Cameraphone Friday

October 7, 2011 by Gail

World Press Photo 2011

Certain photographs in the enclosed gallery may be disturbing to viewers due to the graphic or violent nature of the subject matter.

Viewers should take that warning seriously. I love the World Press Photo exhibits and view them every year, but today I don’t think I was in the right mood for seeing lots and lots of corpses today. There are always photos of dead people (photojournalists cover war, natural disasters, and the worst of the human condition), but for some reason the body count in this year’s exhibition seemed higher than I’ve viewed previously. I could only look at maybe a quarter of the total panels before I decided to finish it another day. After all, the exhibition runs until the 26th and I work across the street so there’s no rush. The exhibit itself is mesmerizing, though, and worth the discomfort, in my opinion.

I never get physically nauseous viewing disturbing images, but I know I don’t have the constitution for photojournalism of this nature as a career — my nausea trigger is smell, not sight. It’s one thing to view dead bodies, it’s another to be there and unable to escape the scent of death.

twilight

On a completely different note, I’m here in Toronto on a long weekend (it’s Canadian Thanksgiving) and this is the ~~first — and hopefully only –~~ second time in 2011, come to think of it — counting Family Day in February when I had to shoot a wedding. My Plan A was to visit my mother-in-law in Pennsylvania and eat Helma‘s yummy home cooking, but alas, circumstances prevailed and I can’t go. So much for a family weekend and getting stuffed like a turkey, but I’m also disappointed I can’t skip town and go on a mental holiday. I’ve been working non-stop since Labour Day weekend in Chicago — yes, that was over a month ago… 32 days, in fact. My brain is protesting.

Sure, I can just say “I’m not going to work today” but the truth is, travel outside the city limits is what makes me stop working and if I’m not travelling then I’m working. I’ve even worked while I’ve been travelling but in those situations I’m limited by my lack of machinery (the home computer), so I can legitimately put the work aside, but it’s much harder when I’m here. Freelancing has its downsides, and this is one of them.

I’ve declared a complete moratorium on DSLR shooting until I’ve got the bulk of my editing projects out of the way, hence the glut of cameraphone pictures.