Hey guys. So if I was a journalist or something similiar traveling to pakistan or some shitty part of mexico to do a story about some rebels or cartel, what's the best way to dress and act to blend in? Do journalists go "undercover" when necessary or do they try to "show off" (wearing a vest/helmet with "press" written on it) to get some sort of immunity or whatever? I guess it's different depending on where you are, I hear the mexican cartel favors kidnapping american journalists.
I mean, if you're trying to be all sneaky about it and get caught anyway, you'd get in more trouble than if everyone knew what you were doing all along... Thanks.
Journalists, especially the younger ones, tend to have an arrogant mindset about events, as if they were somehow removed from what ever is going on.
And if they get caught, beheaded or whatever, that's even more ratings for whatever media source they're representing.
By having local contacts
Regardless you stick out like a sore thumb
>protip: acting sneaky (difference between sneaky and keeping your head down) is a top way for people to think you are a spy, thus kidnap, torture and *possibly* death.
You don't.
You have a fuckload of money to pay handlers/fixers/bribes/etc.
>>29890789
What do you mean with "as if they were somehow removed from what ever is going on"? Sorry, english isn't really my first language.
>>29890818
He's just talking shit
>>29890810
Yeah that's what I was thinking too. Should've figured contacts was the most correct answer. I see storys from Vice sometimes and I just can't understand how they just "find" murderers and drug dealers and just chill out, asking questions and being generally snoopy as hell without anyone objecting.
>>29890818
he means they think that since they're reporting on events they can't be harmed by them. when in reality they're where ever the shit is going down and could easily be unlucky enough to eat a bullet.
>>29890818
Like they're watching a movie. Like nothing can happen to them because they're not actually fighting, just reporting. Forgetting that they're in a fucking warzone. It's the same reason idiots will run up to wild animals to take a picture with it.
>>29890842
>>29890843
Why do you think this?
>>29890842
>>29890843
Yeah that actually sounds pretty logical. Like how when there's an armed bank robbery and people are cramming up trying to get past the police blockade like it's totally safe because "I'm not a part of this conflict why would anything bad happen to me lol"
>>29890765
automatically they will think you are spying so your chances of convincing them is very, very, very slim. if you do decide to go, you deserve the death you get.
Regardless of what you dress like you're gonna stick out with a couple of pro bodies and large zoom lenses hanging around your neck. All while some guy gets better coverage that makes it on the internet faster with his cell phone
>>29890992
Phone cameras don't get images like this
I watched VICE goes into El Salvador gang wars the other day. The entire time the reporter had to pay off the local gangmember or get a agreement to go in and still got kicked out of neighborhoods if they talked to the wrong person. The rest was talking to government officials or police.
You can't get the full story , just see what they want you to see.
>>29890765
>that 16-35mm 2.8 L series for general photojournalism
>not a 24-70mm 2.8 L
What a fucking idiot. Also they obviously have never been in a poor area before. Pro tip is to pop the shade hood off so that the lens looks shorter/less expensive. Learned that one in New Orleans covering some protest.
As for the thread, as many have said before itt using local contacts is key. Spoke to a few guys who covered the various wars back in the '90s and late '80s and they said having local connections is key. New kids these days just fly in and try to cover shit they know nothing about before knowing the locals and who's most likely to kidnap/kill/rape/rob you.
>>29890765
I'm more concerned about the 10k worth of equipment in that photo than the well being of the person that got kidnapped.
>>29891009
uh, yes they do?
At higher resolution, in HDR if you may as well. The quality of phone cams and automated image processing tech in general has taken major leaps in recent years.
Carry a shield
There are two general strategies for being a journalist in a conflict zone.
You go big, and hire a lot of niggas with a lot of guns. The chief drawback being that you might get robbed by your own hired muscle, and that it costs money.
Or you go small, rely on people you have a personal relationship with in the area, haggle for everything you buy, and never throw money around.
Remember that in most failed states, family and personal patronage are the mechanisms that most people use for security. Make absolutely sure that there's a local family, or powerful local officials on your side.
You get a guide. Like a driver or someone else reliable. They have to be vetted for trustworthiness.
Pay a local to do it. Then report on it like you are there. This is what all the major news outlets do.
>>29891788
>Doesn't know shit
>>29891970
I own a Canon 60D, and graduated from media university. Especially at the resolution of >>29891009, anyone would be having hard time distinguishing a photo taken with DSLR from the cutting edge phone shot.
each passing year I get more and more impressed (and shocked) by how good photos you get with fully automatic photo apps found in commercial mobile devices.
>>29892029
>implying the shitty glass and tiny sensors found on cellphones will even reproduce half the detail the glass and sensor in a 1D w/ L lens can
fuck off back to /p/ you fag
>>29892169
again, you're moving goalposts here.
I never said that the (current) phone cameras would be on par or better than the hi-end SLRs with fancy optics on them and perfectly fine-tuned manual settings.
However, you can relatively easily get shots like >>29891009, and you'd be hard pressed to tell on what kind of device it was shot on. Even more so if there's any post-processing applied on the image, which even professionals tend to do later on with Photoshop.
>>29892029
Except that the sensor size is tiny in a camera pone and you also can't shoot raw.
>>29892232
You can get raw* on smartphones, and one of the lumia phones had a fuckhuge sensor.
*On certain phones which support the Camera2API, and may require root access for some of the more asinine manufacturers.
>>29891788
>I bought an iPhone
>>29890765
Don't be white.
you think this is a fucking game ?
When I drive through Mexico I always drive a shitty car. Don't drive at night. And I dress like I'm homeless. I'd suggest using a shitty looking camera. Really shitty. I also carry a bbgun that looks like a 1911. Just in case.
>>29892618
pretty much this
remember, in real life the whole "privilege" thing doesn't exist.
How about don't go to third world countries
>>29892210
there's still no way of getting the same depth of field with a phone camera
>>29892899
>Carrying a fake gun
What are you going to do when Jose's friend pulls a knife from behind you?
>>29890851
Because in the West killing journalists isn't done
They forget that Islamic extremists are scum that kill medics, journos, women, children, and the wounded.
>>29893048
>Because in the West killing journalists isn't done
Look up Mexico and South America some time
>>29893048
No, that's still you explaining a mindset that you've attributed to someone else
I'm asking why you think Journalists act like that. I'm not saying they actually act like that.
>>29893022
Nothing you can do about that. When someone knocks on your hotel room door at 3am you'll be glad you have it.
>>29893086
Not, him, but college. Most journalists annoy the shit out of me, because they think they can separate themselves, and everyone will respect the "press" text on them, or their camera. They fail to realize that in places less friendly to 1st worlders, they are either an enemy, or a commodity for ransom/rape/whatever.
>>29892210
>which even professionals tend to do later on with Photoshop
confirmed for knowing nothing about photography
>>29893080
>the west
>>29893048
killing journalists happens all the time in the west
It's just a "car crash" or "accidental" or "suicide"
>>29893575
Anon please, your autism is showing.
