Rick Wagoner

This is from a freelance assignment I had back in January about the Detroit auto industry and the International Auto Show. Rick Wagoner just announced he is leaving GM, so I thought I would post this photo. Crazy times, hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel.

CAPTION: Rick Wagoner, GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, talks with the press following General Motors first presentation at this year's Detroit auto show.

Trampoline

After being photo editor this week, I needed to get back out and shoot something so on my day off Saturday, I put on some Bob Dylan, grabbed some coffee and drove around a little. These kids were enjoying the semi-warm weather.

Another page

I'm still trying to figure out what fonts and sizes work well together. Had some changes done, but this is the final.

Outside the Box

Once a month, on a Monday, our newspaper publishes a photo column called "Outside the Box" that is a space where photographers can publish an image that may otherwise go unpublished, so long as there is a reason or story behind the photo. Today I published my story. I have also been the photo editor since last Friday while Ryan (my boss and photo editor) is in..cough*...Hawaii. It's been hectic at times, but all in all it's been good being able to layout the front page and the local section. I need a lot of work on design, but hopefully I'll be able to get a little better while on the desk this week. Here is today's front page and underneath is a link to the article (similar to what I previously wrote concerning the house fire about a week ago.

Find the Article Here
Also, a larger version of the page at Newseum: HERE

Detroit Window

Today two friends and I drove around Detroit and checked out a few areas with abandoned buildings. As a kid, and even now, I was always pretty fascinated by what I could see out my window. On our way up to Boston from Virginia to visit family, I remember my favorite part of the drive was through New York on I-95 because of the landscape. I know cities have their good parts and their rough parts, but Detroit is ridiculous right now. I think I saw more houses burned down, vacant or dilapidated in some way than occupied homes. These photos were all shot through the window while riding in the back seat throughout the city.

D town

Walked and drove around Detroit today.

Last Minute Assignment

I got a call that Andrew was going to do his first solo flight in about an hour Saturday afternoon, so I headed to the airport. His dad is a pilot and manager of aircraft and Andrew has been flying his whole life. At 16, Andrew still doesn't have his drivers license.


during a pre solo flight check with his dad.

After his successful first solo flight

investigation

I drove over to the home where two children died in the fire about a week ago after I heard investigators and the insurance company were surveying what's left of the property. More to come in the future...

Oh Snap Click!

Aaron Snyder, a student at Ohio University, has a pretty rad site going with a great mission. I was asked to submit something and sent over my Anarcho Punks story that has never been published. Check it out HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE http://www.ohsnapclick.com/

Mascot rest

Guess what?! More basketball!! Yay!! actually, it was pretty fun

Midland High School beat Dow High School by two points via two free throws in the last 1.4 seconds of the game. They move on to the district final on Friday.

rough thoughts...

As I drove home from a basketball game tonight, I stopped on the side of the road to take a break from the thoughts that were in my head and the inevitable comments of discontent that would await me back at the newspaper. This is something quick I wrote up just to get some thoughts out there, but I am tired, sick and have a splitting headache, so it could be a lot better.

I'm sitting in the photo department at the newspaper alone and distraught as I read over the comments from today's events. Against the smart advice of my girlfriend, I sit and refresh the page and read the latest comment. As I began to read, I began to generalize and fall into the same mindset that is making me so upset and frustrated. I blame the community for being so ignorant. I blame the community for wanting photographs of only cute puppies and rainbows and smiles. But that is a generalization as more and more comments come in. Some support the photograph and some hate it. All express concern for the family, the most important thing, and some express more discontent with the photograph than support for the family.

When I received the call this morning from my boss and editor, Ryan Wood, I rolled out of bed and headed out in the rain towards the scene. He called me several minutes later to notify me that it was heard that two children were possibly trapped inside. My heart sank and I forced myself to push my car's accelerator. To keep driving. Upon my arrival, I noticed a large amount of people standing watching as firefighters worked the scene amidst the light rain. I approached the house and saw the front lawn littered with toys, bikes, and a stroller. I try to add context to the frame as I compose the burning house in the background with the stroller in the foreground. I keep thinking about my home, if I turned off all the lights, if the stove was off from making grilled cheese last night. What if this were my home?

