Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Steven Frischling's Unbelievable Political Lies!

You asked for more stories, you got 'em. 

Thank you very, very much to a FishFraud MVP/future Pulitzer Prize winner who sent in the following incredible research exposing travel blogger Steven Frischling's lies of covering national politics as a photojournalist.

STEVEN FRISCHLING AND POLITICS

Frischling has gone on and on about how he is a seasoned political photographer. Thanks to some help from my friends, we've assembled a huge list of his tales. But first, let me explain how a few things work in the realm of covering politics, especially when traveling with campaigning presidential candidates as well as the press pool that covers the president and vice president. This will help in understanding how he is lying about a lot of the tales we found.

THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS POOL
The White House press pool for still photographers consists of AP, AFP, Reuters, a rotating "agency" pool and a magazine/newspaper slot (currently held by the New York Times). AP, AFP and Reuters and NYT travel with the president everywhere and are considered the "tight pool". They travel on Air Force One, in motorcades and are always with the president when he has any movement. The agency pool only travels in presidential motorcades when the president has movements within close proximity to the White House. The agency pool rotates between (I believe) eight agencies and commits a photographer from each agency to three days a month covering the White House. Photographers in the agency pool DO NOT (except on rare occasions) travel on Air Force One.  The traveling press pool pays a hefty price to travel on AF1 and in motorcades with the president with an annual price tag of about a million dollars per agency. If other press does for some reason pay to go on of the president's overseas trips, they do not fly on AF1 but instead are put on a charter.

When the president has an event (like a speech at a college) local press covering the event must submit a request for credential and vital info (like date of birth, social security) days prior to the event for a background check. Everyone who covers a presidential visit will be given a White House press pool pass. They are typically different colors at each event and have a Secret Service sticker attached to it with a number. There are two kinds of these passes, a PL and an L. PL is for pool, which would allow you to temporarily join the traveling press pool in the area called the buffer at the front of the stage or to tag along if the president is touring a facility. The PL passes are given to photographers from the local newspaper and often wire services that aren't in the traveling pool. The L pass is for local press and it gets you a spot on a riser with limited (if any) mobility. I have attached a photo of these passes. I bring this up because Frischling claims in one of the following posts that he has several dozen of these that he apparently wears on his neck as if he were part of the White House press pool. Like I said, everyone who has covered a presidential visit has one of these passes. They mean nothing once the event is over.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS
I spoke with a few photographers who traveled extensively with candidates in 2004 and in 2008. When I say traveling, these guys and gals were out for weeks at a time on the candidates planes, motorcades and hotels. I asked if they had ever seen Frisching on a campaign plane. They did not. I asked if they had seen him at Howard Dean's event where he dropped out of the race. They had not. On the Kerry campaign? Nope.

The only coverage I have ever seen of political nature by Frischling is a day he spent with Ralph Nader in 2004, a few days (3 or 4 tops) he spent with Howard Dean at the start of his presidential bid in 2003 (where he had one on one coverage of him riding in a car and talking with aides), three or four days covering Dean on a bus tour through New Hampshire in 2004, a couple events here and there including a debate and election night in Boston covering John Kerry (not as a member of the traveling press.) There was also some Nader event that he covered during the 2000 cycle.

Presidential campaigns are expensive if you are traveling on the plane. Freelancers don't travel on the plane since it can cost between $2,000 and $5,000 (or more) a day depending on how much flying is done. You pay for everything, food, the flight, hotel, press files, food, you name it. Since the amount changes each day based on how many people are traveling, the campaigns always bill out the fees, never ask for money up front. Bus tours are usually more accessible to freelancers and smaller low budget agencies and generally only occur in the early stages of a campaign (like Iowa and New Hampshire).

When Dean was traveling through New Hampshire, the bus fee was probably in the neighborhood of 50 to 100 bucks a day. The buses are usually pretty easy to get on and most photographers avoid them since they usually have to cover multiple candidates in a single day during the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The bus works for those who are assigned to a single candidate. So, technically, you're not actually "traveling" with the candidate and you're not in any "pool," you're essentially getting a ride to their events and they drop you off at the candidate's headquarters at the end of the day.

