Shoot Tight

I was in Eric's office getting help with the ins and outs of my camera, when I spotted an ambulance and two paramedics walking into the McDonald building with a gurney. I tried to snap a quick photo through the window but missed my chance when my camera was off and I thought it was on. Truly, in the time it took to put my finger on the shutter-release, the paramedics had moved out of my frame and an opportunity passed by. 

I was hesitant to walk into the McDonald building, not for fear of what I might see but for fear of what the paramedics might say when I tried taking photos. As soon as I opened the door to the building's main entrance, there stood campus security alongside two paramedics and the male patient, who, another student told me, had just had a seizure.

I didn't even have the camera up to my eye, but it must have hung around my neck like a flashing light because the three officials instantly turned my way and stared. At this point, I decided I was better off to ask for permission than just start snapping photos. I told them I was a student and needed to take some pictures for class. They told me it would violate patient privacy. I said I wouldn't include the patient in my photos, but they politely asked me not to take the photos, so I obliged. 

They said I was more than welcome to take photos of the ambulance, so I did. I didn't have much else, did I?

At this point, one of the paramedics said to me, "I can put a red blanket over this, and it'll look like there's a body." I replied, "You could, but would that be ethical?" Now, this experience had ethics written all over it.

And so I continued taking photos with my telephoto lens, as the ambulance drove away.

To help better tell the story, I thought I'd take some barren photos of what could have been great coverage. This is where the paramedics stood with campus security, while the victim sat on the bench. 

I've debated with myself all day: Should I have just taken the photos anyway? Was it legal? Would that have been ethical? What would the officials have done, anyway? If I was on an assignment for a job and came back with the photos I had, would I have lost my job? Did I even get the story? 

What's more frustrating than anything is that if I had only known the rights, ethics and laws a little better, I might have been able to capture this story.