that video makes me sick. how dare that interviewer say to him "20 seconds is a long time, is there nothing you could have done?"

we are all individuals, and we have no responsibility to act, we can all do as we please, just as the interviewer is doing. is that interviewer doing all that he can ? does he spend his sundays helping lepers? i think not. utter hypocrisy that he would criticize someone else for inaction.

we can help if we want, and we can watch if we want, and we can take pictures if we want. it is for nobody else to judge.

For what it's worth, photographer Abbasi was interviewed by the Today show two days ago. See the link for the video interview and article.

http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2012/12/05/15696609-photographer-if-i-could-have-i-would-have-saved-man-on-subway-tracks

Dear Fellow NRF Members,

I would like to take a moment to apologize for the original title of this thread. It was brought to my attention that the title I had originally chosen might have been a little offensive and could have contributed to this thread possibly going out of control. In retrospect, I fully agree.

And the irony here is that in my fervor to criticize the sensationalism created by photographer R. Umar Abbasi and the New York Post, I ended up with a sensational title all on my own. But to be clear, that was never my original intention. I had fully intended to choose a title so as to be as factual and objective as possible. However, in the end, I did fail that task. So once again I'd like to apologize to anyone who was offended by my original title.

I would also like to thank Msmoto for agreeing to change the title and reopen this thread. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think that a discussion like this is invaluable to us as photographers in general whether we are seasoned professionals or just amateur hobbyists.

Sincelery,
Iris Chrome

A few years ago I witnessed a spectacular wreck immediately in front of me on I-10. An SUV driver managed to get her vehicle to flip several times down the middle of the roadway. Stopped and ran to the vehicle. (She was several months pregnant,l but OK from the wreck.) I never even thought about taking a photo until Msmoto posted the photos above. Sure wish I had been running a dash GoPro at the time.

My experience...taken about five minutes after the accident, before the ambulance arrived.

I stopped my vehicle, ran back to the scene, queried the driver of a truck who was being attended to and also the driver of the vehicle in the photo. No serious injury. Ran back to my vehicle, grabbed what camera/lens was ready, and took the photo. Here is the driver of this car:

My particular reaction was to asses the potential for injury and if I could be of assistance. As this was not necessary, I then went for the camera. As I have training which suggests I need to be helping first, photographing second, this was a no brainer for me.

My own experience mirrors Steve McCurry

"You are talking about reflexes. You're on automatic pilot."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20616635

Personally, I would do everything I could to help people (or animals) in distress. The camera takes a distant second to that. I do however have a strong sense of self-preservation; I have risked my life to try and help others, but not foolishly. I guess I would make a bad war photographer.

Photographers take photos which are in many cases tragic. I have decided the thread itself brings up another issue. Name changed to bring subject matter into a generic area.

As someone who works and used to live in NY, I feel capable of commenting on some aspects of this.

This was a horrible tragedy. From an overhang point of view, I can say that this particular station doesnt have one. Unfortunately the train was braking so no amount of flashing would help.

I'd like to believe this photographer, but I don't. Mostly because of the homeless man he spoke of. And also because the Post was involved. The post is one step about trash journalism. barely. They post fake pictures all the time. And there's evidence to suggest that Ubassi is the type of "journalist" that the post loves to work with. Finally he told CNN that he would only appear on CNN for pay. Also if you look at his shots, there is no movement in any of them. They are miraculously the same distnace, despite his claim to be running forward while taking the shots (the fact that they pretty nicely framed while doing so is also impressive *rolls eyes*)

Sorry, but a youtubbe video which you record yourself dont make me think that this guy is anything but a liar.

> but from the distances shown in the photo it does not look like anyone was near enough to help before that train crushed him.

@Donald - Actually one of the pictures shown in one of the video in the article show a man standing very close to where the victim fell. But it could have also been the same perp who originally threw the victim into the tracks so it doesn't mean anything. But you do bring up a valid point. Especially that the photographer himself was not anywhere close enough to the victim. However, would you have went on snapping pictures in a situation like this? And do you believe the photographer's explanation that he snapped the pictures as a way to signal the train conductor?