The pool for presidential campaigns is usually established once it is determined who the official candidate is (at the party convention) as this is when the candidate gets immediate Secret Service protection – which means police escorted motorcades, tighter restrictions at campaign events for local press and credentials issued to the traveling press by the Secret Service. Like the presidential pool PL passes, select local media would be allowed to join the traveling pool at events for a limited time. Like the White House press pool, the campaign pool runs in a similar fashion with some expansion. It is still AP, AFP and Reuters with other regularly traveling agencies. It does change from time to time, but only in tight situations and then it reverts back to White House rules.

Now let's continue to the stories Frischling has spread about his supposed up-close-and-personal political access...

Part A: The Frischling Fantasies


A) 12/5/07 Digital Wedding Forum –
"While was a full time photojournalist for more than a decade shooting everything from small town weekly council meetings to the war in Iraq and a rural highschool's home coming election to traveling with multiple major presidential candidates in their pool."



B) 11/24/07 Digital Wedding Forum –
"I am sure I'd clear the background check. I have been part of the White House Pool traveling with the President, and Presidential Candidates"

C) Flyertalk – 5/13/08  - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/737272-benefit-clear-2.html#post9717204
"I have had my background checked and rechecked while being credentialed as a news photographer covering the United Nations, having been a member of the US House & Senate Press Photographer's Gallery, having traveled 1-on-1 with presidential candidates and traveled in the White House photo pool, as well as having been an embedded journalist in Iraq and having covered "homeland security"


D) 10/4/07 Digital Wedding Forum 
"My F5xb has been great for weddings, the majority of my weddings, as well as multiple trips to Iraq, shooting in four countries , on two continents and one sub-continent chain of islands in a single day (well really more than a day, but the international date line flips you back a day) , two years of covering presidential campaigns heavily on the road (2000 & 2004) and lots of less exciting every day shoots."



E) 11/24/07 Digital Wedding Forum
"Before the Newswear Pouches I used the Domke pouches that I have a dozen of. This set up is used with two bodies (again at times, rarely, 1 body) and I have take this kit on the road for weeks with political talking heads running for office, been to probably two dozen riots, Iraq, and a whole lot of weddings."



F) 9/16/07 Digital Wedding Forum 
"Two of the bodies have survived multiple assignments in Iraq, all have enjoyed stints at the Final Four, World Series, Presidential pool gigs, etc.........so why would I trade them in? They do a good job and do the same job they did five/four years ago."


G) 11/7/06 Digital Wedding Forum
"you can't spend 14 days in a car with a Presidential Hopeful before the real massive campaigning kicks off and never speak to them, it is just not possible."


H) 8/24/07 Digital Wedding Forum
"Years of shooting perp-walks in NYC as a wire shooter, covering national and international politics in a press pool, countless court assignments, post-game scrums on the field......all make Uncle Bob easy to work around."


I) 2/19/08 Digital Wedding Forum
"Maybe it is a news thing, but I have done countless 16+hr days shooting news. During the "political season" I could do back to back to back to back 16 hours days bouncing between New Hampshire and Iowa, shoot for 16hrs, get on a plane for a few hours, sleep 2hrs, up for 16hrs, then do it all over again. This could go on for 2 weeks"


J) 11/24/07 Digital Wedding Forum
"I have used this set up for days and weeks on the road shooting political candidates, floating around the world in a week , countless NFL and NCAA football games and a bunch of weddings..."



K) 8/28/07 Digital Wedding Forum
"I have been an agency contract photog traveling with political candidates trying to make unique images daily of the same person doing the same person every day. I have worked for wire services shooting riots and covered war..."



L) 5/2/06 Digital Wedding Forum
"Shooting for 12 to 14hrs is easy. You just get into a good frame of mind and do your job. Journalism was great practice for weddings, traveling in press pools covering political campaigns, the Olympics, riots, a being out on patrols in Iraq."



