One thing I’ve come to love about being a community photographer is the chance to cover events as they evolve. Today I got to photograph the re-opening of VFW Post 379 after it burned in June 2010. I remember getting a call from an editor telling me that I needed to start my shift a bit early — like, now — and get to the VFW. When I got there, there was already smoke pouring from the building.
Firefighters fight a fire at the VFW building on S. 5th Ave. on the morning of Wednesday, June 16, 2010.
Today I got to return as the post re-opened. Although my favorite shot doesn’t show the building, I felt that a VFW Post is more about the veterans than the building and wanted to show who will be returning to the Post now that it’s rebuilt, and the ceremony and honor with which the rebuilding is being celebrated.
John and Ruth Selzler, right and second from right, listen as taps is played during a ceremony to mark the reopening of Yakima's VFW Post 379 on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Much of Post 379's building was destroyed in a fire in 2010.
Like any spot news event, what makes both a fire and a grand opening important is the people who are impacted by the events. While my fire photo doesn’t do justice to what the members of the Post must have felt when their building burned, I hope that my work today speaks more to what the Post means to the veterans it serves.
Picture This | seattletimes.com blog
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