“Real” moments

I was assigned this week to shoot the awarding of the Lexington Firefighter of the Year. Charles Bradshaw was this year’s recipient and the awards were given at the Lexington Fire Training Center. I got there about 40 minutes early hoping to find out whom the winner was and find him being congratulated by friends and family before the ceremony. My thinking was, when we are faced with photographing someone walking up on a stage and receiving an award it is NOT the best photos. It is especially bad when the old “grip and grin” happens as the winner shakes hands with the presenter of the award and they look at the camera and smile. Now, I know this is a photo the winner will probably cherish and for that purpose it is great, but for our purposes it isn’t. I like to look for that 1/2 second of a real moment that tells the story a little better. That is our job as news photographers. I am not doing my job if I give you the same moment you see on all three TV channels that are set up around the room, so I kept looking and moving around. Once I found Mr. Bradshaw and his family I locking in on them waiting, and hoping. As the list of accomplishments were being read, and the list was long, Charles Sr, reached over to Charles Jr, and touched fists before heading to the stage to accept his well deserved award. To me, I had just shot the key moment of the day. Sure, I shot the actual giving of the award and the shaking of hands photos, but to me that was all a bit standard and was not what I hoped would be in the paper. It is just another way of trying to show the readers what is going through our heads at news events. It would be easy to walk in and shoot the obvious photo, but we are trying to give you a little more. Not always successful, but always trying.

85 views