This past weekend was my last at The News & Messenger, a paper I’d been a full-time staffer since November 2008.
When I first started to write this, I wrote too much. Then I realized I could write this very simply: With the arrival of my first child in December, it became readily apparent that staying with the paper was no longer viable. My wife and I decided that it made the most sense for me to stay at home with the new baby and freelance. First, I don’t have to sign over my paycheck every month to a childcare center. Childcare really is that expensive…or that’s an indication of how little I got paid. Additionally, it allows me to focus on freelancing, which is where I was headed anyway (especially with the disappearance of staff jobs from the larger, more prestigious papers).
I like to think I did my best while working at The News & Messenger. I know I’ve become a much better photographer, and much of that is due to daily assignment work.
Here are pictures from every one of my assignments during the last two weeks at the paper…
Assignment, 2/21; Mark Miller, former MLB pitcher now the pitching coach at Hylton HS.
Assignment, 2/23; "can you get a picture of people enjoying the weather outside?"
Assignment, 2/23; Woman started a business running errands for people...
Assignment, 2/24; Woman started business counseling people on how to speak publicly
Assignment, 2/24; Local Firestation receives new HAZMAT equipment and tools...
Assignment 2/25; Civil War skirmish is re-enacted in Occoquan.
Assignment, 2/25; Bridal show comes to Ft. Belvoir...
Assignment 2/29; Boys swimmer of the year.
Assignment 3/1; Gymnast of the Year.
Assignment, 3/2; Girls Swimmer of the Year
Assignment 3/3; Girls and Boys hoops, VA state quarters (no flash allowed, doh!)
So those were my last 2 weeks of assignments and it's about what we do on a week to week basis as photojournalists at a small daily paper. I remember not long after I started at the paper, I received a phone call from a photographer who liked to volunteer for the local high school. We chatted on the phone because we were doing a story about volunteers that help out local high school sports programs. He then asked if we were hiring, because "I can shoot sports as good as you guys...". Well, we weren't hiring, but I did want to strangle him through the phone, because we don't just shoot sports. We shoot everything, and often we shoot stuff that doesn't appear to be anything at all, and it's our jobs to turn it into something interesting. That's what I learned in 3+ years of working at a community paper, and I'm hoping it's enough to prepare me to move onward.
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