[rbefly]

First, a disclaimer; I usually don't post 'tabloid' or sensational, ugly or mean-spirited photos, ever. Even my regular series of street photos aren't typical homeless or unfortunates souls. If that particular content will bother you, stop here.
Same for the Mods; If this photo content is against the rules, please delete it and I apologize in advance.
But, on this day, I had the right gear, timing and the opportunity, so I took a series of this accident on 17th street, downtown. Honestly, it bothered me a bit at the time, but for some reason, pressed on.
There are actually three vehicles involved, a smaller car is hidden on the right.
Once cropped and PP'd, I thought it clearly told a story, was dramatic and compelling, without being crass or voyeuristic. But I could easily be wrong. So I'm asking for general or specific opinions here.
I do respect our members to view this impartially, a work to be critiqued as you normally would.
K-5, DA 16-45mm@ 18mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO 100.
C + C welcome,
Ron

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[calculator01]

I see no issues with sharing or taking this photo. Guaranteed there was many others doing the same. It is also work-safe for me, but respect the NSFW title added for others.
A little c+c would be that IMO, it works for a newspaper, but that's about it. With the missing car, I find it hard to piece the story together, so I am left feeling confused. It feels like an incomplete puzzle. If this photo was attached to the news article, I would be drawn to read the piece.


The fire truck on the left is pretty dark, same with the dark car there. Granted, there is not much you can do about a skyscraper blocking the sun.

[Ex Finn.]

I like it, so different from the usual daffodil shots.
No need for NSFW IMO.

[jpzk]

Nothing wrong with this picture.
I can see no "gore" nor any recognizable faces (unless you'd want to crop to see some of those people up close), ...
All in all, an "after the accident" accident scene from a fair distance; nothing to worry about.

JP

[rbefly]

Thanks to calculator, Ex Finn and JP, for the feedback!
Maybe I overthought the reaction to this; I've never seen this type of photo content here before, so didn't know quite what to expect.
And there were many others taking photos, pretty much anyone with a camera, mostly P + S's or cellphone images.
I could only get two of the three vehicles into one shot, the black car and white truck. But the angle showing the extensive damage to the truck (left side) was blocked off, the cops wouldn't let anyone there until later.
Oddly, there was no report in the newspaper or on local TV, I checked for a couple of days afterwards. I wanted to add some details, particularly regarding the injuries and hopefully report that everyone recovered without serious damage. But, none was forthcoming.
Anyway, my budding career as a breaking-news photojournalist is now over! There are many other subjects to capture and apparently this 'human drama' stuff isn't my cup of tea.
Thanks again for the replies!
Ron

[calculator01]

I hate that about media. You'll see a big collision, twenty police with guns out, and a giraffe... Nothing in the news. But they will instead report on the paint chipping from a street lamp. They always seem to miss the big stuff or interesting stuff.

[Gregory_51]

Hi
Nothing wrong with the subject, it isn't sensationalized, it's something you'd see in the paper or on the news. My only comment would be the left hand side is so dark, my eye keeps being drawn to it because it is so dark in relation to the rest of the scene. I know it's in shadow but lifting the shadows would help a lot. Actually one of the comments above was the car was missing. It's there, just to dark to see it.
Greg

[wildman]

My only comment would be the left hand side is so dark, my eye keeps being drawn to it because it is so dark in relation to the rest of the scene.

I agree.
The left side is so unnaturally dark that it's logically distracting -
With the shadows normalized a bit more it shows a much more logically complete story - from wreck to debris litter to help to victim to ambulance.