M) 2/8/07 Digital Wedding Forum
"oh yea, "My Boss" is also glad I no longer cover politics, where I am on the road for at times a few weeks or being shipped off to WTO and G8 riots with some frequency no more showing up before the hurricane and staying until the hurricane has left and no more trips to a hot desert with things being fired at me or items exploding near me."

N) 9/1/07 Sports Shooter http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=26249
"...and as for politics.....we'll get into that when you ask.....but the traveling press pool is tight and VERY EXPENSIVE , which is why few freelancers do it. When I have done it my client paid all expenses up front with the campaigns I traveled with (and the agency I was shooting for was owned by Bill Gates, so they had the funds, I didn't)."

O) 7/27/09 Sports Shooter http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=33647
"I've been assigned to be the 1-on-1 documentary photog shooting George HW Bush & Bono, but while I had great access I didn't get to know my subjects. I've photographed two sitting presidents; traveled with two candidates in the final stages of their presidential campaigns; photographed the Pope; The Manning Brothers; countless heads of state at the U.N.; etc etc etc...but so what? I didn't get to know my subjects in any way ."

P) 2/7/04 sports shooter  http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=7350
"Photogs are not necessarily dumping digital on the campaign trail. Jeff Jacobson obviously shot all film, but he followed Dean for a few days while Callie Shell was away, Shell shot a mix of film and digital (although I only saw her with a 28-70 on her EOS 1D for the three days I was on the Dean bus with her, while Jacobson shot only film for the two days he was on the bus). "

Q) 10/1/07 sports shooter http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=26651
"I have had m bodies since early 2003 and they have shot countless pro football and baseball games, heavily covered political campaign season, been to the middle east a few times, done a bunch of NCAA basketball games and 40+ weddings since early 2003 and the bodies average 1.3mil frame clicks."

R) 10/21/08 sports shooter  http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=31074
"Back in '04 I stood on the risers on Boston until well after 1:00am and John Kerry was a no-show. "


S) 10/10/07 Digital Wedding Forum
"I have had problems with the Secret Service shooting a "corporate portrait" of a U.S. Congressman in front of The White House, no lights, no tripod, no light stands, just me, two cameras, a waist pack and a US Congressman. This was in late 2005. Keep in mind that I was pulled aside, with the Congressmen, while in possesion of, and displaying, my credentials from the U.S. House & Senate The Dept of Defense, the United Nations, the NYPD, Mass. State Police and about two dozen "White House Pool" credentials (both "N" and "L" credentials) from White House events........still took 15-20 min to sort it out.....WITH A CONGRESSMAN!."

Part 2: The Reality

A. Multiple major presidential candidate pools? Who would that be? Dean and Nader don't really count.

B. As I mentioned before, AP, AFP, Reuters and Magazine/newspaper pool plus the agency pool are the only photographers who travel with the president in town. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that he was fulfilling an agency pool spot at the White House for UPI, which would put him in a motorcade and would technically be traveling in the pool. I have never seen a single photo to support this.

C. Again, unless for some bizarre fluke that he was assigned to sit in the agency pool for three days at the White House (extremely unlikely) he has not "traveled" with the pool.

D. Says in the 2000 and 2004 election cycles he was heavily on the road with campaigns. I have not ever seen one photo of Al Gore or George Bush campaigning from 2000 and the extent of his 2004 coverage can be seen here. http://www.upi.com/search/?sp=t&s_l=photos&ss=%22steven+frischling%22&offset=1 And here by searching frischling dean http://worldpicturenews.com/web/IndexPageLightbox.aspx?driverid=9296 And here (which by the way appears that he double dipped by giving pictures from the same event to Bloomberg and UPI – competing wire services) http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&assetType=image&p=steven+frischling+dean

E. Claims to have traveled with candidates for weeks at a time but no wire photographer who has traveled for weeks at a time has ever seen him.

F. States that he has done presidential pool gigs between 2002 and 2007 but has never mentioned this on any other message board and there are no photos to support this other than two times that he shot George Bush at local events from a riser.

