From time to time our local newspaper will show a certain type of photograph. The day after a Really Big Game, the front page will have a picture of a bunch of fans gathered around a TV at someone’s house. The caption will say, “Joe Sixpack and his friends watch The Big Game at his home Saturday afternoon. Game coverage, page 21.”
Now, in order for the photographer to take that shot, he’d have to know where there was a group of guys watching the game, and he’d have to have permission to come into their home and shoot the picture. Surely sports photographers don’t just go door-to-door looking for someone watching the game.
So how do they accomplish this? My WAG is that one of the fans is usually a friend of the photographer.
I reckon that the news media have an archive of such shots ready to draw upon at the appropriate time, kinda like “file footage” that is commonly used to pad out television news stories.
Nah, they just all know each other, Rasta. The Decatur Herald & Review does this, too, and the people are always members of the same group of about 200 people who do tend to get their pictures in the paper a lot, for various civic things around town. These people also tend to have direct ties to the H & R–various relatives who work there as columnists, editorial staff, etc. I think the photog just “knows people”, and knows who’s going to be sitting around watching the game, and asks if it’s okay if he comes over and takes pictures.
DDG hit the nail on the head. When CNN wanted to do a fluff piece about kids’ thoughts on McGuire’s first HR record chase, they needed film and sound bites from a little league team. The guy I coached with was a weekend producer for CNN so he volunteered our team. They came out and filmed our entire practice, interviewed the kids and parents, and aired the piece a few days later. The kids had a blast and though they were hot stuff for a while.
Stock footage or stills could be used, but in most cases it’s just somebody the photog knows.
This also explains why so many of CNN’s pieces, no matter what the topic, include comments from random people in the Atlanta area.
Except of course for the technology stories. CNN’s tech reporters are in San Francisco, so you always get the “man-on-the-street” view of some new technological development from someone in the Bay Area.
Some photographers do just go door to door looking for good shots, but they are a small minority. But wandering around strange neighborhoods with a camera is frowned upon in today’s society.
They usually just look for an FOAF to shoot, so it doesn’t look like they just went over to their brother-in-law’s home to do their work.
As DDG has said, if you’re astute, you know what shots an Event is going to require, and plan your sources accordingly. That forward thought, and getting your shots on the wire quickly, is what makes your livelihood more lively as an image monger.