Fortunately, there are photographers like John Wilson. He thinks like a journalist about the story at the same time as he is complementing it with beautiful images.
For several weeks in 2005, Wilson watched the growing scandal about Dr Jayant Patel - an incompetent surgeon who had a history of negligence in the United States before being given a job at Bundaberg Hospital with a sense of unease.
“When are we going to go to India to look at his background there?” Wilson asked me.
“It’s the missing link. He spent half his life in a little town in Gujarat state. I’ve been making calls, checking him out. We should be there” Wilson added.
It was Wilson¹s enthusiasm and initiative that persuaded me and The Courier-Mail, the newspaper I worked for at the time, to travel to India for a week-long assignment.
Wilson is a professional who positively thrives in a foreign environment.
He was unperturbed by the distractions the 40+ degree Celsius heatwave, the abject poverty and the journey to the other side of Gujarat, to Patel¹s home town.
He took remarkable photographs there, and he showed respect and courtesy to the local people.
I look forward to our next assignment because with John Wilson, you¹re on the same team.
Sincerely,
Hedley Thomas
Natioanl Chief Correspondent
The Australian Newspaper
