I would have nailed this in the manual focus days, right?
Bad, Naughty Autofocus!
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Tag Archives: salt lake city
Utah Law Enforcement Memorial
A large ceremony today to dedicate the new Utah Law Enforcement Memorial, in memory of the 126 officers who have fallen in the line of duty.
The light was harsh, the angles tough, and the small spot was crowded. It wasn’t until after the ceremony that I found a photograph I really liked. Terri Morris and her son Wyley crying into a flag that stood in memory of Terri’s uncle, Sgt Lauren Dow, who died in 1975.
Dissecting the Day
As a young photographer I remember looking up to the guys working at the big papers and imagining how exciting their jobs must be. I was right, the big paper job is much more exciting than the little paper job. But not like you’d imagine in some photojournalism fantasy, where we’re shooting black and white contest-winning documentary essays of the poor and afflicted for weeks on end. The job is mostly quick-hit bread and butter assignments, peppered with those occasional exciting assignments that you dreaming of.
My assignments Wednesday were nothing to dream of. The day was a perfect example of what the job really is— Three assignments that took me all over, on a timeframe that forced me to find a usable, if not great, photograph quickly. Here’s the day, approximated from memory.
- Show up at work to pick up lighting kit for my first assignment, a portrait of a high school quarterback in Logan.
- Start driving north.
- Quick lunch at Bajio in Centerville.
- Arrive in Logan.
- Scout the location.
- Twenty minute skateboard session at the Logan Skate Park (basically my lunch break).
- Photograph QB Jeff Manning throwing passes in practice drills (16 minutes of photography).
- Portrait of QB Jeff Manning with strobe kit (2 minutes of photography). This portrait session was made during the team’s five minute water break, forcing Manning to forgo any thirst-quenching.
- Drive south.
- Gas for the car, chocolate for me.
- Photograph northbound commute traffic on I-15 from 6th North overpass (10 minutes of photography).
- Edit and send traffic photos from my car.
- Drive south.
- Arrive in Copperton for last assignment.
- Photograph Apollo Pazell addressing the town council (This happened fast. Just one minute of photography).
- Edit and send Pazell photos from car.
- Arrive home with 15 minutes left on shift.
- Realize I haven’t edited the quarterback photos.
- Edit and send quarterback photos.
- Off duty with three minutes to spare.
Total miles driven: 236
Total shift time: 8.5 hours
Total time spent photographing: 29 minutes
Total time spent in the car: Don’t want to think about it.
So there you go. One day in August working for the big paper. That’s often how the job is. Three assignments that, while not thrilling, are important. You get what you can and you move on to the next. The real magic of the job is that tomorrow’s another day. Everything resets and you never know where or what your next shoot will be.
Aztecs
Salt Lake City – Gabriel Hernandez (left) and Humberto Amaya put on their traditional costumes and headress before taking the stage to perform as Aztec dancers at the Hispanic Fiesta Days in Washington Square Thursday, August 14, 2008.
It’s just a photo today. I don’t have any witty stories (about how we almost didn’t get a photo out of this event but then we did). And I don’t have any technical advice (about how I used an off-camera strobe with a LightSphere defuser wirelessly off to the left to softly punch up the scene). I especially don’t have any worthwhile behind the scenes details (like how I sent in the photo from my car with just four minutes left on my shift while watching the first episode of season 5 of The Wire). And I certainly don’t have any funny Utah stories (like how I heard that the photo is running on the page right next to a story about Bountiful city banning employee tattoos).
“When a police officer shows up, you don’t want to see a Nazi tattoo on their forehead or a ring around their nose,” Bountiful City Manager Tom Hardy said.
No, nothing hilarious here today.
My Dream Playground
It was one of those—let’s be honest—less than thrilling assignments: a group of children drawing their ideas for a new playground in Salt Lake City. Fortunately one young boy’s vision made my day.
What more do you need in a playground than a hot tub, a stack of cash, a gun shop and a slide?
Hser Goes Missing
UPDATE: Terribly sad ending to this story. Just after I posted this, police discovered Hser’s body in a neighbor’s apartment.
I hardly expected my first day back from vacation to be anything like this. But when I read the news early Tuesday morning that a 7-year-old girl had gone missing, I knew this would be far from a regular day. Hser Nay Moo was last seen Monday afternoon, and today the search cranked into high gear.
Another photographer covered the search for Hser and I was paired up with a reporter working on the Burmese community angle. While I waited for her to set things up over the phone I drove to the apartment complex where Hser and her family had lived for several months after fleeing unrest in Burma.
There were TV trucks all along the street and a police helicopter circling the place. I walked in past two South Salt Lake police officers and into the complex. TV reporters were interviewing various residents of the complex. One broadcaster was asking a group of young children something like, “So are you scared now that this has happened?”
I walked around a corner and saw a trio of tripods aiming at what must be the family’s apartment. Kids were peeking out of the apartment next door, staring at the cameras and waving to the police officer stationed in the parking lot. I wandered over just as someone came out of the apartment and said that a family member would be coming out to talk. Any second now.
A quick call to the newsroom summoned a reporter, pronto. A short while later Cartoon Wah, the girl’s father, came out to talk.
No other print media were there for this grieving father’s emotional display. Shortly after the police closed off the complex to everyone but residents, including media. Let’s hope this little girl returns home safe and sound.
DV8
On my way home to a warm bed and an episode of Weeds when I got the call. The building that used to hold the Salt Lake City nightclub DV8 was burning. Flames shooting as high as 40 feet into the air!
By the time I got there, these were the only flames visible.
A punk rock landmark up in flames and gone. Best show ever at DV8? Swingin’ Utters, 1998, in the basement.
