Jill Greenberg & McCain

I made an important note to myself when starting this blog: never go after anyone, or attack anyone on this blog – my grandmother used to say: “If you don’t have anything good to say about something – don’t say anything.” So I’m not going to make any comments on what I personally think about this – I’ll let the following quotes speak for themselves. A routine Google search to the responses to this will lead you to what other people think – and are doing as a result of these statements.

These are quotes I’ve found from a PDN Article, and other sites here, here and here

N.B. – I am not vouching for any of the views or opinions expressed in any of the linked articles – I’m just giving you links.

“He thought he was being lit by a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. But that wasn’t firing. He had no idea he was being lit from below.”

“I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad.”

“Good. I want to stir stuff up, but not to the point where I get audited if he becomes president.”

–Atlantic photographer, Jill Greenberg, on her technique for getting photos of McCain for the magazine’s cover story.

and some responses I found listed on John Harrington’s site:

Greenberg’s client has weighed in (via the New York Post):

“We stand by the picture we are running on our cover,” said Atlantic editor James Bennet. “We feel it’s a respectful portrait. We hope we’ll be judged by that picture.”

But Bennet was appalled by Greenberg saying she tried to portray McCain in an unflattering way.

“We feel totally blind-sided,” he said. “Her behavior is outrageous. Incredibly unprofessional.”

The author of the story weighs in here:

“I don’t know Greenberg (I count this as a blessing) and I can add nothing to what James Bennet told the Post except to say that Greenberg is quite obviously an indecent person who should not be working in magazine journalism. Every so often, journalists become deranged at the sight of certain candidates, and lose their bearings. Why, this has even happened in the case of John McCain once or twice. What I find truly astonishing is the blithe way in which she has tried to hurt this magazine.”

And the PR Agency for the magazine issued yet another statement by the editor:

We were not aware of the manipulated and dishonest images Jill Greenberg had taken until this past Friday.

When we contract with photographers for portraits, we don’t vet them for their politics–instead, we assess their professional track records. Based on the portraits she had done of politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and her work for publications like Time, Wired, and Portfolio, we expected Jill Greenberg, like the other photographers we work with, to behave professionally.

Jill Greenberg has obviously not done that. She has, in fact, disgraced herself, and we are appalled by the manipulated images she has created for her Web site of John McCain.”

UPDATE: Here’s a great discussion of this as well on Mark Tucker’s Blog.

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I will say one thing – and the following statement is the impetus behind this post: regardless of my opinion on Greenberg – what is terrible is the impact that this will have on every single photographer that ever takes a portrait or photo from hereon out – you can expect PR people to be more viligent than ever, hold the media back with even tighter leashes, and as a result often kill our chance towards original photography.

Some general comments I’d like to make:

If you are an “artist” stay an artist – do not engage in journalism without playing by journalism’s “rules” and codes of professional conduct. I’m not saying that artists shouldn’t engage in journalism- just read the prior statement again if you’re reading this as such.

Human beings have thoughts and opinions- and that’s wonderful and we should welcome those thoughts no matter how “off” or “right on” they may be – as professionals, especially if you’re a professional working in the “media business” – there are some thoughts that you should never, ever be caught saying in a public forum.