It's Been a Long Day

Finally finished editing and putting together tonight's take for Wednesday's paper. It was an interesting experience.

After waking up at five this morning and getting to the site, we met up with the reporters. The O'Colly crew was large - 4 reporters and 2 photogs. Planning, on the other hand, was lacking. The reporters were flying by the seats of their pants, coming up with story ideas as they saw them. There was no real leader, as the senior-most reporter wouldn't deny any story ideas. This left us with lots of copy.

Photos were everywhere. Crying relatives, kids, army guards, etc. Looking back, though, I feel like I limited myself. I shot mostly with a 300mm lens, something I'm not accustomed to. I also only shot things that I knew would make a good photo. My wide angle lens didn't see much play...VERY unusual. But I still came back with some great shots.

As we got back to the newsroom and started matching stories with photos, it became apparent just how much content we had - and no place to put it. Our normal amount of pages wasn't enough, and things had to be cut. This is where things got interesting.

With our two best photogs there, we came back with loads of great shots. I immediately wanted to do a photo-intensive issue. Certain word people didn't like this, however, and after a half hour of arguing we decided to cut the weaker stories and the weak photos that went with them. This left us with more play for photos, which was great. A reporter even took a stand to give more prominence to pics. Yay Claire!

And now, almost 24 hours later, we've put together what looks to be a great issue. Tomorrow we'll know for sure.

Giddy for the first time in a while

Tomorrow is April 19th, the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. I'll be covering it. I'm nervous.

I'm expected to bring back good images. I know I will, but it comes at a time when my photo inspiration isn't exactly at it's highest. I've been running on all cylinders lately, trying to balance mowing lawns (money) with my relationship, (happiness) and work at the O'Collegian (career), all while trying to have a little fun once in a while and not failing out of school.

Any time I get an assignment for the World, I do my absolute best - I bust my ass. But lately I feel that working for the O'Collegian isn't worth it. The prestige, money and recognition aren't there. In short, I'm getting a little apathetic about the whole thing. Just about everyone on staff is.

However, I'm hoping that an assignment this big will give me a jumpstart. I've been looking at wire photos from KRT - and I think I can definitely match their quality, if not beat it. This is a chance for me to get my third MOE award. This is a chance for me to get shots to lead off my portfolio. But mainly, this is a chance for me to show everyone how good I am.

I just hope I can make myself do it.

Some art from the archive

I shot this Will Rogers impersonator about two months ago. It was in one of the two most interestingly lit places on campus.



I knew that once the guy starting swinging his lasso around that I had my shot.

I Love Shooting Baseball...

Because it's so easy to get pics like this.



Prefocus on the base, wait for the runner, and shoot. It's that simple.