是职业本能让摄影记者不畏风险

在俄罗斯大使Andrei Karlov于本周一在安卡拉被一名土耳其警察枪杀后不久，令人震撼的枪击现场照片便通过各大通讯社传遍全球，公众也得以拥有罕见，难得的机会一睹这起恐怖枪击案的枪手在事发时的种种神态和举动。但往往人们在此类恶性事件的报道中很难得看到现场实时照片。

Pictures capturing the graphic scenes when Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was killed by a Turkish policeman in Ankara on Monday was distributed through newswires soon after the incident took place, providing a rare and surreal opportunity for the public to view the gunman’s expressions and actions in a tragic shooting incident that is often reported by the media without any real-time pictures. 

在现场观众惊慌失措地逃命时，美联社摄影记者Ozbilici拍下了令人战栗的枪击现场画面(图)。Ozbilici事后表示：“人们尖叫着躲藏到柜子后面和桌子下面，甚至趴在地上。我也非常害怕，脑子里一片混乱，但我躲在一道墙的后面继续进行着我的拍摄工作。”

Associate press photographer Ozbilici’s captured the chilling shots of the incidents’ build-up as the rest of the audience were running for their lives.  "People screamed, hid behind columns and under tables and lay on the floor. I was afraid and confused, but found partial cover behind a wall and did my job: taking photographs,”  Ozbilici said later.

摄影记者往往是历史的第一个记录者，但他们所捕捉的那些令人触目惊心的恐怖事件的现场照片亦常常引发道德争议。在2013年发生导致3人死亡，另有250多人受伤的波士顿马拉松爆炸案后，《波士顿环球报》的一名摄影记者用镜头记录下了当时的混乱场景。但是，他在现场拍照的行为引发了警察的不满，一名警员甚至对他大喊“帮个忙，不要趁火打劫。”该名摄影记者在此后所发的一篇博文中提及这名警员当时的喊话时称：“实际上我也有同感，但我没时间想这些，我得继续我的工作。”

Photographers are often the first writers of history, but their pictures capturing graphic or disturbing incidents often prompt moral controversies. In 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the chaotic scenes after the explosions that killed 3 and injured over 250 people were captured by a Boston Globe Photographer. But his actions of taking pictures at the scene caused the police officer’s disapproval. “Do me a favor. Do not exploit the situation,” the officer shouted at him. “And that resonated with me,” blogged the photographer, referring to the officer’s remarks. “But I can’t think about it – I got to keep doing what I am doing.” 

最富有争议的现场照片之一莫过于2012年纽约地铁命案的受害者在遭列车撞击前片刻的照片。当时是《纽约邮报》的一名摄影记者拍下了这位58岁的纽约居民在地铁迎面冲来之时的场面。但是这些照片发表后，许多批评者都在社交媒体上对该名摄影记者的行为进行口诛笔伐，指责他在这起悲剧事件中趁火打劫见死不救，缺乏基本的正义感和道义感。

One of the most heated controversial photographs would be the picture of a man about to be hit by a New York City subway car in 2012. A New York post photographer snapped photos while a 58-year-old New York resident was struck by a subway train. Many critics took to social media to express their disgust over the photographers’ actions, accusing him of exploiting a tragedy and lacking integrity and basic moral to help the victim in crisis.

该名摄影记者后来在接受媒体采访时称：“我只是开始奔跑。在我举起相机之时，相机甚至未被设定到正确的参数……我不知道自己在拍什么，我甚至不能确定当时我理解发生了什么事。我只是眼睁睁地看着列车奔驰而来。”

 “I just started running. I had my camera up – it wasn't even set to the right settings,” the photographer said later in a media interview. "I had no idea what I was shooting. I'm not even sure it was registering with me what was happening. I was just looking at that train coming."

事实上，在悲剧事件发生后，职业摄影记者也常常面临两难冲突，无以适从。他们究竟是应立即进入工作状态还是向处于灾难中的受害者伸出援手？但在这种道德两难抉择面前，他们的职业责任感往往会占上风。2015年曾在尼泊尔珠峰大本营亲眼目睹大雪崩并死里逃生的法新社南非首席摄影记者Roberto Schmidt称：“我想我最好还是继续拍照而不是去帮助其他人，因为这是我擅长的事情，这是我的工作。”

Indeed, professional photographers are often caught in conflicts and torn between doing their job and helping out victims in crisis. In such a moral dilemma, their job obligations often triumph. “I think I’m better at taking pictures than in helping people because that’s what I know how to do. It’s my job,” said Roberto Schmidt, the chief photographer for South Asia for Agence France-Presse, who witnessed and survived the powerful avalanche the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal in 2015.

 

但是在大多数情况下，是摄影记者的职业本能而让他们在混乱的危机现场架起长枪短炮开始拍照，这和枪击案发生时一名教师在极度混乱和恐慌中仍出于本能保护自己的学生如出一辙。在位于美国纽镇的桑迪胡克小学于2012年发生血腥枪击案时，Victoria Leigh Soto用身体挡住了枪手射出的子弹，牺牲自己救了学生，这就是她在非常时刻的那一瞬间作出的第一反应。Victoria的一名同事称：“Vicki出于本能保护学生免受伤害令我深感自豪。”

But most times it was a photographers’ instinct that made them set up their tripod and start taking pictures in times of crisis, just like a school teachers’ instinct, out of chaos and horror, to protect her students in a shooting rampage. During the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown Connecticut in 2012, Victoria Leigh Soto died while placing her body between her children and the assailant. It was her first reaction in the heat of the moment. “I’m just proud that Vicki had the instincts to protect her kids from harm,” said one of the teachers’ colleagues. 

Ozbilicy在讲述自己是如何冒死用相机捕捉混乱的现场画面时称：“我当时想的是‘我在现场，即使我被打伤或是遭枪杀，我也仍是一名记者。我必须完成工作。’”

In recounting how he captured the chaotic scene with his cameras despite the lethal danger, Ozbilicy said: " This is what I was thinking: ‘I'm here. Even if I get hit and injured, or killed, I'm a journalist. I have to do my work.’”