Questions to think about when photographing and/or publishing photos of fatal car crashes
Newspapers document history. Sometimes, what happens is unpleasant. The balancing act we face is how do we document history in a realistic way -- which includes life and death in our communities -- and not cross the line by being tasteless? No photos put us to the test more regularly than car crash photos.
Do we need to focus directly on the crash, or is there a better perspective beyond the actual scene?
It's always wise to scan the entire scene:
Look around. Check the roadside. Perhaps, if it's a vehicle-bicycle crash, the bicycle will be nearby.
If it's at an intersection, perhaps a wider view showing a stop sign may help complete the scene.
Or maybe there's a police officer kneeling down to look at a piece of debris far from the actual scene.
Sometimes a closeup best illustrates what happened, especially if the accident is unusual. Years ago, a car went through a stop sign and was struck by a logging truck filled with timber. The scene -- and the vehicle in which two women died -- was overwhelmed by the crushing impact of massive logs.
Have we left anything to the readers' imagination?
Imagination is powerful. Sometimes a minimalist photo has a strong effect too.
A recent photo at a scene where a pedestrian was struck and killed by a car focused on a lone shoe. An accompanying photo of the scene where the fatality occurred was cropped to avoid obvious signs of trauma.
I remember a few years ago assigning a reporter to check out an accident scene where a farm worker on a bicycle was struck and killed by a driver. The fatality had occurred more than eight hours earlier. Police had cleared the scene. "There won't be anything there now," the reporter said before leaving the office. "Look around," I said. "You never know what might be there." An hour later the reporter returned with photos showing skid marks at the scene. The photo was powerful: a quiet rural road fading into the distance, and black skid marks near the shoulder. The scene was peaceful, except for the black skid marks etched into the pavement. They helped us imagine what unfolded in the late evening hours the day before.
What purpose will the photo serve? What's your interpretation of the photo and how do you think your readers will interpret it?
You will likely face criticism for publishing crash photos, so you need to be prepared. It's easy to say you're publishing a photo because it's news. But honestly, there needs to be more compelling reasons, and even then, your reasons may not be reason enough to satisfy everyone. Ask yourself: What impact will the photo have? Will anything change as a result of publishing the photo?
Perhaps you're publishing it because it's another fatal accident at a notoriously bad intersection.
Or maybe it illustrates deadly consequences of risk-taking. About 15 years ago, our newspaper published a wide-angle photo of an accident scene showed a sheet covering a body on the road next to a transport truck. A drifter tried to climb aboard the rear of a transport truck for a free ride into town, but lost his grip and was crushed by a wheel.
Perhaps you're publishing a photo because it illustrates a deadly situation that could happen to any of us. For example, a transport truck with no reflectors on the sides of its trailer backs into a driveway at night. A driver approaching the scene only sees pitch black ahead. With no reflectors, the trailer is virtually invisible. The driver slams into the side of the trailer and dies instantly.
Human grief: To show it, or not show it?
Know your audience and be human yourself. Those words are among the most important when deciding to publish photos showing grief. The size of your community may be an important factor too. The anonymity of life and death in a large city isn't the same as in smaller towns where everybody knows everybody. In a small community, you're not going to publish hundreds of photos showing grief in any particular year. You might publish one. And that's when you have to decide: Is this the one we publish this year? Why is it the one? What makes the expression of grief in this photo so important that we want to share it with our readers?
Depending on the size of your community, a powerful image from a fatal crash scene that shows family members crying next to a burning vehicle may be considered too invasive. However, a photograph taken of a person being hugged by a police officer (only the officer's face is visible) at a crash scene may be acceptable because the face of the person being comforted is not visible. Such a photo also shows another side of emergencies: rescue workers comforting victims.
Grief can be intimate, yet capture an entire community's mood. Say, for example, in your small community four teens are killed in a car crash. Days later at a large public funeral, a reporter takes a powerful photo showing several crying teens hugging each other. You decide to publish the photo because it captures a moment in time that represents the mourning of an entire community.
