The bystanders: photographers who didn’t step in to help

July 29, 2012 | 67 notes

What’s it like to witness a mob attack, a starving child or the aftermath of a bomb, and take a photograph instead of stopping to help? Eight photographers tell their story of being the bystander.

Graeme Robertson recalls a pro-hunting protest:

This picture was a taken on quite a violent day. The police were really up for it. The demonstrators were really up for it. Everybody was getting hit hard. I was flung to the floor by a policeman. I was lying there, dusting myself, ready to give the policeman a bit of my Scottish abuse, when I saw a man being wrestled to the ground for not doing what he was told. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but as he was lying on the ground, the policemen were abusing him and being really aggressive with him, hands round his neck, that kind of thing. I picked up my camera and he said, “Help me, help me. Please help me.” And I didn’t do anything. I took a picture – and he got dragged off.

• Tags:
• photography
• journalism
• protest
• violence
• ethics
• photojournalism