Whats wrong with this picture? I took this photo while working for a well-regarded production company about three years ago. I remember taking this photo and what happened next. The tour head rigger was and continues to be well-known and highly respected in the industry. I heard him come walking across the jobsite toward me saying something like Oh, crap, what is it? I really dont need this. I really, really dont need this. People taking photos of anything thats not perfect and putting them on Facebook. God damn. I hastened to explain, because this particular head rigger was my respected colleague and friend. We were working together. I told him the truth: as far I knew, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the rigging. I was just taking photos. I wanted a photo of our spot chairs, so I took one. Thats all. He went back to work and tried to relax. This gotcha photo obsession is creating a poison atmosphere. Rarely do these photos contribute to a constructive discussion of safety. They are not intended to contribute. They have become a cheap way for people with little substantive to contribute, to collect 50 comments and likes. It is bad enough when the photo is of a bent turnbuckle on the handrail of a Dominican concrete plant stairway. But you could follow any highly skilled professional rigger with a camera and find some loose end to tut-tut about online to make yourself look like a big shot. And you could take lots of photos of perfectly safe rigging and make it sound suspect, just by casting aspersions. And the way the industry is right now, you would be rewarded for it with dozens of online high-fives for the smackdown, and somebody might remember your name next time. And *that* is whats wrong with this picture.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 06:03:11 +0000
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