Two Getty Photographers Use Instagram to Respond to the Insanity

Wire photographers live in the news cycle. If they aren’t shooting a vital story, that doesn’t mean that major events are lost on them. And now that so many working photojournalists are also posting to Instagram, it gives us a chance to think about how they are processing what’s going on. We can certainly see that in the assignment-related outtakes they post. And often, you can still see the news, and their feelings about it, in the personal pictures they post.

Here are two examples.

Following Spencer Platt’s assignment work and his Instagram feed, I know how socially-minded he is. And yesterday, he stunned me with this dignified, personal photo he took on a train platform in New York.

Waiting for a train in New York. #gettyimages #fujixpro2 #fujifilmx_us #realism #reportage #streetphotography

A photo posted by Spencer Platt (@plattys1) on Mar 24, 2016 at 1:21pm PDT

With all the paranoia in the air about Muslims in the wake of the bombings in Brussels, Spencer’s photo reads as a visual commentary, and rejoinder. Because one of the ISIS attacks occurred in a Brussels train station, Spencer’s shot, with a wonderful view of the tracks in the distance, was an especially welcome dose of normalcy yesterday. How conscious or intended it was as a response on the fear-mongering, I can’t tell you, but I’m grateful either way.

Next big prize is Wisconsin. Heidi Cruz, the wife of Sen.Ted Cruz campaigns near Milwaukee, #wisconsin today. #campaign #GOP #republican #onthecampaigntrail #campaigntrail2016 #campaigning #conservatives

A photo posted by Scott Olson (@olsongetty) on Mar 23, 2016 at 3:37pm PDT

This second example is directly related to an assignment. Getty photographer Scott Olson has been covering the Cruz campaign this week. Again, I don’t know how much the Instagram shot is responding to, or is informed at all by the sexist and juvenile social media wrestling match between Trump and Cruz over their wives. If you choose to stoop, it has to do with how attractive each wife is, in addition to Heidi Cruz’s past mental health.

Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016

Against that debased backdrop, what a wonder photograph. As we see Heidi Cruz stumping for votes in Milwaukee, the photo showcases a cup in the foreground touting the statement, “Family Farm Fresh.” Olson’s image can’t help but make light of the flying mud. Because photos operate on so many levels, I can’t say if the picture is arguing for a some bit of wholesomeness in this embarrassing GOP campaign or calling out its absence with a slosh of irony.Like there’s anything familial or sweet (see the placemat) in any of this.

Above all though, what both photos do is step back — way back — from the venom of the day. And for that distance and deviation, it helps the rest of us feel a little more sane.

(photo 1: Reuters/Belgian Federal Police. caption: A young man in a hat caught on CCTV pushing a luggage trolley at Belgium’s Zaventem airport alongside two others who, investigators said, had later blown themselves up in the terminal.)