Points of View

This is just a little drabble I came up with when bored. It's short and simple, just a little picture of irony.

Review and there will be cake.

J. Jonah. Jameson was getting tired of Spider-Man photos. They were all the same, even the ones he managed to twist into his 'Spider-Man is evil!' point of view. The shots were actually rather impressive… but perhaps a little too impressive. Not that he doubted Parker's skills in photography, it was just that the shots were good enough to get rather boring. Heroes and villains can only be seen in so many heroic or villainous poses before it gets old. And Spider-Man photos were getting old.

"Give me something new, Parker!" Jameson shouted at his photographer. "I want something fresh, something different."

Peter Parker had just shown Jameson his newest set of photographs, and the boss was disappointed. "What do you mean, different?" he asked. "Spider-Man hasn't changed – how could the photos?"

"I want variety. A new side to this web-slinging terrorist. How the public thinks he's a hero, I don't know, but I'm getting sick of these photos!"

One reminder later, Jameson took his pills and calmed down a little. "Look, Parker, you go ahead and keep taking your pictures. But get me a new perspective!"

A new perspective? Peter thought. Who's perspective? I'm taking pictures of myself, here, how many perspectives do I have access to? I'm Peter Parker, photographing Spider-Man, who I also happen to be. What more variety are you looking for?

Peter mulled this over all day. No one could take better Spidey photos than he could – he was Spidey – he had no other perspectives.

No, he corrected, that isn't right. I have two perspectives, because I have two identities. Peter Parker and Spider-Man. So why not flip things around a bit?

Peter's idea required careful planning and timing. He set up a different camera, on a windowsill, looking up at the corner of a building. The camera was slightly tilted so that the pictures it took would have a handheld appearance. He then rigged a button to push that would cause the camera to take a picture, instead of relying on motion sensing. Peter took another camera, the one he normally used for his Spider-Man photos, and slung it around his neck. Ready.

Climbing up to the roof of the building and hanging over the side, Peter tied a safety line to his waist and then to the gutter of the building. He didn't need it, but this shot depended on him looking utterly human, and no human with any sense would sit on the edge of a building without some kind of backup plan. Peter then aimed his camera at the rigged one, one finger on the button, and pushed several times.

-Click- -Click- -Click-

The rigged camera took three pictures of Peter Parker.

Now Peter took the camera he was holding and set it to dangle off the side of the building in a spider web. He dropped down to the rigged camera and grabbed it, pulling off his top layer of clothes and slipping on his Spider-Man mask. One set timer later, he was on the side of the building, holding a camera.

-Click- -Click- -Click-

The other camera took three pictures of Spider-Man.

Perfect.

Jameson sat rather grumpily down at his desk, ready for the morning, but not for the employees. Nagging idiots, the lot of them. A yellow manila folder was sitting on his desk, the words "Courtesy – Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" written on the top. Jameson almost threw it away, but… well, his curiosity was too great. (Come on, you all saw him in the suit during the second movie, pretending to be our favorite wall-crawling hero.)

Inside were three photos, all of the same scene. The camera was looking up at an angle to the roof of a building. Jameson expected to see the usual Spider-Man figure there at the top, but instead there was a very different person. In a light blue shirt and jeans, dangling halfway over the side of the building with a very thin safety line, was Peter Parker. At least, he looked like Peter Parker. The boy held Parker's camera and had the same hair, but his face was obscured by said camera, which was pointing down… at this camera. Spider-Man had taken a picture of Parker, taking a picture of Spider-Man, who was taking a picture of Parker, who…

Jameson stopped as he saw another folder on his desk, this one white. Written on the top in Parker's familiar scrawl were the words 'A New Perspective.' Inside the folder were three photos of… oh, good God. The photos were of Spider-Man, holding a camera, pointed up at the photographer. Jameson snorted. Well, it was original. 'Photographed by Spider-Man, photographed by Peter Parker, photographed by Spider-Man, photographed by...' That could work, drawing the attention of the readers. Today's front page wasn't about Spider-Man, so he could slip them in a front-page corner, perhaps a little article about the wall-crawler… an interview, perhaps. Yes. Yes, that would do nicely.

~Some Time Later~

Peter sat back on the couch and read the article in the corner of the page. 'The Elusive Spider-Man.' "The one person who sees Spider-Man the most in this city is his unofficial photographer, Peter Parker. But Parker's not the only one good with a camera…"

Peter smiled as he looked at the two pictures there, side by side. He'd been photographing himself for years anyway. A little change in perspective never hurt.