I was expecting Monday's razing of Big Mama's house to be a pretty simple assignment. My plan was simple - get some stills of the house coming down, get some video cutaways (b-roll) and do some quick video interviews with law enforcement officials and neighborhood residents.
That plan was working just fine until Big Mama unexpectedly showed up to steal the spotlight. Her surprising arrival created a circus like atmosphere. From a photographic stand-point it caused me to have to make some tough decisions as to when to shoot video and when to shoot stills. This is the new quandary for newspaper photographers - when to shoot stills and when to shoot video? Monday was the first time since the inaugural Honor Flight back in November 2008 that I was faced with these kinds of decisions in a pressure situation.
After you watch the video you will see that I had to make two critical decisions as to when to use my still camera and when to switch to the video camera.
The first decision came while Big Mama first started interacting with the crowd. Her soundbites made for compelling footage even if you totally disagree with every thing she was saying. I felt I needed to stick with the video camera when she first walked up and started to pontificate. When Big Mama decided to walk brazenly in front of the large gathering of law enforcement officials responsible for sending she and her children to prison I switched to stills. The sound was no longer a factor so capturing a singular moment was now my photographic goal. I stuck with the still camera while she received hugs from neighborhood residents. I was hoping to capture one moment which crystallized her warm reception by many of her former neighbors despite being a convicted felon. I was able to get a few good photos but the best one was when, while holding hands with a well wisher, she started to talk like a preacher with the house being razed framed in the background. I understand many people, especially those in law enforcement, didn't like the photo but I think it is best judged in the context of my whole video report. I firmly believe it just one piece to the puzzle that helps tell both sides of this story.
The second was when the conflict started between two women across the street from the demolition site. Simply put this would have made a great still but I made the instinctive decision, for what ever reason, to start rolling with the video camera. I can't even say I made a conscious decision to shoot video I just did it. Since I am relatively new to video I was pleasantly surprised afterward that I have already built up some muscle memory for what to do in this kind of situation. I do wonder how good the still would have been but I can live with my decision as to what camera to use.
