Budding Photojournalist

In a few previous postings, I have mentioned the freelance photography I do for the local weekly newspaper, the most recent being in July when I had one of my photos on the front page.    During the spring, I shot a lot of high school sports such as soccer, baseball, and softball, but of course, there aren’t any high school sports in the summer.  The editor has been trying me out on other assignments.  I hesitate to say “hard news” because that is not the forte of a weekly newspaper, but nonetheless, they are assignments that cover life in our town.  The challenge is to shoot something more than a “grip and grin” pose for life in a small city.

For instance, it was a bit of a challenge to cover high school registration.  The gymnasium was filled with tables and long lines, just as there used to be when I went to high school.  But, we weren’t fingerprinted back then, nor did we have ID cards made – much less ID cards with our pictures on them.  As I watched the assembly line method of producing them, I met the teacher who coaches the swim team I shot last month. 

(As always, be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.)

Later that same day was “National Night Out Against Crime.”  The city of Mission, Texas, celebrated with a large gathering in the downtown park.  I think every dignitary running for office with a thirty mile radius came to address the crowd.  The event was hosted by a local television news anchor and was made  complete by the presence of McGruff the Crime Dog.   But I also liked the “Pee Wee Honor Guard.  These are kids of the officers and employees of the Mission Police Department.  Cute, eh?  That’s the Chief of Police with the microphone.

And sports is starting up again.  I’ll be trying out the new toy, my 120-300 mm f 2.8 zoom soon, but in the meantime, volleyball has started, so I shot the tryouts.  This calls for a super fast lens because volleyball is played inside a “dim-nasium.”  In this case, I used my 50 mm f 1.4 to capture this shot of one of the athletes slamming a wicked spike.  I was happy I wasn’t in the way of that ball!  The new school year was exemplified by this young lady – a freshman at her new school – who was happy she could now wear a new “Rattler” t-shirt with pride.

Go Rattlers – and Eagles – and Patriots – and Coyotes.  (Hey – I gotta give all four high schools I cover equal representation, eh?)

Comments

[Tom Murray]

There is nothing better than high school sports for pure amateur sports. My son played Division I college football and I can say with all honesty that it is not amateur even though student-athletes do not get paid. When the head coach gets so much salary, ticket sales are so critical and the sport requires a sacrifice of academic time and effort, it is not amateur.

I love the fall when kids of all ages start back to school and play sports for their school teams. It's so much fun. I've had discussions with Vietnamese friends about high school sports, band and other things. They have a hard time understanding why so much non-academic activity is part of school. Academics in USA high schools sometimes seem to be an after thought, especially in Florida, Texas and Georgia where football is king.

[Russ]

I agree with Tom regarding "pure amateur sports", but even they will be invaded by the college scouts when National Letter of Intent Day comes rolling around, especially in Florida, Texas, and Georgia. And California, Nebraska, Notre Dame and on and on and on. Keep on clickin'.