G. Says he has spent 14 days in a car with a presidential hopeful before major campaigning commenced. He did spend a couple of days here and there following Howard Dean prior to him announcing that he was running but not 14 days. There is one photo on his site of Dean (under "faces") in a car mirror that was taken in 2003, although he has it captioned as if it was taken when he was the head of the DNC http://stevenfrischling.com/

H.  International press pool? HA

I. States that during the "political season" that he would bounce back and forth between Iowa and New Hampshire. When the Iowa caucuses are going on in Dec./Jan., all the candidates are either in Iowa or New Hampshire. They do Iowa and then New Hampshire, that's the election cycle. There is no real back and forth. Besides, I doubt he has ever been to Iowa.

J. Again stating that he has spent weeks on the road with candidates – pure fiction.

K. Saying that he was a representative of an agency covering a campaign "trying to make unique images daily of the same person doing the same person every day" whatever that means.

L. Still thinks he has traveled in a pool.

M. Says his "boss" a.k.a. Susannah, is happy that he isn't gone on campaigns for weeks at a time anymore. There is no evidence to suggest that he has ever traveled with a candidate for any length of time other than 3 days on a bus.

N. Says that his "client" an agency owned by Bill Gates (better known as Corbis) paid for his campaign travel up front. That never happens. Travel is never billed upfront only after, sometimes weeks or even months after the fact.

O. Traveled with TWO candidates in the last stages of their campaign. If this was between 2000 and 2004, that would have to be Gore, Bush or Kerry. He wasn't traveling with Kerry and I have never seen a single photo of Gore or Bush during the 2000 election.  He also says that he didn't get to know his subjects in any way, but earlier says that you can't be in a car for 14 days with a presidential candidate and not talk to him.

P. Establishes that he was on the Dean bus for three days, not weeks.

Q. Another mention of how heavily he covers politics but there is no photographic evidence to support this claim. It is safe to say that he has never experienced traveling with a candidate on a plane for weeks at a time, let alone once or twice.

R. Establishes that he was not "traveling" with Kerry on the final day of his campaign and there is no real evidence to support his claim that he has traveled with two presidential candidates on the final stages of their campaign unless he is referring to Ralph Nader who never really had a real presidential campaign.

S. This was in late 2005 when he was employed by CRN. There is no real reason why he would still have a valid US Senate pass or the extremely difficult to obtain Dept. of Defense pass. The DOD passes are almost always issued to journalists who cover the Pentagon FULL TIME. The U.N. pass, according to my boss, has to be renewed twice a year and requires a newspaper or wire service sponsor. The funniest thing is how he says he has about two-dozen old White House press passes from WH events on his lanyard. That is just retarded. First of all, has he actually covered 24 presidential events? Sure, it is possible, but if he has, it has been over his career and most of those passes would be about 10 years old. He covered Bush twice for Bloomberg since 2004. Second, why would anyone carry dozens of those around their neck like a trophy? That would be one huge mess of press passes to carry around. He'd look like a clown.  


Once again we challenge Steven Frischling... Where are the photos to back up these stories?
Are you such a terrible incompetent photographer that you didn't get a single usable image? 

70 comments:

  1. helluva job guys

    what do you have to say Fish? Or Fish's "boss"??

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  2. He's going to shit himself when he sees this and go nuts (not a far trip) trying to figure out who all put this together

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  3. "Do your homework." as he likes to say. HA! Someone DID! And this was only calling out the political detritus of his bullshit. In the clips above he also goes on and on about the World Series, Football games, NCAA, Baseball, natural disasters, the world trade center, Iraq, wars, riots. Reading through past comments here calls him out on those too.

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  4. As a newspaper photographer in a market large enough to have a presidential visit about once a year (a little more during the election season), I can validate that the above is exactly how it works.

    As a local newspaper photographer, you will arrive a few hours before the event. There will likely be an area set up for you to file your photos/stories. There will be a separate area set up for the travelling pool. The last event I covered was outdoors, so the travelling pool area was set up in a tent (all we had were tables in the open), and since it was the last event of the day for the President, there was catering. That is part of what the money to cover the President pays for. As a side note, it is always fun to watch when the travelling pool comes in (it's also how you know the event is about to start).

