votes. The speakers speak alphabetically in the SC. Because they are seated at at a semi-circular table, and only one photographer is assigned, we have to sprint back and forth across the chamber from one booth to another with a 300 mm. lens and shoot them from both sides of the room. There 's usually little danger of missing any of the speakers; some tend to speak at length.

Security Council meetings, often unscheduled, frequently come about after private consultations among the SC members, to which photographers are not privy. Just outside the consultation room, there is a "stakeout" area, where UNTV is always on duty during these consultations, in case someone should come out and make a statement to the media, or should a formal Security Council meeting be called.

The UN is looking only for pictures of speakers for the record. It is difficult to resist looking for more candid moments; though these images are not portfolio material, they 're far more interesting than the speaker photos that we do in the General Assembly and Security Council.

November 10, 1999

The use of cell phones is common ---and often necessary--- in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. A member of the French delegation speaks on his cell phone during a Security Council meeting on the situation in Sierra Leone.

Two months after the beginning of the 54th General Assembly, our booth is empty, except for a UN photographer, and the occasional wire service, or international media photographer.

Booth 17 in the General Assembly

Richard C. Holbrooke, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, consults with a member of the US delegation during a Security Council meeting last October on the situation in Sierra Leone. Holbrooke is working doggedly to break an impasse on the situation of UN dues arrears. He is hopeful of a forthcoming arrangement that the United States will pay at least $500 million of its arrears, in order to maintain the US vote in the General Assembly. October 1999

A new President of the Security Council is elected each month. Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation presided over a Security Council meeting in October when a resolution was approved for establishing an interim administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

The representative of Nigeria prepares to make a statement in the Security Council.

Unanimous vote on the Security Council resolution to provide UN aid to establish an interim administration in East Timor, October 1999. (UNTAET)

all photos: UN/DPI Photos by Susan B. Markisz

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
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