Friday, September 4, 2009

a week's worth work

new month, and like always, i have this weird subliminal-superstitious inkling that if i don't make a kick-ass picture my first time out, it just puts some bad mojo on the whole month - in psychological circles, i think they call that "all or nothing thinking," and like most defined modes of thought processes, that equates to "not good way of thinking." okay, well, whatever (insert 'denial' here) so, the first day, i really don't make anything of which i feel particularly proud - so much so, that at the moment i cannot for the life of me even remember what it was i shot that day - bad omen #1 - but i try to put it out of mind and not let my superstitions get the better of me - not right here at the very start of a whole new month! no pressure though, right?!

so, on to the next day - this story is a bit complicated, but essentially, one day on the island of Mindanao in the Phillipines during WWII, a young US soldier checking a village for the enemy came upon a Japanese flag with writing all over it - he also came upon a jewel-studded saber, which he really wanted, but such finds were known to be booby-trapped, so he let the coveted sword go, but a flag - how could that be booby-trapped? so he took it, and it wasn't, and he kept it, for years, for decades......a year ago or so he researched the flag, and learned that often soldiers were sent to battle with a small flag, all the family would sign it alongside the name and hometown of their loved one, and it was meant to offer protection/luck while they were away at war - thru the net he deciphered the names and city, and he found the man to whom the flag belonged - he was still alive - one of only 2 out of 23 that returned home at the war's end - and he sent the flag back to its rightful owner -- on tuesday, that man, his wife and granddaughter flew to Detroit, and visited with the Monroe-born soldier who'd kept his flag all these years - neither knew how the flag had made its way from Mindanao to Monroe, but with the translation help of the granddaughter, they unravelled the story, and more importantly, they got to meet for the very first time - needless to say, a very cool and fascinating story - i'd wanted to go to the local man's house early, because i wanted to try and capture that moment when they first saw one another, but when the reporter and i got there, we found out that he'd decided to go to the airport too, so that moment was pretty much gone, and we walked into their tiny apt. with the chairs all set out in a circle and packed with other family who came for the event (and it was now, pretty much, an event)....so, not the pictures i was hoping for, but still, like i said, a really fascinating tale of two men from opposite ends of the war - once enemies, now merely 2 survivors, each with their own amazing separate and yet parallel stories to tell, and piecing together their common thread there in that small living room was a very cool moment to be part of.....on a totally somewhat unrelated note, i am still completely mind-blown to learn about the indigenous peoples' affinity for collecting the chins of their killed enemies as trophies - CHINS????!!!! are you serious?! can you imagine how horrific that would be to find - you walk into a village and see on display the CHINS of people they've killed?! i mean, really, all i can say is CHINS?????!!!!!

so, the following day, i think i'm on the later shift for the football game that night, but then, poor Mr. B seriously jacked up his back, he called that morning, so i went in to catch the weekend meetings and shoot the early afternoon assignment, which was a school having their annual "lunch on the lawn" back-to-school pizza lunch, games and pep rally....that was okay....then i took a break and came back so i could get that in, check on things at the office, then go down to football....

got there to hear the sounds of whistles blowing, did they start early? but wait, the cheerleaders aren't out there, and hey, there's some of the varsity and they aren't even suited up? wtf? turns out they had a jv game right before, and it was still going on....and on....and on...and when it's 41-7, shouldn't there be a running clock? guess not...and on it went, to the bitter end, when at 47-7, they finally enacted the running clock rule, and there i have sat, keeping an eye out for features, and sadly watching the light go down and down and down....so much for the benefit of shooting football early in the season...oh well, watcha gonna do, eh? so i look around more for features and find these girls playing beneath the bleachers and watching the cheerleaders warm up and practice their stunts 

 this one girl looks like she's straight out of the 70's - i think i had this haircut at one point in my youth! is that more of an "egads" for me or her? 

not sure, but regardless, it was a nice find, and it took a while for me to wait out this many girls NOT at some point looking at my camera, and the balance of how each was looking where simultaneously, made for a good balance, so i was happy with it

friday, i wasn't sure if Bryan would be back in or not, so i went in for the a.m., figuring i'd just go home for a stretch if i needed to take the night shift - good thing Mr. B has had a speedy recovery, so i didn't have to do the on-the-fly split, but there still weren't any assignments day-side, so i went feature hunting after lunch - spyed a little girl walking around a sidewalk wearing a ladybug costume - i pulled over and parked asap and went over - she was dressed up to help draw attention to a little "rummage sale" style shop that the nearby church opened to help raise money for their youth group - this church and what they're doing to revitalize the neighborhood is a story in and of itself, but it at least gave me a cool feature to bring back for next week's community foto page, not mention, something that made me feel of visual use for the day   

the one i like best here i think will be for Still Life - not really fitting for the InSight page, but the best of the bunch i think

 as Bryan said, it's like a fly drawn to the light!


1 comment:

Keith King said...

Wow Kim, that flag story is really somethin'. How strange that they collected chins.
As far as your football game...there seems to be some type of strange mojo in photojournalism that the more you want something to happen, the less chance it will. I've stared at those stupid game clocks trying to mentally speed them up and I swear it actually slowed them down. Anyway, I'm glad Mr. B's back is better and you're doing well.