    Being a local newspaper photographer, when you arrive you track down the secret service agent who is handling photographers, introduce yourself as the person who your newspaper applied for credentials (weeks in advance) and find out where and when you should meet to get access to the "buffer" area. You then shoot the event from the central riser and a cut away riser (a riser generally off to the side so you can get a different angle) and then during the latter part of the speech, you meet the secret service agent off to the side and they lead you to the buffer area directly in front of/around the President. In my experience it has always been at the end of the speech because when the President is done speaking, the photographers get moved up on to the stage to shoot the President shaking hands along the "rope line." I assume we get the opportunity to shoot that because anyone that wants a copy of a photo of themselves shaking hands with the President will not have a hard time finding it (it's also why in the last few years I have made it a point to shoot everyone shaking his hand even though they are boring photos that will never see the light of day - someone will eventually call and ask if we have a photo of themselves with the President). And I have never, ever seen any photographer other than pool and local staff photographers with that access. I have never seen a freelancer get it.

    Nice job tracking down the above load of BS.

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  5. PS - What kind of douchebag carries around more than their employer's ID and a credential for the event they are currently at?

    I guess we can all figure that one out.

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  6. Walter Mitty lives!

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  7. 6:12- "...then shoot the event from the central riser..."

    Be careful with your terminology around the Secret Service. I'm always sure to use the word PHOTOGRAPH, and avoid the word SHOOT.

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  8. You're the one who keeps changing the subject. We have no involvement with Anonymous and you know it. This is your most pathetic attempt at distraction yet.

    So where are your photos of these events?
    How do you explain that nobody ever saw you at any of these events?
    Where are the photos from post-Hurricane Katrina?
    Where are the photos from the Olympics?
    Where are the photos from war zones?
    Where are the photos from "dozens" of riots?
    Where are you going to find a homeless shelter with wifi?

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  9. Charming, as always.

    If only you would make some attempt at being personable, you might find that people would engage in a rational discussion with you.

    Instead, you become a mere toy to be wound at the whim of others, and much more for their amusement than for your own.

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  10. Is the flyingwithfish blog down for anyone else?

    Victory?

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  11. I mentioned this on one of the other threads at 12:14pm but looking at it again it looks like the whole Boarding Area site is down and not just Flying With Fish.

    Perhaps the "Anonymous" group finally DID take down the whole site. This will send the conspiracy theorists into a tizzy, even though it is probably only down for routine maintenance or some other such trifle.

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  12. 11:26. Last line - hilarious.

    11:44. BoardingArea.com not available here either, which would mean all the boardingarea blogs are down.

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  13. never thought I'd type something pro-frischling, but as to the first part of point 'O', the photos of George HW Bush & Bono do exist and are easily found. They have nothing to do with a campaign as obviously Bush was well out of office by then.

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  14. Boarding Area's down.

    The only way Fish can hide behind his lies if he throws something insane out there that his wife believes, like FishFraud = Anonymous.

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  15. "Oh my, how QUICKLY one changes the subject. What about YOUR involvement with Anonymous??"

    Asked and answered. Do your homework.

    11:57. This is true, about one photo of them doing a little snap and grab is readily available with some searching.

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  16. That one shot I've seen is about about the same as if I ran into them in the hallway and snapped a shot with my cell phone. Hey look! I'm standing next to that U2 guy!

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  17. "We have no involvement with Anonymous and you know it"

    "Is the flyingwithfish blog down for anyone else?
    Victory?"

    "it looks like the whole Boarding Area site is down and not just Flying With Fish"

    "Perhaps the "Anonymous" group finally DID take down the whole site"

    "BoardingArea.com not available here either, which would mean all the boardingarea blogs are down"

    "Asked and answered. Do your homework."

    Right........

    No involvement?? A bunch of fuckin' urban/domestic terrorists!

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  18. I was actually being facetious in mentioning the possibility that "Anonymous" was somehow involved in what is likely a simple technical glitch with Boarding Area's site.

    I do apologize to the people in charge of and contributors to this site for having fanned the flames of that farcical notion, even if only in jest.