To me it just feels like something isn't right and I understand that in a situation like this nobody is able to think things straight and I'm not judging the photographer for that but if that's the case then why publish the photographs through the NY Post?

For what it's worth, here is a new video the NY Post just added to the article where the photographer tells his part of the story. It also shows the different photos he snapped of the victim. I'm only posting the link (as opposed to embedding the video) so as not to force the picture of the incident onto anyone. While the picture itself is not graphic in nature some might find it disturbing.

http://youtu.be/c0Zw_SbdqA4

@Skint - Good point and the Petapixel article also compared the photographer in this incident with Kevin Carter and Frank Fournier. Carter was the one who photographed a starving African child and a vulture that was waiting nearby for the child to die. There are different accounts for Carter's story, one which says that the child wasn't by him/herself and that his/her parents were actually nearby. Another account says that Carter merely took the photo and then left the child for dead. Fournier was the one who photographed a 13 year-old Colombian girl, Omayra Sanchez, who had been stuck underwater for three days following a volcano eruption moments before she passed away. Her death was deemed due to failure of public officials to respond to the disaster properly. About two hours before she passed, her town had received a broken water pump.

Whether you condemn the action of these photographer's or not, I think there is no question that their photographs brought attention to real ongoing world problems. But in the case of Abassi, the subway photographer, I have to ask; what kind of attention did he have in mind before he published the photos?

donaldejose said:
I would put down the camera and help but from the distances shown in the photo it does not look like anyone was near enough to help before that train crushed him.

Actually, I have feared this exact event happening when I was standing on subway platforms and have looked to see what could be done. Most subways have a space cut back under the platform overhang where a person can lie in and escape the train. So if this happens to you or when you are there see if there is a undercut to the platform which makes a safe spot to go until the train is past. I don't know if NY subways stations have this overhang.

The drain or undercut that you refer to is one of the worst places to go. It may work, it may not, it's not always deep enough for you. What you do if you're in a station is run in the opposite direction the train is coming and wave your arms. The idea is that with the running and the length of the tunnel is that the train may have the distance you need for it to stop.

The flashing has merit- usually you do it with a flashlight. I'm not sure if the motorman would stop if he saw it coming from a camera. It's universal code for stop now for people working with trains.

There was a video in the Post article about how the photographer was not strong enough to pull him up.

Not sure how true that is, but since I wasn't there, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

I'm not going to comment on this situation (or even click on the link) as it sounds far too horrific to me, but is this really any different to many other types of photographs we see, especially shots taken by war correspondents? I'm sure Mike will have something to say on the topic, but it's always been a subject that has made me feel very uneasy.......and therefor probably a very valid one for you to bring up iris chrome. I'm also interested to hear others responses.

I would put down the camera and help but from the distances shown in the photo it does not look like anyone was near enough to help before that train crushed him.

Actually, I have feared this exact event happening when I was standing on subway platforms and have looked to see what could be done. Most subways have a space cut back under the platform overhang where a person can lie in and escape the train. So if this happens to you or when you are there see if there is a undercut to the platform which makes a safe spot to go until the train is past. I don't know if NY subways stations have this overhang.

A man who got into an altercation with a panhandler got pushed into the tracks of an incoming subway train in New York and was crushed to death by that train. Moments before the man died though, a photographer who was nearby, started taking photos of the man while he was struggling on the tracks. The man couldn't get out of the tracks quickly enough and got crushed between the train and the platform. The photographer explained his action for taking the photos by saying that he was trying to warn the train conductor and get him to stop by firing the flash at him.

But then, making matters even worse, the New York Post runs one of the photographer's photos on the cover showing the man on the track with the train approaching with a caption that reads "pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die: DOOMED."

I first read the story on Petapixel but the original story is on the NY Post here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/nightmare_on_subway_tracks_GgvCtkeJj6cTeyxHns2VNP

What do you think? And what would you do in a situation like this?