It’s proved impossible for me to get this shot of former Philadelphia Police Cpt. Ray Lewis being arrested, published anywhere. I was adamantly rebuffed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, NYT, local NY papers, and Newsweek, before even looking at the photograph. One of the only published photos of this paradoxical and intense event is located here at the NYC Observer:
http://www.observer.com/2011/11/former-philadelphia-police-captain-ray-lewis-arrested-ows/
Glad this photo saw the light of day.
Adamantly rebuffed?! OK. Looks like we’re going to have to respond here.
Here’s John’s initial email to us (well, my gmail address, specifically):
As I’m sure you’ve heard, a former Philadelphia Police Cpt. Ray Lewis was arrested this morning, in his uniform, making for a unique, emotional, intense, and paradoxical moment. I’m a freelance photojournalist and was able to get a few frames of this, and after arduous hours of attempting to get this photo published, The Philadelphia Inquirer wouldn’t even consider looking at it, neither would the New York Times or a number of publications as I was told they already had photographers there, but obviously not had caught such an emotional scene. Attached is a low res sequence of the actual arrest. Would the prospect of this being published be of any interest to you?
Of course this would be of interest to us. We’ve been covering OWS all along. I thought these might be a good fit for the magazine, or the site, instead of just plopping on the Tumblr. So my response:
Great shots. I’ve sent to our photo editor, will let you know in the AM.
Earlier this morning, he writes back:
I hope this finds you well sorry for the use of a different email. Thanks for the compliments and was wondering whether your photo editor had checked in with you yet about the photos I sent over late last night. All the best!
And then what? The Observer picked it up, great! But somehow Newsweek, big bad Newsweek, became one of those who “adamantly rebuffed” the photos “before even looking at the photograph.” Come on man. It’s a cool photo. No need to sully folks like us in the media to get the word out. Let the images you captured speak for themselves.
Amazing photos and a lesson in self promotion.