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  19. ^don't worry, even Frischling himself knows Anonymous has nothing to do with this site. He just has nothing else he can say. He's been exposed once again as the pathological liar that he is. Instead of being a man and getting help for himself to save his drowning family, he's posting nonsense comments on this blog. Pathetic.

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  20. And with every post further solidifies the case against him. All together now, "Just how dumb is this guy?"

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  21. Sorry, but it's starting to look like this group is really a part of Anonymous. I don't think Google/Blogger would be very thrilled to host a group like that.

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  22. ^^more please. The more you post, the stupider you look and the more entertainment you give everyone. Keep it coming.

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  23. Unsolicited AdvisorAugust 18, 2011 at 2:13 PM

    I am neither an anarchist nor a terrorist. I am a photographer and a fiscal conservative with some rather liberal social views.

    If you would like to be rather amused, or perhaps embarrassed is a better word, you should read some of your shrill contributions to these discussions and take note of how coarse and common your rantings make you sound.

    "Oh yeah" is a rather kindergartenish manner in which to begin one's rebuttal.

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  24. Final Fours? Never seen him at one...in 20 years...

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  25. I have alerted the Interweb police as to FishFraud's actual identity and their connection to the terrorist group Anonymous. They thanked me for the intel, but said they already knew because they have a Detective Frischling on the case.

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  26. Dude, instead of ranting on this blog, shouldn't you be pressing your suit or something for your court date tomorrow? Or perusing the classifieds looking for some work so you can feed your family? Aren't you a little embarrassed to not be able to a least help provide for your family and the three people who you brought into the world? Last I checked, Tweets are pretty low calorie and not very warm when it gets cold out.

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  27. I'm not a terrier or part of anonymouse. Even if everyone on this site were card carrying members, it still doesn't change the fact that Fish has an extremely questionable history. Don't shoot the messenger.

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  28. After noticing countdown clock, I thought this little ditty would be appropriate:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8arvEzHsA8

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  29. "Great, I write bomb shell of a post on TSA legality issues, calling out the agency's inability to cite any legal standing for executing enhanced pat downs and BoardingArea.com (where FlyingWithFish.com) goes down. Ugh!"

    "I don't think its a conspiracy, but the timing was maybe 15 minutes after I got a 'friendly message' about my blog post. The post goes after a Deputy Ass't Administrator, the Chief Counsel and the Administrator (who is a lawyer) and their inability to provide any legal citation granting the agency to perform 'enhanced pat downs' without probable cause. This has been on going since May. The legal citations the agency has sent me deal with administrative searches (which I have written about in detail), but in now way address the scope of allowance for carrying out a physically invasive search. With no legal standing the agency may have some issues ... especially when sending me court rulings and legislation that are irrelevant to the question at hand (and yes I have read the entire 51 page Aviation and Transportation Security Act before, as well as the 9th Circuit Court rulings on Administrative searches and the scope of those searches long before this all started in May)"

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  30. Yes, we are on to you Steven Frischling.

    Signed,

    Travis Scott Anderson

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  31. "I'm not anti- #TSA & in fact the agency has many dedicated & talented employees, its how its run."

    Any chance this guy will master sixth grade grammar and learn the difference between "its" and "it's".

    What a professional...

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  32. "Great, I write bomb shell of a post"

    or a little humility?

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  33. is that a bomb and a shell or did he mean bombshell?

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  34. it's so nice to see so much action on FishFraud again!!

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  35. who actually believes anyone at the TSA is even still talking to Frischling or responding to anything he's asking about? Bet you anything he's making that all up.

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  36. ^He sends in his questions to the TSA through his secret channels. The black helicopters fly east over his house for "yes" and west for "no."

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  37. As a journalist, if his perception of himself as a journalist wasn't so ridiculously hilarious, I would probably be pissed. Nobody can take this guy seriously.

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  38. I almost snorted out my Thera-flu when I read:

    "Tweets are pretty low calorie and not very warm when it gets cold out"

    Best. Line. EVER.

