drag king

We've got a staff photo column starting soon, highlighting diversity in our community -- in all its various forms. I'm really excited about the opportunity to finally start putting myself in situations to make good pictures again.

Part of this feeling comes from the fact that this column is all about seeking out interesting subjects with good stories behind them. And unlike daily assignments, which often leave me wanting more - visually - this column will be what I make of it.

what if

I should start by saying that I love the idea of newspapers. Of documenting the community. Of witnessing history and recording it. Of informing. Of challenging.

But recently I've been a little disappointed with the reality of them.

Maybe this happens in other professions, too. But I notice it more in the one I'm deeply entrenched in. But lately, there seems to be a shift towards quantity over quality. A question about keeping up with the Joneses the youtubes the TV stations. A certain satisfaction in settling for mediocrity.

Sometimes I wonder about life after newspapers. The great what if. The scariest being: What if being a newspaper photographer has done irrevocable damage to my spirit and stunted my growth as a photojournalist?

Lazy Days

I think this photo looks like I felt this afternoon.

two cool cats

Ever go to a zoo and wonder who's watching whom?

At Tampa's zoo, new white tigers Nikki and Yala are venturing out into their exhibit further and further each day as they get comfortable with their new surroundings. The zookeepers did some enrichment to draw the tigers out and introduce them to the media. I had no desire to go sit back in the office, so instead I hung out for a while and watched the big cats watching the people and the people watching them. And the whole time I think I had Rebecca Norris Webb's The Glass Between Us on my brain.

At one point a little boy asked me why the tiger kept coming closer and closer to the glass, and I told him it's because little kids taste good.

bubble

Advice

"My advice to you is this: make something you love. You love to make things, feel best when you're creating something you feel has value, even if only to you. Tap into the vein again, as many tries as it takes. Find that place where the world blurs by, and it's just you and and your project in pure creation mode." -- Leslie Harpold