One of my pet peeves as a journalist, especially with flu season coming up, are photojournalists showing pics of screaming toddlers and crying primary school age kids getting flu shots. One of my other pet peeves with stereotypical photos are whenever a softball or baseball game wins big, there’s always the dogpile of team players that I call the “Diamond Orgy.”
This is the only sport in which the players, for some reason, mosh pit and try to give each other serious injury while celebrating a win. Surely, someone on the bottom of that pile must be hoping that one of those spiked cleats doesn’t hurt them. I’m not saying people shouldn’t celebrate a win, especially as a team, if they worked hard and earned it. But why do we still keep doing this?
I think mainly because it’s overused in the media, team players feel obligated to do it. It’s basically become the “Grin-n-Grip” of the sports photos. A “Grin-n-Grip” is when two or more people will pose for a photo, either shaking hands and smiling or holding a check during a presentation photo. Usually a chamber of commerce does this during a ribbon cutting or “business of the week” photo. It’s filler.
And to be honest, many sport photos are boring to begin with unless you got some awesome equipment. I used to think that after taking 100-150 pictures of a football game a night, I should rathole some for the following week if it’s not as exciting game. Most photographers only take a few good pictures that are unique.
But seeing the Diamond Orgy makes me cringe. Too often, it’s generic. And it’s lazy of the photographer and editor. There’s more pictures you can take of a game to make it unique. You’re going to take dozens if not over 100 photos. If it’s a championship game, you should take as many as possible. The headline and lede is already telling the reader the team won. The photo (or art as we call it) is the filet mignon. it should stand out.
Zane Says 