Boy oh Boy, who’s in charge, anyway?

Well, this blog site is called Final Frame, so this is the last situation from a Backstreet Boys fan picture session before I was, ah, asked to leave. If you look closely, you can see the four Boys in that mix of people. Often someone will tell me how lucky I am to get access to photograph famous people. But it’s not that simple, or pleasurable.

But let’s back up a bit. The Backstreet Boys made an appearance for Make-A-Wish Foundation at Louisville’s Fourth Street Live on Thursday, November 15. They were interviewed and then posed, with about 15 fans at a time, for pictures.

I know that, especially with music performers, you always ask if a credential is needed for media coverage. That morning, I called Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Karrie, their PR person, said she would have George, of WXMA radio, who was going to conduct a live interview on stage with the Backstreet Boys at 5 p.m., talk to me. George said to just come to the radio tent next to the stage and he would fix me up.

I arrived an hour before the event. George said that “Troy” would get me in front of the crowd barricade so I could get a clear view of the stage where the interview would be conducted. (The Boys didn’t perform because their guitarist was unable to attend the event.) Troy, it turned out later, was inside a restaurant where some Make-A-Wish children were meeting privately (no, I couldn’t go in I was told) with the Boys, so George said he had told Troy of my arrival and George led me past security into the area in front of the barricade.

Nick Carter

The Boys’ appearance went well, with good photos of fans and the Boys on stage. (They even sang a short number without a banding backing them.)

But when the Backstreet Boys left the stage to pose for photos with fans beside the radio tent, someone asked me whom I was with. When I identified myself as David Perry with the Lexington Herald-Leader, she said I would have to go “over there”, behind another set of barricades, since “we can’t deal with someone at the last minute”. I then asked where Troy was, and she didn’t know, but I would have to get out of that area. In this era of kooks, I can see an issue, but I wasn’t asked for more ID (I have plenty, and I was wearing my H-L ID around my neck.) I asked her to identify herself, and I think she said “Bridget of Jive Records”, but it was a little hard to hear above the screaming fans.

Going over to a side area, I was, as you can see, still able to shoot the fans with the Boys.
But after a couple of groups posed, Bridget said, “you can’t be in there”. I said, “You TOLD me to go in there.” A man behind me said “You need to leave this area” and I asked where Troy was. He said “I’m Troy.” Wow! I finally found the mysterious Troy! I said George, the radio personality, had talked to him about me. He said, “George didn’t talk to me.” At that point I gave up and said, “I’m gone.”

The point isn’t if this mob scene shown at the top is a good photo op. It might not be. It’s about the organization of the event and the treatment of a legitimate news outlet.

So that’s the story about how Brian Littrell’s hometown newspaper was booted out of a Backstreet Boys appearance. By the way, the Courier-Journal and the Louisville television stations were not there. So the only media outlet that gave a hoot about this event was asked to leave.

And by the way, Backstreet fans, there will be better photos in Sunday’s newspaper (Nov. 18). And this episode in no way reflects on the Backstreet Boys. As far as I can tell, they are all genuine good guys. But me being lucky to photograph famous people? Nope. I’d rather photograph any average Joe or Jane than any famous person with “handlers”, bodyguards, or posse.

A new Dawn? Four years in the making

I knew that following Dawn Nicole Smith’s progress through Fayette County Drug Court could take more than a year. That’s how long it takes most addicts to finish the intensive treatment program, if they finish at all.

Well, more than 8,000 photos, 10 hours of audio and three years after we met Dawn in March 2004, we’re publishing her story. We’re doing it in a six-part series using 18 inside pages in the newspaper and with 130 photos in a six-part multimedia presentation online.

Her story was far more complicated than I ever imagined. It tested me in ways I never predicted. There were occasional access issues. There were ethical dilemmas. There were scheduling problems. (How do I do my job on a regular basis and still find the time to spend with Dawn? How many times do I have to apologize to my wife and family for being with Dawn on our anniversary or a birthday?)

Dawn’s life – victimized by men and under the grip of addiction – was one I could only imagine a few years ago. Now having witnessed many of her most intimate troubles in person, I can say I have a new understanding – and compassion – for her and others like her.

Many of us know someone touched by addiction, whether to drugs or alcohol. But what we don’t understand – unless we’re living with the person - is the true degree of destruction it can have on a life.

Photographing Dawn throughout this story, sometimes when she was at her worst, was never easy. Her life was always in some kind of turmoil or chaos. But she never even hinted that she might not want her picture taken at one of those down times. She was very unaware of the camera, which is evident in many of the more intimate photos we published.

That brings me to one of the more telling photos I took during the course of this story. It is a picture of Dawn and her mother, Brenda Raines, in their Nicholasville home; they were on the brink of eviction. You can see in the body language how much alike the mother and daughter are. Looking from the outside, reporter Mary Meehan and I could see the traits, good and bad, passed from mother to daughter. We often wondered how much Dawn’s children would be like her.

This photo says a lot on its own. But I shot a number of photos that I thought revealed different aspects of their relationship. You can see the tension, the anger and the love between them.

Mary and I would frequently have discussions about where Dawn’s troubles started and how they could have been avoided. She later admitted that her life may gone down a different path had she lived with her father after her parents divorced.

No doubt, Dawn’s mother has had a huge impact on her life. Dawn would often complain about her mother’s behavior, yet we would see some of the same behaviors between Dawn and her children. We asked Dawn more than once if she saw the similarities, the continuing cycle. She couldn’t see it. Or maybe she didn’t want to see it.

For more about the story, you can read the editors’ blog, Behind the Headlines. All of the stories are available on Kentucky.com, and the six-part multimedia will be rolled out as the series is published this week.

–David Stephenson

On the road with the Cats.

