Paper Tigers Book And Exhibition.
It’s a massive honor to be included in the above book and the current Head On Photo Festival exhibition.
“A celebration of the best of Australian photojournalism, the Paper Tigers exhibition features sixty images from sixty of the best Australian photojournalists. The need for truthful journalism has never been more critical. It is through the lens of these photographers that we understand and experience much of the world's events. Look back at the most critical moments through recent Australian history, and the images by which we remember them.”
I was interviewed about my photograph by the ABC and the Guardian has featured the exhibition too.
The following is my personal experience… It was the photograph that the nation's photojournalists and news editors were hungry for that day and for the days prior. I had spent cold winter nights and days shooting through the windows of every likely vehicle that entered and exited the Brisbane Watchhouse. My job didn’t usually have me chasing moving vehicles with a camera although I soon became increasingly proficient at shooting through vehicle windows after learning a little more from each encounter. The challenge, apart from the danger of engaging with moving vehicles on the road and driveways was that the windows in some vehicles had clear or heavily tinted or multi-layered glass or combinations of clear and tinted and varying shapes and sizes of glass and perspex windows. The prison vans were the worst with a small, high window for each of the many separate cells. I refined my technique with lighting, exposure, hyperfocal distance and lens to achieve a usable image from any vehicle. A few days before capturing this image I was chasing vehicles along side about 16 members of the media, on the evening before this photograph, there was just a Court Photographer and I at the Watchhouse.
It’s a great risk to leave the media pack. What if they got the shot and just the two of us at the Watchhouse got nothing? It was my call to be there, you have to trust your experience-honed instinct otherwise what’s the use of having it? Another unsuccessful day of chasing vehicles almost passed when a police officer chatted to us, he was looking after Haneef in his cell and said Haneef was a thoroughly nice guy, then said he thought a car would leave the Watchhouse with Haneef in it the next morning and he gave an approximate time. It was just the two of us there again the next morning, other members of the media were sniffing about for the same story elsewhere.
A Police vehicle with two cells in the back finally drove down the Watchhouse ramp about 40 minutes later than the tip off time. We were both onto it, shooting frantically through both of the small rear windows whilst trying to stay safe. The first layer of glass was untinted scratched and dirty, the second layer, a few centimetres inwards was heavily tinted, scratched and dirty, technically it seemed an impossible shot. It was soon apparent that the rear right side of the vehicle was empty and the left rear side held a man in a brown tracksuit with his head between his knees so I concentrated all my effort on that window as the car continued moving onto the street and then made a right turn before waiting for a few moments at a stop sign. The Court Photographer was hot on my heels as I sprinted about 50 metres to the police vehicle to continue photographing briefly at the stop sign.
It was just me and the Court Photographer standing in the middle of the road reviewing images as the Police vehicle continued its journey. I was soaked with perspiration, my heart was pounding from the physical activity and adrenaline. Several successful images were captured as the vehicle came down the ramp and at the stop sign. Haneef flicked past my gaze on the small screen, miraculously all images were perfectly exposed. I felt their weight, and knew the power of that one extra special photograph. It represented the gold medal outcome of what I had signed up for as a photojournalist, with a strong sense of social justice.
The injustice, indignity, posture, brown prison suit, padlock and starkness of bare feet on a cold metal floor during mid-winter. The scene that may never have been witnessed by the world was published all around the world including in Haneef’s country of origin, India. I hope the image made a difference to achieving a fair outcome for Haneef and showed Australia how important it is to handle such matters impartially. I’m glad it was me who created that image but if I hadn’t I would hope that it existed just the same. Even without context it is an ethereal, near impossible photograph that asserts its stand alone independence.
A big thank you to Brian Cassey and the people at Head On for this wonderful honor.
Eddie Safarik