Of Door-Stops and 'Flu Madness

A call from The Sydney Morning Herald photo desk jolted me awake around 5am Tuesday and within the hour I was sitting with my kit in the silent lobby of the Melia Reforma Hotel. I had an assignment to stakeout a delegation of parliamentarians from Australia, who had the misfortune to arrive in Mexico on the weekend the swine 'flu story erupted in full fury. 

The SMH, or Smaych in local lingo, wanted a pic of the touring party at all costs - including my sleep and potentially my reputation with the Australian embassy, which had the unenviable task of hosting the delegates and managing an itinerary changing by the minute due to event cancellations and restaurant closures.  We had been trying to track down the delegation's whereabouts and schedule but to no avail, there was a gag order from Canberra on their visit. But, in the end, the newspaper got a tip on where they were staying, and so there I was.

Four hours after settling into a chair in the lobby and watching the glass elevators zip up and down like a mesmerized golden retriever, I saw the Australian ambassador emerge with the six delegates, who were busily putting on the familiar flu-be-gone face masks.

I grabbed the camera but resisted the urge to begin blazing away immediately, as I felt that to try to get a broad group shot in a very dimly-lit lobby would look decidedly unimpressive and most likely result in me being bounced down the stairs by the security staff, most of whom had being eying me warily all morning anyway.

So I headed straight to the masked Ambassador, explained my mission and asked if we could work something out. "Not here!" barked Senator John Hogg, the delegation leader and winner of the ironic name of the year award. I calmly explained I wasn't after a "gotcha" pic, that I wanted a good shot of the whole delegation. The Ambassador and I agreed to a shot on the stairs of the Mexican Senate on the other side of the Alameda park outside the hotel. One glitch though. I was on my own, no driver, and would have no time to retrieve my car from the adjacent parking garage to make the Senate in time (let alone find parking) for the promised photo op. Dick Adams, the affable Labor member for Tasmania, saved the day by declaring I should ride with the delegation, which I heartily seconded and snapped up my gear before Senator Hogg could object. 

Into the minibus and away we went for the 10 minute drive. While Adams and I exchanged pleasantries about the wonders of Tasmania (having been there just over a year ago, I could actually do this with great earnestness), I kept an ear cocked to the chatter in the bus and chuckled to myself as the Honorable Senator Hogg (from my own electorate back home) sounded off about the proper way to deal with pesky press intrusions, such as the SMH's insistence upon seeing what our elected officials were doing. 

"Take the air out of 'em" he explained, "that's the way to deal with it. If you don't give them anything, there's no story." 

Six years of dealing with the press - from the Village Voice through to BBC World Service - at the World Bank in Washington taught me a little about media relations (not to mention the 14 years of being a reporter) and this advice always strikes me funny. There are so many examples ("I am not a crook!" - Richard Milhouse Nixon) to bear out that this simply doesn't work IF there is actually something there. Besides, this wasn't investigative journalism, the Smaych just wanted a picture and maybe 15 minutes with the delegates to get their impressions of having arrived in the world's hottest story. Not much "there" there really. In the end, despite the unwillingness of Canberra to even let us know where the delegates were, we found them, spoke with them, and got the pic. So the "take the air out" approach didn't even work in this instance, as my presence on the bus surely indicated.

The story, written by the lovely Tara Fitzgerald, is here on the SMH web site, which used a cropped version of the picture on the home page alongside the story blurb. I'll be checking with friends in Sydney to see if the full picture, above, got a run. 

But overall, I was happy with the experience. I got the shot, didn't put any noses out of joint (other than Hogg's, and please, no puns about hogs' noses), and made the paper, which by the way quoted me in a brief piece Monday about expat reactions to the alleged swine 'flu outbreak (story here).

As for the kit, I wielded my Canon 40D with a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 580 EX II flash with battery booster pack.