Photojournalism

I’ve shot for both daily and weekly newspapers, each has it’s own demands but of course are very much alike.

I originally shot for my hometown weekly newspaper while still in high school, this was pretty “lo-key” as far as assignments and deadlines went, as you can imagine. This mostly involved shooting local functions with a few interesting possibilities. One that I remember most was covering the opening day of the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. At the time it was completed on October 22, 1977, it was the largest arch bridge in the world. Now it’s the third largest, currently ranked behind two bridges in China.

This was my first real photography job.

My next job was for a weekly entertainment paper in North Carolina. Today, these are pretty commonplace now and almost every city has one or even two versions available (Portland has two). But at the time that I shot for this weekly (late 80’s) this was something new, a FREE paper that had articles about everything from serious issues, music reviews and openings and restaurant reviews. This concept was pretty groundbreaking for that area and time (the original idea came from NYC). I was given assignments to shoot photos for the cover and to illustrate many of the articles. It was interesting and introduced me to people and places that I may not have encountered otherwise.

This is one of the great things about photography and it’s true regardless of what your chosen discipline is…photography opens doors (both literally and figuratively) giving he photographer access to view people and situations that you may have otherwise never known.

My last journalism job was as a “stringer” for a daily newspaper in North Carolina. For those not familiar with the term, it’s means a part-time photographer or writer. Again, I was given assignments to shoot various images. Most were because the normal staff photographers weren’t available to cover the assignment or it was a late breaking incident. I shot a lot of sports and “filler” photos for the Sunday edition. I also got access to photograph on the set one of the many movies that was filmed locally. The movie was given a featured article, which showcased quite a few of my images.

News photography was exciting and interesting and it was a learning experience. You had to have command and control of your equipment, because there were no second chances. It also taught me never to be late and to never ever, return without a photo.

I’m a better photographer for having had the chance to shoot for the publications that I did and I admire the photographers who do this on a daily basis.

DCF

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