When a photo isn't worth a thousand words

Ever see a newspaper photo that missed the mark? Perhaps this could be the culprit: Morning News photographer Mark Hancock explains the tradition of sucking at the shoots you don't like:

Don't get good at what you don't want to shoot. ... A seasoned shooter told me this truth: if a particular kind of assignment is repulsive to one photojournalist, the PJ should not kill her/himself on the assignment.

And next time you're editing a story that's worse than death itself, just write a shitty headline. Maybe your boss will figure out you deserve only the plums.

UPDATE: Mark has updated his site to clarify:

We do our best at every assignment. However we don't rent a helicopter to take a photo of a "For Sale" sign in a field during a lightning storm.