After photographing at the Talovic home I was assigned to the candlelight vigil at the downtown library. I arrived early enough to scout things out.
The atrium of the library is a multi-level affair. There was a podium set up with a microphone one story up from the ground level. The crowd would be below. You couldn’t really get a good shot of the podium from the ground floor.
I looked around and noticed a lot of photographers were here, and the other newspaper in town had assigned two. I was on my own and outnumbered. So I climbed the stairs and chose the high angle, knowing that I’d be unable to quickly get back down during the event.
Once the vigil started, I made some overall shots and then moved around for a tight shot on the family of Kirsten Hinckley, a high school student killed in the shooting. Her mother was also seriously injured and still in the hospital.
The candles had been lit and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson called for a moment of silence for the victims. This touching moment of the Hinckley family and the Mayor was shot with a 70-200mm lens (at 173mm) from across the balcony.
After the vigil ended, the speakers and family were ushered off behind the check-out desk and security wasn’t letting us in. I didn’t want to take any more photographs, I just needed to get the names of the family members for my caption.
There were at least three photographers waiting for the names and I kept thinking that one of us could get them and share. But before any of that happened, the family started to walk out, away from us to a secured exit.
I frantically got the attention of a public affairs person (I don’t know who she was with, police, fire or mayor’s department) and told her we needed the names of the family members. She chased after the family and returned with a list, which we all copied down. She explained that it was the victim’s father, sister, sister’s husband, and brother. So that’s how I wrote the caption.
The next day I get a phone call from my editor. He said the caption on my photo had two errors. Now you might be one of those people who thinks that journalists make mistakes all the time. You might even take some enjoyment out of that. But for me and any serious journalist it’s like getting punched in the stomach. It’s the worst thing that can happen.
One of the errors was my fault. I had two names switched. The other error was the fault of the PR contact. Something that would have been avoided if we had been able to quickly talk to the family. It turns out this is a sister and her two brothers. No husband.
The Hinckley family were dealing with far more important things than media requests, and still are. I hope the error in my caption at least provided them with a laugh in the dark days they were facing. Even in Utah it’s rare to see a brother marry his sister. It was unfortunate and I meant to do better. But I have to wonder if the error just confirmed what they may have been thinking about us.