I am sitting in the Chicago-O’Hare airport. My day began at 5:00 a.m. to catch the 6:30 flight that brought me here and later to Arkansas for tomorrow’s UK-Arkansas game. When I was first getting into this job I always thought how cool it would be to fly around and shoot games all over the place. Now that is a reality for me at certain times of the year. It is the cool factor that is not always so high.

Things you don’t think about:

1. Catching the early flight to save some money SOUNDS good when you are booking but when you have to get up at say 4:00 a.m. (after going to bed at midnight following the game the night before) to drive almost an hour to catch a 6:00 or 6:30 flight it is quickly not so cool.

2. The great “airline accepted” travel cases we have to put our cameras in, that are guaranteed to fit in the overheads, do in fact fit in a LOT of planes. Just not most of them that fly into a lot of the SEC towns we travel too. Today I am flying into the Northwest Arkansas Airport, which is literally in the middle of a cow pasture. So the result of the cases being too big is you have to check them. This is not a good feeling the first time you have to do it. If you get to the location with no cameras suddenly I am one of the guys on the sidelines shooting with a Sure Shot camera! The answer is to gate check the cameras. I usually have my personal Pelican case with airline-approved combination locks. The locks are more for a deterrent and to help keep the case closed in the event it rolls around a lot in the plane.

3. When covering many games the day after the game is sometimes your day off. Do you fly home early to actually enjoy your day off, or do you sleep in because it is your day off. If you sleep in you feel a little better physically, but you are getting home at 5:00 and can barely make it to a sports bar to watch the Raiders play. Sometimes THAT is not worth the rush home either. The end result is you fly home early. (SEE #1). You are home in time to have a day off, but are tired from being up late and getting up so early.

Now, none of this should be seen as complaining. I love to travel with the Cats and I love the pressure of being the only staffer there to get the play of the game. No back up! Gets the blood flowing.

So now I have put myself out there declaring I will have the play of the game in tomorrows paper. During the game winning run in the Louisville game Steve Johnson streaked down the sideline right past me holding a 300 2.8. WAY TOO TIGHT! Knowing it was too tight, I looked to shoot Andre’ Woodson celebrating the play but with people running all over the sideline exploding I had no shot.

The funny thing about it is my boss Ron Garrison was at the game, actually shooting, and said he was looking through some of his photos with our Editor Linda Austin, also at the game…. not shooting, and noticed everyone was looking at the end zone except me looking the other way. Many people who don’t do what we do may not understand what I was doing looking for the second layer of the moment. I’m sure it can appear that you don’t know what you are doing! Hope Linda knows what I was doing! Had the shot of Woodson been great it would be a no brainer, what I was doing but since it did not work out I find myself in the Chicago airport explaining myself!

Football photo day!

I blogged awhile back about having a two day span of shooting that I was excited about. A fashion shoot one day, and two of the top quarterbacks in the nation the next. As you may have seen, the quarterbacks were published on the front of today’s college football preview section. It is always a task thinking up good ideas for sports preview covers and then trying to organize the shoot, and get the people on board who I need to help me. This usually includes Sports Information staff at UK and sometimes other schools.The last few years Louisville has figured into my cover shoots with star quarterback Brian Brohm. I began shooting Brian when he was a senior in high school at Trinity. It was a fairly quick shoot that day and the photos I got from the shoot went over great. Brian loved the shot too and we got to be friends over the next few years. It always helps to have whomever you are shooting working with you, and being a part of the process. Whether it be a certain expression you are working to get, or pulling them to a location that is out of the norm.This may sound fairly simple but getting two of the nations top quarterbacks to get together takes a little planning. No school wants to go too far, or to the other school for example so some neutral ground is sought out. Luckily for me this was not a hard thing this year as the Governor’s Cup luncheon was in Simpsonville, Ky. this year so we all agreed the shoot would take place there.Soon after we were asked if we minded sharing time with the Courier-Journal who wanted to shoot the same thing. THEN we were told that ESPN was doing a shot of Brian Brohm that day too. I was not concerned about the extra photo shoots as long as it did not cut into my shoot time, which is usually limited to under half and hour. I took our intern, Tricia Spaulding, with me to help with the light set up, and transport, and since she was going our photo director, Ron Garrison, thought it would be a good time for her to shoot her first video. Here it is for your enjoyment as a record of a condensed photo shoot featuring photographers from other publications, some golfers who were at the site that day seeking autographs, and even the re-emergence of the old Crown Graphic camera I break out for special assignments!

Goodbye

Today is an emotional day for me. It is the closing page of an important chapter in my life. Tomorrow I will begin a new one.

It is my last day as a Herald-Leader staff photographer. I am leaving Kentucky for the love of a good man, Paul Mansfield, who was originally from Lexington. I will move to New Mexico where he has lived for a number of years and I will make the switch to freelance photography.

I will miss this paper, this town, and especially all of my friends and co-workers. I came here 18 years ago as a widow and raised two wonderful daughters, Heather and Hilary. For the last ten years, I have volunteered with the Kentucky Search Dog Association and have spent many late nights following my dog through the hills of Eastern Kentucky looking for missing people.

The Herald-Leader has been a good, family-friendly place to work and I have many great memories. I have photographed a wide range of people from presidents to homeless people and everyone in-between. I have seen death, race riots and injustices as well as many moments of joy and compassion. I have met some amazing and inspiring people, some rich and some not so rich.

Much like in a mystery novel this last chapter has ended with somewhat of a cliffhanger. I have an idea of what might happen but there are many unanswered questions. Will I be able to bring in enough income? Will I adjust well to the altitude and desert heat? Will I find another good K9 Search and Rescue team? Will I find friends as wonderful as I have made here? Will I be able to top the work I’ve done at the Herald-Leader?

Tomorrow I’ll turn the page and find out. Wish me luck.

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