the gamut

this week pretty much ran the spectrum of journalism - from hard news to sports to features...

began with covering a rescheduled sentencing of a man convicted of breaking into an older woman's home, robbing her, forcing her at knifepoint to drive to an atm and get him more cash, then stabbing her as she attempted to get away...she spoke at the sentencing, recounting the details of the ordeal and how it has affected her - very strong woman - she was composed throughout her testimony, and had the support of her family, including her daughters, afterward...speaking in court she said was an important part of beginning to heal

speaking with us afterward, she said, "i just thought to myself, 'you're not taking me down you sob - i'm taking you down!'" you go lady!

after getting that in, since i didn't now if they'd want it right away for the web, i went to the weekly planning meeting, then took a break - monday was a solo day, and included that morning court assignment, then a baseball game, then a reward poster distribution and prayer vigil later that night for Nevaeh - the little girl who was abducted and murdered a year ago...

got to the baseball game, and there was no one there - called the sports editor, turns out the game was cancelled, so i just kinda hung low til the Nevaeh event

we'd already heard it was going to be a media frenzy - in fact, there was a tv reporter on the afternoon news who was already "live in Monroe" - 6 hours before the thing even starts - so i knew it was gonna be nuts.

pull up to the moose lodge, and i see the lot crammed with tv vans

inside, it was crazy - every station - and i mean some i've never even heard of! - from toledo and detroit, plus the toledo paper, both of the detroit papers and then us - i was talking to the toledo fotog - and we were trying to figure out if there was anyone here yet who WASN'T media! when grandma arrived, she got completely bum-rushed - i mean as soon as word hit that she was outside, literally a flock of reporters and camera crews went running out the door - things like this just make me feel really kind of embarrassed to be part of this profession, because we just look like such pirhanas (sp?)

...

anyway, things started to get pretty emotional when a local christian band played - all the heavy-handed stuff, too - amazing grace, and songs they'd written about the perpetrator(s) who remain at large, and one for Nevaeh - after they got finished, the pastor who has been with the family throughout the ordeal asked everyone to gather together up front in a group for prayer - i asked the grandmother if it was okay if i stayed there next to her and took pictures, and she said okay, so i was able to make some more intimate fotos of the moment

...don't know if the other fotogs thought i was being an ass, since i looked around and noticed they were all up on the stage shooting - but, you know, i've talked to this woman - not as a journalist, but just person to person, and if she'd asked me not to be there so close, i would have completely respected that, so i don't feel like i crossed any lines by being right in there to make pictures...

next day, it was baseball

this particular school's field is pretty short, so the 300mm is almost too tight, but i think that worked in getting this shot of a runner diving back into first base - always try to get this shot - at first and third - but it's not always worked out so great - cos they don't always dive head first, and getting the face sharp - especially when that close with that lens with a shallow depth of field - is a little dodgy...on the plus side, i've noticed that recently it seems like my focusing has gotten faster - seems like i have less out of focus fotos in my sports than before, which is kind of cool

not much going on the following morning, so i was just getting a lot of office work done - reprint orders, editing, etc,

and then the cops/court reporter comes up - a guy's in court for arraignment right now and we gotta run! well, okay - better RUN!

get into the courtroom and i ask the reporter if he knows who the guy is - there are 2 guys and one woman from the jail sitting in the jury box to be arraigned, and he doesn't know which of the 2 guys (if either of them) is him - so, i don't shoot them sitting there, but they call him up, and i try to shoot him as he's walking up, but too slow a shutter, and from then on he's got his back to me - couldn't get the bailiff's attention to see if i could move up to get a better shot of him, so i just tried to at least get something profile and figured i could try for something more when he sat back down - of course, after he was done, they just took him straight out of court - oh well, happens, right?

i think the foto i liked best is this reaction on the prosecutor's face as he addressed the judge about lowering his bond - he is a sports coach, by the way, who is being charged for having sex with a teen girl - actually, this had been going on for over a year before they got caught (in the janitor's closet at the school no less!) - beginning when she was 13 - so, pretty creepy, to say the least....

after that, i handed off my camera to Bryan, who was going to be semi-near the camera shop for a track meet later that afternoon, and both our cameras were in dire need of a good sensor cleaning - i was seeing spots at like f4! no bueno

of course, shortly thereafter, the city editor hands in an assn. to shoot the funeral home that is handling the services for a local soldier just killed in afghanistan - there was visitation for 2 days and then his funeral friday - and they'd lined their entire building in flags - and the patriot guard was also lining the entry with flags.....but i got no gear, so i ended up having to go out with the point and shoot - man, that was like a technical challenge - not putting the camera up to my eye, trying to compose in a tiny viewfinder that i can barely even see since it is 3 in the afternoon and glaringly bright out, not to mention trying to get the flags blowing but not blocking the building with something that has what seems like an eternity of a delay from the time i press the shutter to the time it actually shoots the frame! but, got something usable finally....and thus ends another day

