When I think about being a photojournalist, I
think about all the places that
my cameras have taken me on assignment, and
of all the hours spent waiting for just the
right moment, and of all the badges and passes and
credentials and forms and lines and faxes and
telephone calls and PR "handlers" and botched plans - you know,
all the fun stuff.
Working for a wire service like Reuters means spending a lot of time waiting for
important people to get onto planes or step out of planes, get in a limo, get out of
a limo, walk into court, walk out of court. More time is spent with other photographers
and your tripod than with your family, at least in Washington and at least "working the wires."
But that's not what I remember about working at newspapers.
It seems to me that working for newspapers was more like being part of a large family.
Working for the wires, a lot of time was spent alone. Reporters didn't always work with
photojournalists. Or photojournalists were the reporters, too. Often it was a one-man
show: hit town, set up a darkroom in the hotel bathroom, heat the chemistry for developing
the film, grab the camera bag and find the event. Call the desk and tell them what
you shot, and edit and transmit, working as fast as possible because you know your
competition has two or three extra sets of hands and a faster picture desk. And your
editor probably just watched the whole thing on TV and has already decided what the
image should be.
But then there are also the very special times, like building a Habitat for Humanity
house with President Carter one summer in Washington. It's one thing to always be following
a President around and photographing him duing his Presidential duties. That sort of becomes
a job when you do it day after day after day. But then it's really something special when
you see that same person outside of their role as President, just being a person, but still
being an incredible inspiration, a leader, a force doing good in the world just because
it's the right thing to do, and not because it's the political thing to do.
So why do it? Why make the sacrifices to be a photojournalist? Because you have to love photography and news and technology. And telling
a story. And being there first. And seeing something no one else gets to see except you. And
watching the world change from year to year, marked in time by milestones and anniversaries -
another Indianapolis 500, another NFL playoff in the snow, another high school basketball
championship, another graduation, another hot summer, another Technicolor autumn. New landmarks
going up, and old landmarks coming down. Recording your community's history and people,
one day at a time, one story at a time. Looking out for the underprivileged, and throwing
rocks at the Ivory Towers. And coming to work each day not knowing where your assignments
and cameras and travels will take you this time, meeting a new person every day, seeing
something you've never seen before and may never see again, and trying to put that impression
on film to share with others, instead of it living only in your memory.