"The Gazette photo staff (sans Christian and Kirk) appear to be content after enjoying some classic big burgers at Conway's Red Top in Colorado Springs, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009."
I had a wonderful four months at The Gazette and I wanted to take a second and talk about my experience before moving on to things here in Chicago. This could be a long one so bare with me.
I owe a lot to The Gazette on so many levels and without all of their advice, patience, assistance and understanding there is no way that I would be where I am today. For my first internship The Gazette was, for me, the ideal place to begin my career. I was extremely lucky to land an internship at a paper where most of the interns have had at least one or two internships under their belt. Not only was it my first but I also came from a marketing background. I am completely self taught with regards to shooting, editing, captioning, toning, ect. Mark Reis took a risk by hiring me but in the end I think that everything worked out just fine.
I'm sure that an outsider can see how my shooting has changed but since I look at my images every day then it's hard for me to asses my own shooting. My portraits and sports were strong before the internship and I can say that they both improved considerably while I was there. When you shoot every day and are forced to develop new concepts and ideas for a "different" image it cant do anything but improve your work. Sports and portraits are two types of assignments that I am the most passionate about. I like the unpredictability of sports and the control and vision that you can apply in a portrait. I really worked hard during these assignments to push the envelope because I had confidence that I could get the standard image and then move on to something different.
My news/food/general assignments were definitely more difficult for me. Not having the luxury of doing many of these types of assignments during college showed in my portfolio before I started at The Gazette. With four months of daily shooting under my belt I can say that I am comfortable going to these types of assignments and getting what I need to tell the story. I still haven't quite found the right mix of storytelling information with a unique angle. Some assignments I did better than others but I know that there is still lots of room for improvement.
The most important things that I learned at The Gazette were the bits and pieces of information that I picked up from everyone on the staff. As a tribute to them I wanted to thank each of them individually. Some of the things I'll share are inside jokes so if you don't get it then you probably weren't meant to. Here we go...
Mark-
I owe you the most thanks for purely taking a chance on me. Not many would do what you did and until you came along I was just a recent marketing graduate with a passion for photography and photojournalism. I'm sure that I'll look back on the first time we met and the portfolio review and tell my grandkids how those 20 minutes were the proverbial start to my career. Thank you for reminding me when I was being "too clever" and how adding an element to an image can create unnecessary dead space.
Stuart-
I couldn't have asked for a better boss. Knowing that the powers above had trust in me to tackle some of the big assignments was really instrumental in my confidence to make solid images. As much as it may have drove me nuts, my favorite assignment had to be the Peak Performers. Letting the "intern" shoot every image for a special section really meant a lot to me and I'm grateful to have been able to practice my lighting...and organizing, scheduling, calling, calling back, calling again, and again, and again until I finally reached said coach, parent or athlete. It was one heck of a task but I appreciate the opportunity.
Kevin-
I'm sure that you had to deal with me the most because I know that my questions about my code replacement rosters, strobes, remote locations, aperture ring settings, schools, gyms, teams, light, ect had to become daunting and cumbersome at times. Without your patience I'm sure that you would have hit me over the head with a 300 by my second week, lol. You are an amazing shooter and just looking at the screen saver on your computer taught me more than you could imagine. I couldn't wait to see your stuff from any game the next day in the paper to see how impossible it was going to be to just keep up with your images night after night. You kicked my behind and that really pushed me to work even harder. Thanks for not shooting me about the 14...at least you get a new toy now. I know that I have to make you a cord of some sort so send your requests my way. When your kids start to text you'll thank me for making you do it once in a while.
Bryan-
Thank you for being honest day in and day out with me. I could always count on you let me know what worked and what didn't in my daily take and that was really instrumental how I improved over the course of the four months. You didn't have to give up your idea for the Peak Performers but in doing so showed that you cared and wanted me to succeed. The nights that you stayed late to chat with me were always great. Thank you for fighting to get me play in the paper when you were on the desk, when I deserved it. If you start hating on my boy Tiger again me and you are going to have it out, haha.
Carol-
The thing that I'll remember the most about you was my first day. You came back from some assignment, started your edit and asked me to come over and take a look at your stuff to help you narrow it down to one or two. Little be-known to you it meant so much to me to have a "staffer" ask me what I thought on my first day. I couldn't have been more nervous and intimidated at the same time but you really put me at ease and I will always remember that so thank you!
Jerilee-
Thank you for always being there if nothing else just to listen to my problems. It always seemed like you were looking out for me and it was nice to have that motherly presence away from home. I'll always remember your out of the blue phone calls on Sunday afternoons asking me if I had shot some assignment that never got assigned to anyone and (naturally) they wanted to run A1. I appreciate you bailing me out of those so that I could really work the ones that I already had scheduled. If you ever crop to a square I'm going to find out and give you crap about it, lol. Tell Ronan that I ate every last bit of that cookie dough, frozen of course, and to call me when he is selling some more. It's so cold here in Chicago that I'm sure that it would be ok to send it in the mail.
Kirk-
Thanks for always having faith in me to succeed in the future. The nights that we spent talking on the desk about assignments, freelancing, financing gear, making a living and just enjoying life really stuck with me. Thanks for letting me use your D3 to shoot Manitou football. 12,800 ISO on a D2H, not that it can even do that, wouldn't have been a pretty sight. BBQ was great but next time the Mexican is on me.
Christian-
If I had a dime for every time I heard "photo desk this is Christian, yup, uh huh, I got 'em, alright, k thanks, buh byeeeeee" I wouldn't haven't to work any more haha. I'm really going to miss your voice on the other end of the line. One of my favorite assignments was the air show and I was really happy the next morning when I looked at the paper to see five images in there. I really worked that assignment to death and to have been rewarded with all that play was awesome so thank you.
Dave-
First of all let me apologize for being slow getting my stuff in every once in a while. Know that it was only because of my left brain perfectionism for wanting to get the best images into the system. You were always patient with me when you could have really gotten on my case so thank you. I will definitely never forget how you would casually come back to get a pepsi and just so happen to remind me to get my stuff in.
Thank you all. I will miss you all and everything that you were able to share with me in four months. As a whole, you have to be the nicest most genuine group of people I have ever met. If I could do it again I'd pack up my stuff and drive back tomorrow. Colorado is my home so hopefully I'll end up back at The Gazette down the line.
I had a chance to meet the staffers here in Crystal Lake for drinks and then breakfast and they are all wonderful. They have some BIG BIG BIG shoes to fill but I think they are up to the task. I'll never forget you all and everything that you did for me. Please keep in touch!
I start at the paper tomorrow and am anxious to get back to the daily grind that I fell in love with so much in "da springs."
-JCE
www.jcedmonds.com
justin@jcedmonds.com
No comments:
Post a Comment