nothing on the agenda thursday - the one assn. we did have got cancelled, so i went out feature hunting, and found these kids playing in a park in one of the beach neighborhoods - kinda different - and one of them mentioned that i'd actually taken fotos of her family at the H1N1 clinic (oh yeah, which of the 4 or 5 flu clinics i shot might that have been, i wondered to myself with a little chuckle)...not sure which i like better, but all around, it was a decent feature find

friday there were 3 things on board for the morning - a golf tournament, an open house at the Red Cross, and, oh yeah, a funeral service for the fallen soldier - nothing at all at night, so Bryan thankfully moved up to work a split - we were able to ditch the red cross assn, so the plan was, i'd shoot golf while he covered the church part of the funeral

i need to try the above pic again, but i like the idea of it

then i'd get to the cemetery - shoot the procession as it came from the church and then shoot inside the cemetery if we were given access, which the family had said we could cover from a designated area (whatever that might turn out to be - most often it's from the cemetery gates - but who knows) - the bigger issue with these things is the military honors guard, who despite what the family says, has decided it is absolutely NOT okay to show the family or the casket in any way, shape, or form - so i took the 300 lens, but i really wasn't sure what to anticipate, and these things always make me nervous, because i know that it is a very big event, i know that our paper will want lots of fotos, i already got a call from the state AP asking that we provide their wire coverage, and it's of course hugely significant to the family, friends (and to the community at large, who the family had already invited to attend the procession, which was to be a walking procession from the church following the casket being driven in a horse-drawn carriage - and there were flags being given out at several locations, so everyone could hold one as they passed) - so yeah, this is a big thing, and i am just always so worried that i'm going to totally screw it up....

well, turns out i really didn't need the 300, because they let us be pretty much right there about 20 feet from the gravesite - poor bryan got completely the bad end of things - the church had decided the media area would be about 2 parking lots away - and inbetween that spot and the church entry was a row of trees and the patriot guard holding up huge flags - so, they had pretty much nothing to work with - he and the rest of the media, which of course included the toledo and detroit tv and newspapers - this is why i get a little cynical about my profession - they never cover us until something big and tragic happens, at which point they descend en masse...it just gets to me...

anyway, so back to the funeral - i got to the cemetery about noon - actually just went up there to scope out where in the cemetery they would be, but i ended up deciding jut to stay put, thankfully, because they shut down the road about 5 minutes after, and tons of people were already lining up along both sides of the road - in fact i saw 3 area high schools that had been let out of school to attend - kept in contact with bryan, so i'd know how things went on that end foto-wise, but also to get some sense of when to expect them to arrive...service got done at about 12:30 or so, and we figured it'd take them about 45 minutes to walk from the church to cemetery....and i knew he'd gotten not a lot of opportunity at the church, so he said he'd try to get some of the public on the road, which i said i'd get too while i was waiting for the procession to arrive...

so, he calls me about an hour later and says the procession just left the church lot - holy smokes! but they actually got to the cemetery pretty fast, relatively speaking, and as soon as they turn onto the road i see this photographer and videographer alongside them - i guess the family had hired them, and they got full intimate access to everything, which included being smack dab in the middle of most of my fotos - but i did get this image as they turned to shoot the crowd - nothing great, but a necessary part of the package, especially as i thought this may be my only access

just a side note, i really have to say how impressed i get with this community in situations like this - whether you agree with the war or are pro-military or super patriotic or not, this county just turns out to support one another in hard times like nowhere else i have ever lived - they were that way throughout the whole Nevaeh tragedy (including turning out in pretty good number at the recent vigil), and they do this when families lose their homes in fires - it's just really pretty unique to here, from my personal experience

the crowd all lined up, some of whom had brought chairs to set out alongside the road, almost looked to me like Monroe St. when we have a parade - if you just drove by, you'd swear that a marching band was about to come along at any moment, which seemed kind of weird, but as soon as the procession neared, there was just an absolute silence, really very somber, stoic, respectful - it was strange how it switched gears from something that appeared almost joyous to the complete opposite - it was almost quiet enough to hear a pin drop - the only sound out there was the clip-clop of the horses' hooves as the glass walled carriage bearing his coffin made its way down the road...pretty intense

so, the procession heads into the cemetery, and i just went in afterward - figured, if i can't be there, no one is going to be shy about letting me know - and like i said, amazingly, they let us be as close as we were - so, we were able to get some more personal and telling images than we ever have for past soldiers' services

they had kind of a moment of levity at the start of the service - they played one of his favorite songs - Hank Williams, Jr.'s "Family Tradition," and everyone sang along, and you could tell they were just remembering the best of having him there with them - like they were more in the moment of his presence than the grief of his passing, if that makes any sense...

and below was our lede foto for the next day's 1A - his grandmother was pretty broken up, and at one point she looked down and i noticed she had his dog tags hanging around her neck, and she just stared at them and then kissed them - it was really heart-breaking, and it actually still chokes me up just thinking back to that moment

and though i know some would disagree, i really don't feel like covering this and showing their emotion is disrespectful to either the soldier or their family...in fact, i truly believe it is more disrespectful to try and hide the impact of the loss to the family, their friends and the community - only when you see how difficult and impacting something is can you truly appreciate and honor the scope of the sacrifice that was made...

anyway, that's just my opinion....

and such was the week here