Never was a "flame war" more aptly named.
Never was a "flame war" more aptly named.
Good reply Alec!!! May the photography debate carry on....
Since Fatali has been quoted in several accounts as admitting to having set these fires using Duralogs and aluminum roaster pans. All for the very dubious reason of photographing Delicate Arch at night perhaps we should dispense with the debate about whether he did or did not do something this stupid and distructive for his personal gain or perhaps because as he has claimed " his love of the land".
The important thing it seems to me is to band together as photographers who love this land and work to head off any forth coming restrictive regulations that may come from the National Park Service or BLM because of Mr. Fatalis total disregard for the rules already in place or more importantly his total disregard for the fragile land he has made a very nice living photographing.
Perhaps we should also urge the National Park Service to seek full and complete sanctions against Fatali as required by law and make our feelings known to the publisher of Arizona Hiways magazine as well. After all they too have some responsibility being his employers at the time of this incident as he was leading their photo workshop at the time.
Comments?
Come on - this is a bizarre discussion. For all I know, the fire stain was accidental. Fatali didn't intend to harm the arch! How about the climbers who drill holes into the face of El Capitan - shouldn't they be prosecuted instead?
Acidental or not the result is the same. Afterall he did intend to set these fires in an area where fire if not totally forbidden requires a special permit. This is the same defence the captian of the Exxon Valdez should have used after creating the most disasterous oil spill in history. As for the climbers on El Capitan what they are doing is legal and they file the appropiate permits etc prior to making their climb.
Finally, accident or not we are all responsible for our actions.When you acidentially drive over the posted speed limit (speed) and the officer gives you a ticket you also must pay your fine. The judge doesn't care if you intended to speed or not, only, that you did and guess what the result is the same with your insurance carrier they don't say ah we won't raise your rates since it was really an accident and you didn't realize how fast you were going.
The unintended result from Fatalis little accident may well be onerous new restrictions on everyones ability to freely access and photograph this beautiful wilderness of ours. No matter what his ultimate penalty is we as photographers will also pay a price for his actions.
I'm not condoning Fatali's stupid and over-zealous attempt to get just the right light. However, this act pales in comparison to the rest of the crap going on in Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce and other national parks and scenic sites in the area.
Every single time I've been to Arches NP to photograph any of the more well known spots the place has been literally crawling with fat-butted tourists in their motorhomes and minivans. The steady stream of huffing and puffing, gasping walkers on the trail to Delicate Arch is enough of a downer; half way there you feel like packing it in and turning back. And the crowds of people sitting around the base of the arch around sunset, teenagers crawling all over the rocks, parents screaming at their children, spoiling all the sight lines.....well, it's enough to make you sick.
And it seems that every stretch of river in that area, with even the slightest hint of "fast water", has been completely taken over by these opportunistic rafting businesses, with their lumbering school buses clogging the roads, their ugly yellow or orange inflatable boats, teeming with howling, drunken idiots. I used to fish these waters years ago; now it's a foregone conclusion that any cast is likely to snag one of these rafts.
And how about the crazed Jeep crowd that gets together every Easter in Moab, racing their 4WDs up and down the main drag, with beer-guzzling assholes hanging off the damned things. Can the town of Moab possibly get any tackier? Just go into any part of Canyonlands NP and these nimrods are everywhere, too busy trying to figure out some new way of rolling these things over to worry much about the scenery, stained by Fatali's fires or not. And let's not forget the mountain bike folks, either.
Why don't we just kill all of them? It seems to me that the place was ruined long ago. Maybe we photographers are to blame...we took too many beautiful photographs and attracted all these idiots.
One point that has been missed so far in this discussion is that as deplorable as Fatali's actions were, the worse part is that he was "teaching" a group of photographers the same lack of respect for nature that he probably has been practicing most of his life.
I can't imagine being part of his workshop and witnessing this event. The fact that no one in the group took any action to stop Fatali says something about the breed of "new" photographers that are going to go after the "perfect" photograph with no regard to their impact on the landscape.
I believe that the entire group should be punished to the maximum extent allowed by law. Notice I backed-off my death penalty stance from yesterday. Now that I have "cooled off", I can think rationally! However, I still can't comprehend Fatali's actions!!
I encourage everyone to e-mail Arizona Highways, The National Park Service, and Fatali Galleries at the following e-mail addresses to voice your concerns with Fatali's actions. Thanks!
Fatali Gallery: fatali@fatali.com
Arizona Highways: photodirector@arizonahighways.com
National Park Service: archinfo@nps.gov
I have never heard of Arizona Highway photography workshops. Are these serious photography workshops or the kind intended to bilk a few hundred bucks from novices to give them the honor of being taught to operate their new Nikons by some professional? My guess is the latter which would explain some of this. I don't want to jump to any conclusions of course ;-)
Two years ago, I took a photo class at a local community college so I could get some outside feedback about my images. During one critique session, I was floored when the instructor praised an image then went on to explain how it would have been greatly improved if I simplified the composition by pulling out a few of the flowers that were messing up the background.
I explained that so far as I am concerned, Nature is what it is and I take pictures of what I see, not what I'd like to see. While I don't have any problem with picking up garbage or removing leaves that will blow away in few minutes anyway, I wouldn't dream of cutting branches off a tree, moving rocks or pulling flowers out of the ground.
Needless to say, he disagreed with me and proceeded to show the class all of the "gardening" tools he carries in his camera bag so he won't ever find himself stuck photographing Nature looking anything but its groomed and manicured best.
To my surprise, with only one exception, everyone in the class agreed with him! I was stunned, at least until I realized that at 39, I was at least a decade older than everybody else in the room. Clearly, my formative years as a nature photographer occurred in a different time and frame of mind than theirs and it showed ... for them, photography appears to be a competitive endeavor whereas for me, it's an artistic one.
If Nature shuts me out today, then I'll just try again tomorrow ... I have no need or desire to improve my results by altering my subjects, as Michael Fatali and other professional photographers sometimes feel pressured to do. And on those rare occasions when I do manage to get a truly spectacular image on film (about every other year or two!), I will enjoy it, humble and unpublished though it may be, all that much more as a result.
First of all, fires are not even allowed in Arches NP, so the act was wrong...period. Climbers do not (and have not been allowed for quite some time to) drill holes in the face of El Capitan. All climbing in national parks is limited to permanent routes (i.e. using existing protection) or with temporary (or no) aid where designated. This method of managing routes and monitoring climbing makes the activity safer and promotes responsible ways to enjoy parks. Mr. Fatali's actions did neither.
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