the guardian article was interesting... but kinda half-assed.

For real. Some Navajo socks would sellllll€£¥$$

Did you guys know Talent is a river in Switzerland?

Oom-pah.
Steve Martin said that the banjo is such a happy instrument that you can't play a sad song on it.

DevinBriggs.com

Wataru,

Thank you for your question, from what I can understand, you came across a dead man, and a scene of death, with a woman crying.

And are wondering if you should have made a photograph.

And you did not, but are now stuck with this scene in your head, and can't stop going over the circumstances.

Possibly there is regret.

Possibly you are questioning if you are a good photographer or not?

I have had many situations like this. I always feel terrible.

Almost every day I see something I should shoot because my gut and my eyes see it and my impulse is to shoot. But then my rational brain takes over and I wonder if it would be wrong of me to shoot this person? Is someone watching me? Will they see me? What will they think if they see me? All thoughts that have nothing to do with the image itself, and how strong that image may be when I finally see the composition.

I don't know the feeling, the area, the amount of people looking, or the situation that you were in.

But that you wrote me on this comment form, I understand this must have been intense.

The truth is there is no right answer. If you could have shot a picture, it may have been good, but now you will never know. And nobody is angry at you. And you only have your regret that you failed to gather a picture memeory and story to tell and share with others.

If you had shot, it may have been bad. Maybe people would have seen you and thought you were terrible, maybe the photo would be bad and you would have never used it.

My advice is don't worry about it.

You have a story to tell, you saw it and experienced it. It will inform your photography in the future.

There is no use being angry with yourself, or even wondering. You acted as you thought best in a crazy situation. That says something about you as a person, and nothing about you as a photographer.

I have been next to a dead body. And there is nothing quite like the strange feeling you get.

But this will all pass with time.

Thanks for sharing.

Wataru´s story actually sounded like a poem.

I once had a job facing dead people on a daily basis.
The first one was an old woman, pretty heavy to look at.
From there it got easier day by day.

All in all over a period of a year, I probably saw 30, 40 bodies.
In the end it changed my feelings about death and the esthetic of it.
I wasn´t shooting photos back then and I don´t think I would, but
can imagine that it might be fascinating for people outside these situations to get a glimpse how it looks and with that maybe feels like.