looking beyond the viewfinder

Today actually was a very strange & sad day for me and I guess for a lot of photographers in Malta & Gozo. A fellow photographer lost his life whilst doing his job, not only a job but a passion in a tragic accident. Unfortunately I didn't know the man personally, just by sight and obviously through work, but it doesn't matter since as I said before he was a member of our Art, thus with all the differences all artists might have I guess we all feel an emptiness, shock and sadness for the loss.

Also this tragic accident made me think a lot about us, photographers. We are so passionate for our work, we strive to get that perfect frame and we go to lengths to make it happen, unfortunately sometimes we fail to see the hidden dangers of our job, which seems to carry none! I do not want to be misunderstood here! All I would like to do is put forward a thought to fellow photographers, its great to get amazing shots and a lot of you do, but keep always alert since danger can be at any corner outside the frame of the viewfinder, a busy road during journalistic assignments, drunken crowds during events, unsteady stage sides or rigging in concerts, huge waves during a storm (been there done that & was very luck indeed!) and a lot more if one just stops and think for a moment. Its true being too analytical is the opposite of being creative and might jeopardize a lot from the artistic side, but I guess we should all, starting from me, find that happy medium between the two.

I can't start to imagine what the family is going through and I have no words to say as its truly beyond me and there is no way to express oneself right i guess. Egoistically speaking, when I heard the news yesterday evening, I thought of the shoot I had last Sunday morning at Golden Bay and I asked myself, did I think of a possibility of anything happening to me or to anyone in the crew during that shoot? And the answer was NO. And that scared me....and honestly I am just saying this not to raise any polemic during such a tragic moment, far from it, and I hope no one even thinks that, but because I really don't want to hear about anything happening to colleagues & fellow artists, I really do, it's sad enough as it is.