Making the same different

Posted by Gordon King on Apr 30, 2010 | Comments Off

We often photograph the same events every year (we do this for some good reasons and some bad reasons. But that’s another discussion). It’s one of the challenges faced by newspapers, especially those in smaller markets such as the Yakima Herald-Republic. It’s a challenge to have a fresh take on the same event year after year.

We’ve got a couple of different ways of dealing with the year in/year out monotony of covering the same events. If possible, we try to have a different person photograph this year’s event than photographed last year’s event. If there’s an story which accompanies the photos, perhaps we can take a different tack on the story which would, in turn, would most likely provide different photos.

But sometimes neither approach works. When that happens I think the best approach to shooting the same event in consecutive years is to first have a good cup of coffee and then take on a good attitude about the assignment (“it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity disguised as a problem.” Or some such management-speak)

Also, it helps to know what photos were published from previous coverage.

Given the opportunity/challenge/opportunity to shoot an education awards ceremony I  had a grande, non-fat, extra-hot Starbuck’s latte to put me in the proper frame of mind. I still remembered the photos I shot of the ceremony last year so I knew what to avoid shooting. And with Starbuck’s help I was able to take up the challenge with a good attitude.

The photo from this year’s awards ceremony:

Last year’s photo:

–Gordon King