Having shot many frames of the home, I took a step back and noticed some people huddled together and approached thinking they might know something. One of our reporters was there standing in the muddy ditch in front of a neighboring home. A woman was smoking, a woman was crying, and a man had a blank stare on his face. Their expressions separated them from the rest of the onlookers. I asked a tearful woman if she knew those involved. It was the aunt of one of the children. Her husband was standing close by and the mother was right next to them.

I am a shy person and it takes me a long time to raise my camera in situations like this. I asked if they were ok being photographed and they nodded and agreed it would be fine. I made a few frames. They began talking about the children and the home and the mother broke down in the arms of a friend just to my right. That's when I made the photograph. I took just a few frames making sure I wasn't obtrusive, loud or coming off as offensive as I scanned people's faces looking for any form of discontent. Any face or glare to tell me to stop photographing. Nothing. A few times the faces I did catch, I looked at hoping for someone to tell me to stop photographing. "Please," I thought.

I don't wake up and choose to go to these events but my job as a newspaper photographer working in a country with freedom of the press is to photograph the truth and I wouldn't have it any other way. To photograph any and every situation as unbiased and objective as possible and to inform readers visually. As I read the comments, a frustration grew as people who may not have been there and who may not know the family seemed to be speaking for them and about the situation. Not knowing that I asked permission, even though legally I didn't have to because it was public property. Not knowing that I spoke with the mother and made sure to get her phone number because she mentioned setting up a fund to pay for her daughter's funeral. People were criticizing not only the newspaper I and those who work here work extremely hard to produce day in and day out, but generalizing and stereotyping the media as being one large exploitative form of communication. What's more frustrating is the notion that some people would rather see puppies and rainbows over real life, factual information and events. Newspaper's do not have to appeal to anyone. Cancelled subscriptions and senseless jargon will not stop journalists from writing what needs to be written and photographers from photographing what needs to be seen.

Knowing what I know now and given the same situation, I would take that photograph without a doubt, knowing that it needs to be seen. If maybe it makes you think twice about leaving a light on when you leave your home, double checking the batteries in a smoke detector, explaining fire safety to your children. But all I can do is hope that a photograph, no matter how happy or how somber, can make some sort of difference in someone's life. Struggling to push the gas pedal, struggling to lift the camera next to a tearful mother; my inner struggle is worth every thought and every bit of energy.

Fatal Fire

These things are never easy to photograph or even be part of. But it's more than a job that forces me to take pictures in times like these. It's an idea, a philosophy and a conviction that photos like this need to be seen. I write this because the story and photo received this comment on the website and has received tons of criticism from the community.

"To Midland Daily News... SHAME ON YOU FOR THAT PICTURE!! A mother's grief is heartwrenching and private. How awful that you were there clicking pictures of her while her life is destroyed. Have some decency. "

I think that ignoring such a situation that has impacted a community and a neighborhood with dozens of people standing next to me while the home was burning would be more indecent than showing the truth of a tough situation. Several times I nodded to my camera or asked if it were ok I was photographing and each time it was ok. I'm not a heartless monster just clicking away willy-nilly.
Debra Wallace is comforted by her friend Patti Linton during a fire at the Lee Township home of her ex-husband, Troy Faylor, that took the life of Jasmine Faylor, 3, their daughter. Midland County Sheriff Jerry Nielsen notified Wallace that her daughter had passed away.

Will the real Slim Shady please...stand up?

I've been shooting A LOT of basketball lately because of my shift these past two weeks. Tonight was no exception. It's a tough thing to shoot and by the time I think of composing an image, it's gone baby gone.

Parmele

Baltimore Ravens running back, Jalen Parmele, was in town and spoke with students at an after school program in Midland. Parmele graduated from Dow High School, in Midland.

District semifinals and night #3 of basketball

Cage Fighting page

This ran on Tuesday. Ryan Wood edited the photos and designed the page. I thought it came out nice and it is all thanks to Ryan.

District quarterfinals