© Michael Heller

A PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

Kids in Trouble

When kids wind up in front of a photographer's lens, often getting good pictures is not as difficult as convincing an uneducated editor that the image has value. The point of view most often aired by the photographer is: If we run this picture maybe we can raise awareness and help keep something like this from happening again. Editors often respond: He's only a kid, do we really need to run a juvenile in a situation like this?

The boy above at the top left was answering to police about a setting his house on fire after playing with matches. The boy in the neck brace was carted around as an exhibit by a group campaigning for better use of car seats. The boy with the dog, faced this showdown every day while returning from school.

In the bottom row of pictures the boy was in a car wrech and is asking god to let his father live. The girl with the doll has all that is left of her toys after a fire, and in the street scene the young boy waits while adults cope with a shooting. Do we need to publish pictures like these? You be the judge.

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