"Mama don't take my Kodachrome, leave your boy so far from home..."
When that song was released (1973), I was in Ubon, Thailand, photographing for the USAF. Getting "thrill rides" in various aircraft to "Document the Air Force Mission", as the job description said. The tune evokes some strong recollections even yet. Back then, I came to the realization that a feeling of "safety" I had by having a camera between me and whatever was happening around me was bogus. My self-delusion became evident. To that point I could go into about any event and be (or attempt to be) the "fly on the wall" so-to-speak. Any good photojournalist strives for that. To see and record without interference or influence. I realized I'd been living my life vicariously through a lens. Not so much that I was missing situational awareness, I'd learned from my days in high school as a local newspaper photog to keep an awareness of what went on around you or you could become involved in a veritable train wreck on the sidelines of a ball game, or the middle of a protest rally. Rather that those images I was making were moments captured, and more important than TAKING action of my own. It was a priority over the risk. Since then I've been more willing to evaluate the risk/reward ratio a bit more carefully.
