One thing I think was a little misleading by this analogy is the idea that photographers "sit in wait." It seems to me that you have to be aggressive, you have to get on your feet and move around, and make your presence known. Obviously you want to be as little of a distraction as possible, but I have a problem with the notion that a photojournalist sits, almost in hiding, and waits for something to happen. People are going to know you are there -- because of the click-click of the shutter if nothing else. So I think we're fooling ourselves if we pretend we are able to totally blend in.
Another thing I found really interesting was the list of items to pack. Toilet paper? I mean really... everyone is not a photographer for National Geographic. We aren't out in the jungle in search of an elusive subject for weeks at a time, never stopping to go back to the office or shower. We have deadlines to meet.
On the other hand, I really liked a lot of the advice. In particular, having enough gas in your car. It sounds like a no-brainer, but I've been caught on the wrong end of that stick. One of the first stories I ever wrote was to cover a drowning outside the small town where I was staying. I was relatively new to the area, and had no idea exactly how far away the location was. My editor made it sound like it was just around the bend. Fourty minutes later, with my photographer and I coasting on scene on fumes, I had learned my lesson. It actually got to the point where I turned off my lights and the A/C in some naive plan to save gas mileage. We didn't conk out on the way back to the office, thankfully, but I've always made it a habit to have at LEAST a half-tank of gas in my car.
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