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  39. this is my all-time favourite frischling campaign photo. I never knew that howard dean had such a compelling ear.

    http://worldpicturenews.com/web/IndexPageLightbox.aspx?driverid=9274

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  40. "Woo Hoo! BoardingArea.com is back!!! So I can FINALLY start pushing today's blog post that the #TSA is really not very happy I wrote!"

    lol... like the TSA gives a shit about him

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  41. ^8:26 PM How about this one?

    http://worldpicturenews.com/web/IndexPageLightbox.aspx?driverid=23875

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  42. THAT was his "bomb shell"(sic)?

    Really? A rather pathetic attempt to play attorney at best.

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  43. @8:50

    wow, that's a stellar photo. not only does the photo totally suck, but so does his caption. I had no idea that staircase was actually 2 words.

    "Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader walks up a back stair case to a stage, before speaking to a group of potential voters at Brown University, October 6, 2004."

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  44. Can any photography expert here explain how he managed to take such a terrible photo? did he smear his camera lens with vaseline?

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  45. He photographed some donuts. Doesn't that prove he was on the campaign trail?

    http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/07/26/dark-rich-and-bitter/tony-espinlnal-carries-a-tray-of-fresh-doughnuts-in-a-tim-ho/

    He pans with slow shutter speeds once in awhile - the shutter stays open while you follow the subject with your camera, this causes motion blur in the photo (the camera is recording your movement while the shutter stays open). You can also fire the flash while you do this.

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  46. ^10:34 PM It seems like the MacLeans editors know our guy "...and bitter ". Good on you!

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  47. reading over those, it's interesting to note it seems like he had a particular need to make himself seem even more famous and important on the Digital Wedding Forum. You can see he felt he was above shooting weddings and thus the constant need to remind everyone how easy shooting weddings are compared with his amazing photojournalism adventures. But 99.9% of those adventures never even happened. What a pathetic loser. He knew nobody there was in photojournalism and could call him on his bullshit so it was a wide open playground for him lay his lies on thick.

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  48. Steven, are you at all ashamed of yourself yet? This has gone on for far too long now.

    Look what you've done to your life man. Look what you've done to your family.

    Don't you think it's time to own up to being a compulsive liar, a thief and a cheat? Enough is enough man; the illusion that you worked so hard to build over years of lies has now been fractured beyond repair by the truth.

    There are a lot of us who would understand that this is a mental illness if you just came clean. I'd be understanding anyway. I, and a few others I've spoken to, fully understand and appreciate the fact that you are suffering from a very real mental illness. Yet, rather than facing it head-on, admitting your mistakes and asking for help, and a second chance, you continue to throw fuel on this fire.

    Steven, I started to come to this site out of pure disbelief and, admittedly, stayed for the entertainment value and to see JUST how bad this disaster would get... and it got bad. But lately when I come here I just walk away feeling sad for you.

    I know you want this all to go away so here's how you do it: come clean (maybe on an SS thread), ask for help and understanding, and then just start over man.

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  49. 11:20. You're not the first to plead with him. Try over 15 years of people treating him with kid gloves. He is incapable of listening to anybody. Before you feel too sorry for him, talk to the people he's viciously attacked, attempted to extort, maligned, slandered, insulted, ripped off, and betrayed.

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  50. 11:43, exactly. 11:20's comment was surely genuine but obviously he's only watched this from afar and has no real knowledge of what Steven Frischling does offline (and sometimes on it). Frischling is a nasty piece of work. He's the very definition of a sociopath:

    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM IV-TR), defines antisocial personality disorder (in Axis II Cluster B) as:[1]
    A) There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three or more of the following:
    - failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
    - deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
    - impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead;
    - irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
    - reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
    - consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
    - lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another;
    B) The individual is at least age 18 years.
    C) There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.
    D) The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode.

    He meets six of the seven criteria since he does not get into physical fights (too much of a chicken shit anyway).

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  51. I can attest he is a sociopath. He has a problem with reality but he doesn't actually believe his lies so he's not delusional. Get him up against a wall and and he'll eventually admit he lied, but will then come up with some stupid reason to explain why his lie was justified. He also thinks he is entitled to other people's money.

