Quick gamer question

I have a picture of this high school football player bent over crying after losing a pretty emotional game last night. I want to use it along with my gamer for our paper this week, because it fits with the overall game story.

My question is, is there anything wrong with me running a picture of this kid crying? I can use one of the action shots from the game, but none fit the story as well as this one.

I really don't want some angry mom calling and telling me that I am exploiting her kid or anything like that.

 

Screw what mom thinks. Run the picture if it's good and fits the story angle.

 

learn to deal with reader complaints. it's part of the job. just make sure you can defend yourself. often a reaction shot tells the story better than the typical action shot. or not. you're (apparently) the sports editor so you decide.

 

crying pics are great. use it. it's emotional.

 

Youre going to get the angry mom, defending her son because he works so hard.
Fuck her. Look at the big picture, so to speak.

 

Use it. It shows the emotion and unless the kid is super sensitive, I'll bet you don't hear anything about it.

I covered a state championship baseball game once and the lead photo was of a kid striking out to end the game. You could see the anguish on his face as he started to break down after swinging. We didn't receive one complaint.

 

We ran a photo one time of one of our football teams walking off the field and leaving the state runner-up trophy behind because they were pissed that they lost.

Best freakin' photo we've run _ and of course some player's mother bitched. Oh, and the photographer didn't want to run it. Thought he had better art.

 

That's an easy one, run the picture. If mom bitches, tell her that her kid will be 30 someday and laugh about it. There's more to life than football, or whatever sport he plays.

 

Let me guess, he had some picture of a kid running with the ball through the tackles. Because that's all my photogs can come back with.

 

Screw angry mom. She will be emptying the paper rack to cut it out for Grandma, Grandpa and every relative she can find. If she doesn't, it'll be under a dog's ass the next day.

 

Go with the photo. Years ago, my uncle was an assistant football coach of a state champion. A relative sent me a flashback story from that 40-year-old decisive game in which the archived photo's caption noted the joyous, celebratory antics of a kid described as an "unidentified youth." The "youth" was my cousin, then a team ballboy and now a honcho (still a helluva nice guy) with a multinational in China.
I recently saw my cousin, on the occasion of an anniversary of my long-retired uncle's milestone victory that ranked him among my native state's winningest high school basketball coaches. At the gathering, we realized we all were calling my cousin by the name that always stuck: "Unidentified Youth."
This fall, I left a 25-year career in large-market print sports journalism to sign a book contract (topic: high school sports). Yes, "Unidentified Youth" provided some of the prodding I needed to make the change.
Run the stimulating picture, and don't look back.

 

We had a photog whose "best shot" was of a couple of our girls soccer players celebrating a goal.

They lost 8-1.

Don't give me that bullshit that it's your best shot. I need art that tells a story.