When I applied for the position I needed to meet the rigorous qualifications that required applicants to have a modicum of photographic talent and a reliable car, not particularly in that order.

Upon securing a position, I soon learned the paper did not have a formal training program. I would be shadowing the staff photographers for the initial technical knowledge while the creative aspects would come with experience (hopefully). But to their credit, the newspapers’ motivational model more than made up for spotty training: if my photographs were published, I got paid.

The beauty of the stringer position was the newspaper’s low expectations. Initially I would be assigned les important games which provided a stress free learning environment. In time I showed enough progress begin taking some general (non sports) assignments.

From the start I was fortunate to meet a number of remarkable people while on assignments. Some were famous but more often they were neighbors and townspeople who possessed a special talent or a remarkable story to tell. Thankfully they trusted a green highschool kid to get their story right.

When I look back, my first two assignments where memorable and slightly embarrassing.

The Pumpkin Festival Queen

I sat on the curb waiting. I knew the photo the newspaper wanted; a single picture of the new Pumpkin Festival Queen and her court. But I would have to wait through the singers, pianists, dancers and baton twirlers before I could get my picture.

In time, the performances concluded and the Queen was announced and it was time for pictures. Though I was inexperienced, I knew that you never get between proud parents and their kid when there were pictures to be taken. So for my own safety, I volunteered to arrange the Queen and her court with the understanding that the parents could get their pictures first and then it would be my turn. When that time arrived, I took an extra moment to make sure everyone in place. In at that moment I caught the eye of the newly crowned queen. Her look was not what I was expecting. The Queen was uncannily composured with none of the giddiness I would be quite normal. After what seemed to be a long moment long moment I brought my camera to my eye and took the picture. As packed up my gear and began my drive home, I kept mulling over what had happened.

First…I recognized the Pumpkin Queen as the this town’s raining “most popular girl.” She was the one the one everyone expected to win any contest she entered. But there was no pridefulness or vanity in her eyes. Then it hit me.

Second…What I saw in her eyes was acceptance and understanding of a small town’s traditions. But the grace she exhibited in her generational role was in stark contrast compared to my worldly view. Being from the big city (Troy) I believed that living in small farming communities was akin to being in a witness protection program. The contrast of the Queen’s acceptedness and my was cluelessness was disturbing.

Three…Then it hit me, I was a green photographer who needed small town events like the Pumpkin Festival to move ahead in my career. Without them I would be sitting at home watching television. The Queen’s acceptance of her role only spotlighted the lack of understanding of my own role. She had skillfully turned the tables on me that all I could do was laugh all the way home.

From that night forward I let the newspaper know I wanted the rural assignments. As fate would have it, meeting Becher Berry and his wife the next week reinforced what I had learned from the Pumpkin Queen.

Beecher Berry was a retired science teacher who lived in the tiny town of Pleasant Hill Ohio. He took pictures of birds from his kitchen that were published in several national magazines.

When I arrived at the Berry’s home I was a bit apprehensive. I was inexperienced teenager and my history with teachers, retired or otherwise, was not always stellar. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. In short order I was sitting at the Berry’s kitchen table drinking ice tea and talking photography. To my amazement he had steered the conversation away from his work and onto mine.

Eventually we got back on topic and talked about his work. He had a modest collection of camera equipment that he made the most of with his photography. He explained how he used his wife’s old purses as camera bags. What? It was at this point that I subtlety pushed the “just in case” bags full of camera equipment under the kitchen table and out of sight.

In the hour I was in the Berry’s home I spent about five minutes of actual taking pictures. But in the decades since, my memory of that experience with the Berries as one of my favorites that became the model of how to establish honest, productive relationships with my subjects. The Berries taught me humility (though I’m still not ready to use purses as camera bags) while peaked my new found interest in small towns culture. The Berry’s unknowingly challenged my silly preconception. It was a gift I treasured to this day.

By the end of my Junior year, all assignment constraints were off and I shot t ughout the summer and into the next school year.

After high school I picked up assignments for the paper on occasion while attending Wright State University and then Ohio University where I became a photography major.

During an extended internship with the newspaper in 1977, it became apparent that newspapers were facing some serious challenges. Production costs were rising while advertising revenue was being dramatically affected by the competition from television. The future of print journalism was beginning to look bleak and had me seriously questioning my career choice.‍ ‍

When I returned from my internship I went to a job interview for a bartender position in Athens. Somehow I was hired and within a few months was the manager. Drawing on some of the same people skills I developed in journalism, I began my hospitality career.

Despite not being a producing photographer, I had continued to see the world pictures. So when the digital cameras were introduced, it presented an opportunity to adapt my film experience and visualization to digital photography.

Digital photography presented three challenges. First challenge was shere number of images a digital camera can produce compared to film (which cost money). The second challenge was, how do you organize you images? And the third challenge is how to learn from your images so you don’t keep making the same mistakes? In time I realized a website gave me a way to study my photographs in depth while incorporating new technical advances in digital photography. Additionally, digital medium encouraged creative expression, both as a stand-alone image or multi image layout. Plus I realized from my newspaper background, telling stories with multiple images was more in line with my background.

“You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.”

Super Chicken superhero of Cleveland Ohio