I received a note from a  colleague the other day. Sean Davey was asking me to weigh in on a photographer’s forum in Oz called Photographers United.

The subject was poaching, which is shooting another photographer’s subjects while they are in the midst of building  images mid shoot. I had a bit to say, and Sean had gotten me thinking about a few things in an exchange of e mails.

I have an abiding respect and admiration for some of my colleagues. They understand the bar of ethics involved in building a career and interestingly enough, it is their work which generally is what winds up inspiring me in my own.  Ethics are possibly the single most important line item one can learn in a life, let alone a career, because your choices determine your path and your path defines who you become, and ultimately, what you are.

One day early in my career, I was beach side pre dawn. Setting up, I already had telephoto mounted on tripod and had camera in hand, 20-35 lens and strobe attached for some reason. I had heard an odd noise from the highway about 100 yards behind me, and turned around just in time to see a jeep type vehicle rocket off the freeway, fly through the air, into a fence, and land in some trees a scant 25 yards away.

I sprinted over to the crash and camera still in hand (with the perfect set up for the shot), I saw a woman in a nurses uniform, unconscious and bleeding. I clearly remember the moment. It proved in time, to have been a definitive one. I put my camera down.

Checking her vitals, and freeing her seat belt, I had rendered simple aid and dialed 911 at a nearby pay phone. When E.R. got there, I left. (Fortunately my tele was still where I had left it.) She wound up being okay. Having worked the night shift, she had fallen asleep at the wheel on her way home.  One VERY lucky lady.

That choice set the path for my life which allowed me all manner of rare opportunity as a photographer. For me, people come first. Shot second. That ethos has caused a tenet of trust to form. In effect a client or subject can trust me with whatever, because they come first. This says a lot about the type of imagery I am willing to produce especially for models, performers and high profile athletes whose imagery determines their market value. If the image does not enhance the client, it does not go public.

Another time, I was along for a week end of shooting in LA with some high profile entertainment people who I would be hanging with. My ethics allowed me to not have the appearance of being a PHOTOGRAPHER. That can be critical at times. I have NEVER wanted to be a “famous rockstar photographer” and feel that people who do that, are sorta the antithesis of what I want my life to be. I actually have a scorn for certain of them, as in their marketing they make our simple craft out to be something it really is not. (How else does one justify a 75k per day rate?) Typically I do not find a lot of inspiration through their work.

The short of that weekend is this, I had a wonderful time and wound up with a very famous singer and her equally famous actor boyfriend.  I stood right behind and with them  in front of the entire press corp, who unloaded on them all at once. My simple few frames showed the couple in silhouette, holding hands, and an incredibly poignant moment in front of the strobe barrage. They later told me that the public had never seen them together before. You would have seen the other shooters view from behind the velvet rope on the cover of People etc. I just hung on to mine and gave them a copy. I never want to, or will be behind the rope.  If I need to be, I should not be shooting the subject. It is not who I am.

I am a first person POV shooter. That is my modus. Runway? Forget about it. Paparazzi? Never. I could not do it. It takes me down a road that would make me BE that car wreck there on the beach. It all comes right back to that moment. Oh and the other images from that long weekend wound up being a who’s who of the entertainment industry. I do not think I ever showed them to too many people actually. But they were in my book for a short while. Just because it was what I was filming that period. (That is how subjects wind up in a career shooter’s book.)

I received entry into a world that one does not just walk into. You need to be invited. That was the road I went down, and it was the right one for me. I never go where I am not invited nor where I feel I am to prostitute my personal values. This was illustrated to me once more in the recent fires. I just got a sweet e mail from my friend Tracy Lehr, who is an Emmy winning journalist. This is what she wrote: “I like that you didn’t want to shoot the city that you love burning. That says a lot”.  But that is just me. Sometimes not taking the shot is the best statement one can make on a subject. I have seen that illustrated by many of my colleagues who not so coincidentally, are all at the top of their field.

Here is a fantastic little video about choices and creativity in the middle of this National Bike Week. It will give you a smile for sure.

You can also view a video about one of Brian Nevin’s projects here.  A great example of path finding via ethics in a garbage dump in South America. It is a heart warming story.

For a shocking look at what is going on with some people  in fashion, whose moral compass points WAY south click here.

The following images are me too. I hate being shot. Some of these were produced by request from one of my favorite Editors and publishers, Clay Feeter. This should be the last time EVER I put myself in my own post. If you select and press print, they make great dartboard bulls eyes though! Illustrative images obviously.