When people complain that it's slow, I remind them that when we're having a "good" day, that usually means that some one else is having a
really bad day.
This was driven home for me (again) recently when I was sent out to cover a story about a man who died in a garage fire. I was working it in the usual manor. The street was blocked off so I found a nighbor's driveway I could get some shots from. Another neighbor invited me to shoot from his back yard. Then I got some shots from the tape of the cops out front, etc. The station was calling me every five minutes to find out if I'd found out any thing new...
Then a shooter from another station told me that the house actually belongs to a photog' from a third station in town, and that it was his brother who had died in the fire. We all felt absolutely awful about it (everyone covered it).
The photg' who owns the place is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He was out of town when it happend but I hear he was on the first plane back. I hope he and his family are coping as well as possible.
I'm going to feel really awkward the next time I see him. I was present for a major tragedy in his life, but to me, it was just another day at work. That is,
until I found out. You can say, "Hey I can shoot any thing from the side walk I want" all day, but I'll still feel like I violated the family's privacy. Now I'll never look at one of those stories the same again.