Am I a Photographer?

This is a disturbing image. It's a picture of a man who has been hit by a taxi. He was not in good shape and I hope he made it through, however, I don't know. It is not my usual kind of picture and I hope it doesn't offend anyone. It was for me, a very very hard thing.

I was on my bike going from one school to the other when I spotted this accident. There was a very large dent in the windscreen of the taxi and there were about 50 people on each side of the road observing. No one moved to help the man or the taxi driver who hit him. In China, there is a rule that maybe if you DO help someone in this situation, then you may end up being responsible for their ongoing hospital care. It seems that may be the reason no one was helping. Once again, I don't know.

I stopped my bike and looked. I wondered if I should take a picture or not. I mean, here was a man may have been dying and here was me, thinking of taking a picture. He was moving so he was conscious and a few people had called for an ambulance so there was nothing I could physically have done so I pondered taking this picture.

Then I asked my self, "Aren't you a photographer? Don't you set out each day to take pictures of the things that you see each day? Are you going to BE a photographer? Or are you going to shy away from taking a certain picture because some people may be offended? Are you going to shy away from taking a picture because it makes you feel uncomfortable? Or are you going to be strong in what you do and take the pictures you have been avoiding for those reasons?"

As you may have guessed, I decided to take the picture. I decided that what I have to give to anyone who views my pictures now or in the future would be honest and taken without fear. ALWAYS taken with respect but still, taken from a very, very different perspective.

I then had to make the decision as to whether or not I would post the picture to Blipfoto. Well I guess you have worked out that I also did that. I implore people not to be offended but as far as my photographic life goes, this was a 'shedding the shackles' moment for me and I really felt I needed to share it with others.