    Choosing to be a terrible person is not the same thing as being mentally ill.

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  52. THAT is a "bomb shell" (sic) of a blog post? A "must read?" Copying and pasting a bunch of legalese and complaining that people won't respond to your repeated questions?

    Gee Steven, you're an uneducated loser whose "career" is based on scamming unsuspecting photography subjects and bullshitting your way into the photography, travel, and social media industries. You can't write a grammatically correct sentence to save your life, fabricate stories of your "experiences" out of whole cloth, have no formal education, training, or even real knowledge of any of these areas of "expertise," and the only thing you have approaching legitimate credentials as a "journalist" (in addition to the dozen or so worthless one-time-use-only presidential event passes you apparently still wear around your neck) is that some idiot thought is was a good idea to host your blog on boarding area.com.

    And what's more, thanks to a site like fishfraud.com, anybody with a web browser and google can discover this in about 2 seconds. Even, for example, someone at the TSA who is responsible for replying to media inquiries.

    And you wonder why they don't/won't take you seriously enough to reply to your endless barrage of questions.

    Steven, it's over. You've been exposed. You're done. Give it up, guy. Get a job. Get help. Take care of your family.

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  53. These messages to Fish remind of the Charge Of The Light Brigade..."Cannon to the left of them, cannon to right, but onward rode the six hundred"

    Fish will keep doing what he's done before regardless.

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  54. Unsolicited AdvisorAugust 19, 2011 at 6:56 AM

    He should have no problem reinventing himself. He has the advantage of having invented himself once already.

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  55. oh look, frischling has a google + account

    https://plus.google.com/117363036072292313534/posts

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  56. frischling is also listed as an advisor to a company called "social flights"

    http://angel.co/social-flights

    perhaps they don't know frischling's background and we should inform them.

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  57. The countdown clock has struck zero. Is anyone at the courthouse photographing this today?

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  58. 7:53:

    What kind of advice could Steven Frischling provide that would be of any value?

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  59. Hey, the guy has DECADES of political photography experience.

    Frischling claimed to have "covered the President" way back in 1995 (Sept. 14) on rec.photo.help, using a Nikkor 43-86f3.5. A month later, he claimed he used a Tokina zoom at The White House.

    On 8/24/96, nppa-l, he said he covered Dole: "there was no real pool it was a photo free for all on the first four cities." (He used a 14/3.5 lens, in case it's ever a question on Jeopardy.)

    On 1/7/98, nppa-l, he wrote, "I have covered the President a number of times" and "also covered Clinton at JFK and Newark" and lists the telephoto lenses he used.

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  60. ^Steven was 20 years old in 1995.

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  61. Did he get another continuance?

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  62. ^9:59, how did court go today?

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  63. 11:20, See? 9:59. There's your answer. Don't feel bad. He's working very hard to earn this.

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  64. Looks like we need some music to soothe the savage beast at ^9:59 so here it is:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT6mlW8NlCU

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  65. State of Connecticut Judicial Branch website has not been updated yet, as it still has the case set for plea at 10:00am on 8/19/2011.

    Here is a link to the case:

    http://www.jud2.ct.gov/crdockets/CaseDetail.aspx?source=Pending&Key=a7dab892-149e-493c-8fbc-0c0a9dfd1fb0

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  66. ^^9:59, yes, how did everything work out? Do tell.

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  67. I just got off the phone with Jessica in the Clerk's office of the Superior Court Geographical Area 10 at New London, Connecticut, and she informed me that there is a new court date in this case and it is now set for September 2nd, 2011 though I neglected to ask for the time of the hearing.

    It would appear that the case has been continued again.

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  68. And now, for a little Friday afternoon music:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aseHF3A9YYs

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  69. Here are some Frischling campaign photos from 2000. Looks like his heavy "on the road" travel covered only 3 states: VT, NH and MA. And he probably traveled to these events in his non-wife's Volvo.

    http://steven.frischling.com/photos/election2000/index.php3

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