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Planning

Each May in the last two years there’s been a rally and march for immigrants’ rights in Yakima. Thousands of marchers, walking through downtown Yakima, showed up for those rallies which prompted heavy coverage by the Herald-Republic. This year, however, was different.

The national conversation about immigrants and immigrants’ rights had died down, superseded by talk of the economy, gas prices and the presidential election. Also, there was a different organizer for the march and there appeared to be very little advance planning for the march. So, the march itself was a guess by the editors.

How many people would be there? A thousand? A hundred? Would there be any counter-protesters? What level of coverage was appropriate given that the immigration debate had been placed on the back burner?
Should it be page 1? Or should the march coverage be placed on our Homefront section?

Initially, it was decided to put the rally coverage on our Homefront section because editors figured there wasn’t the same interest as in years past. But on the morning of the afternoon rally, the decision was made to place the coverage on page 1 and to focus the story on the apparent cooling of the immigrant rights debate.

Figuring more is better than less, two reporters and three photographers were assigned to coverage. Staff photographer Andy Sawyer shot video (see video) while photographer Kris Holland shot stills. I also shot stills but only for the first few minutes of the march so I could post a photo on www.yakimaherald.com while the march was going on to give up-to-the minute coverage.

Juana Duarte, left, and Maria Morfin carry an American flag as they lead a May Day march for immigrants' rights in Yakima, Wash. on Thursday, May 1. About 300 people turned out for the annual march, much lower turnout than in previous years. (AP photo/Yakima Herald-Republic, Gordon King)

As it turned out there were only a few hundred marchers and the protesters were few and stayed several blocks away from the march.

Despite the lack of information for more informed planning I think our our treatment was appropriate given the visibility of the marchers (several streets were blocked off for the parade) and the importance of immigration in our circulation area. Still, it’s always better to have as much information as possible when planning event coverage.

Julio Maren participates in the May Day march for immigrants' rights at Melinium Plaza Thursday, May 1, 2008.

–Gordon King

That Moment

I’m cool and collected when a 250-pound linebacker hurtles towards me on the sidelines. My heart doesn’t pound when faced with roaring flames in front of the camera. And my palms don’t sweat when I’m watching one of our local athletes win the race or break a personal record.

Not to say that none of these aren’t exciting, but there’s not the rush of adrenaline they once held for me. And I never would have expected that an assignment to photograph a girl receiving an oversized check could make me feel what all of these things don’t.

Last week, I was sent to photograph 18-year-old Sharon Reyna, a student at Toppenish’s Eagle Alternative School. Sharon had won a $10,000 scholarship for designing a greeting card and was going to find out the big news at an assembly of her fellow students as well as the teachers and mentors who have helped her.

Only those teachers, some school administrators, the man with the check, and the members of the media knew. As she walked in the door, I positioned myself to stand near her so I could get a reaction shot when she figured out that the assembly was for her.

As I waited, she joked with her peers. I remembered the uncertainty about how I was going to pay for college, and the huge difference an education made in my life and the lives of many young people. I knew that this money would be a life-changing event for Sharon, a door opening. I thought about how I would feel if a new world opened up suddenly before me, if a huge weight were taken off my shoulders, if a road of struggle suddenly became a little easier.

I was so excited for Sharon and as she started to figure out what was going on, I switched to auto focus so my shaking hands wouldn’t blur the picture, wanting to capture that moment, when hope becomes reality, when the future is, for a moment, bright and wide open.

– Sara Gettys

Looking for – and finding – an answer

While tailing a black Buick out to a Selah home near the Yakima Training Center to photograph an organized backyard fight, I couldn’t believe Yakima Herald-Republic writer Pat Muir and I had been given access to what appeared to be a semi-seedy, underground fight community.

There was a sense of secrecy around the location of the fight, the details were shady and I think both Pat and I felt like we could potentially be getting ourselves into a situation that could be difficult to get out of should something go awry.

However, as more time was spent with fighters “Vengeance” and “Nasty Rob” and the rest of the spotty cast, the more everyone relaxed. By the end of the day, the big question I kept coming back to was “what makes a person want to do this?” There’s no money involved, no belt or trophy and seemingly little glory

.
“It’s a huge rush” Vengeance said in a recorded interview with Pat. “You could probably compare it to being thrown off a plane… it’s exciting, there’s no feeling like it.” I guess I found my answer.

–Kris Holland

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Light, photo requests and the real world

It’s simple – without light we couldn’t do our jobs. But there’s good light and bad light. Bad light happens starting in late morning and runs through early afternoon. Good light happens the rest of the day.

That’s why I think picture taking should be banned between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Warm morning and afternoon and evening light can make a routine photo at least more interesting and in some cases, dramatic.

Children walking down a dirt road isn’t such an exciting photograph (the story was on the poor condition of the road). But shot at 7:30 a.m. the long shadows of the early morning light frame the youngsters and add character and shape to the potholes.

The same photo, shot at noon, would be dull as dishwater.
Another example of light transforming the routine into the dramatic is this photo of a horse:

The problem is, news and news photography doesn’t always happen between 3 p.m. and 9 a.m. so we often have to deal with harsh lighting (especially here in central Washington where the sun always seem to shine). We don’t like it but we deal with it.

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