Photojournalist - Dick Kraus - Behind the Viewfinder

August 5, 1998

GOING TO THE WALL.....AGAIN

by Dick Kraus
Staff Photographer
Newsday

I hope that there is a web page like this for photo editors. Some place where they can bitch about us goddam prima donna photographers who gripe about every assignment we get and argue about every negative they select. I mean, it’s really only fair, isn’t it?

I did spend a couple and a half years as night photo editor for my paper, many years ago. And, I have to say, without any trepidation, that they were the worst couple and a half years of my long career in the newspaper business. I was a terrible photo editor and after the two and a half years, my superiors and I came to the mutual conclusion that both I and Newsday would benefit if I went back on the street as a shooter. And I have never regretted that decision. Lest you think it was a demotion, let me hasten to clarify this point. As a shooter, I had only to answer to my own standards and those of the photo editor who assigned the story. As photo editor, I answered to everyone, including the photographers over whom I was supposed to hold sway.

The main reason that I was such an abject failure as night photo editor was because I strove to get good pictures in the paper and I struggled to kill weak assignments. Unheard of! That is tantamount to heresy in this business. After all, the word men run the paper and why should they listen to anyone who has some knowledge of photography when it comes to assigning photos and putting them in the paper.

Early on in my career as an editor, I took one of our staff photos out to the news desk. It was a really good news photo. I laid it on the editor's desk and said, “You might want to look at this shot. It’s a really good photo and very relevant to the story.”

Without even looking up from his work, the editor replied in a tone filled with icy disdain, “Thank you very much. Just leave it on the desk and go back to your department and play with your little photo toys. I’ll make the decision about what makes a good and relevant photo and I certainly don’t need your input.”

That sort of set the tone for me and made me instantly aware of my role in the pecking order. All that I was expected to do was to juggle the photo staff around so that all of the news desk's assignments got covered and then move the resulting prints from point “A” to point “B.” Not much job satisfaction there. Eventually, I got back to my roots and have been content to remain. At least at the end of the day, I can mentally review what I’ve done and can say “Nice day's work, Dick. You did a good job with what you were given.” Or, “Not bad, Dick, but you could have done better on that real estate shot.” At least there is a criteria to be judged.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I have compromised my standards and have become a docile shooter who blindly goes out and covers the three in a rows and ribbon cuttings and check passings, et al. No sir. I still bitch about the mundane assignments and the lack of news judgment that seems so common at most newspapers with which I am familiar. I still go to the wall when I think I am right.

Yesterday was a prime example. I had a couple of assignments for the Business Page. The first one was a cover story. Four Long Island men had started up a local internet provider service with the meager capital which they were able to scrape up. The venture grew over the years and recently they sold it to a larger company and the four men became millionaires. My assignment was to make some photos of the four men in the environment of their business. Since it was a cover story, I usually shoot several photos in case they need another shot for an inside page.

The first shot that I made showed the four partners posing in the computer room at their business. Then I took them up the street to the first building they occupied when they first started their ISP. After standing for my camera in the computer room for fifteen minutes, they were a little antsy and when they got to the second location, they began to clown around. I playfully shot one frame of one of the partners choking another partner. And then we got down to business.

When I got back to the paper and processed my film, I called the Business Page Photo Editor over to the viewing table so that he could make his selection. He picked one of the first shots in the computer room. He then proceeded to pick the one frame of the clowning around. I asked him why and he said he liked the shot. It was animated and it was different from the other stiff poses.

“Yes,” I said. “But, what relevance does it have to the story? This isn’t what they are all about. If this runs in the paper it will demean them and make them look like clowns.”

“I think it’s a good shot,” he answered. “And I want it scanned.”

I refused. I said, “If you want to pick it, there’s nothing I can do about it. But, I am not going to scan it, nor will I allow my name to be used in the photo credit.”

The editor fumed and threatened, but I went to the wall and was ready to take the consequences. I don’t do this often. I pick my battles. But, you see, I care about the newspaper I have worked for for the past forty years. And, I still want to see the best photos used.

Every year since they started giving the staff a yearly evaluation, I get low marks for my inability to get along with editors. I wear that as a badge of pride.

Dick Kraus
Staff Photographer
Newsday