Today I had another fun assignment, there were some high-schoolers from an AP environmental stewardship class working together with the BLM to plant a native plants garden at the BLM’s Blackwell Island recreation area. This was just a stand alone set.
Shawn was off today and so I had a long day ahead of me. There was a keynote speaker that I needed to get at the resort but first, Emma has had me printing out photos of the cities that we’ve lived in or visited that I’d taken; so I went up on top of the parking structure at the resort and got some shots of the city for the set that I’m printing. After the keynote speaker I went on a tour with one of our reporters to Titan Spring. Some students with the STEM after school program took a tour to see the facility and get information about possible jobs and internships. They needed a couple for daily and then a couple for the NIBJ. And yet again, there was basketball.
Today was a nice but challenging day I went to a dress rehearsal for a youth play Pocahontas. It was challenging because I’d never shot a play like that before… but I learned that I can’t be afraid to get in people’s faces if I have to, they’ll usually live through the experience. And then there was basketball.
The first assignment of the day was actually pretty fun! Not that they aren’t usually, but I didn’t think I’d ever photograph a welding competition. This made for some fun photos, the shooting of those photos was pretty tricky though, I had to wear a welding hood so I couldn’t really see my camera and that meant I had to spray and pray. After sorting through the mass of photos I got a couple good shots. Next it was time for an update on the construction of Winton Elementary which is scheduled for completion at the end of this year. I feel like I’ve shot more construction photos lately than anything else… but that’s ok, the environment and the lines, dynamic lighting and unusual subject matter can be really fun some times. And then, there was basketball.
Oh, and I shot our vending machine.
Today was AWESOME! Prayers answered. It started out with Jeff, one of the reporters, telling me that the construction next door was a few months ahead of schedule. Shawn and I went promptly out to the site and took some photos and got some video. When we got back inside, he let me know that I could use Tess’ camera and her key and her parking spot, and lenses… wow. I was a tad overwhelmed but stoked! A 1Dx and a 24-70mm f/4 make for way sharper photos and better low light performance, and I’m all for that! So, like I said, today was off to a really good start, then I was off to a health awareness activity at Lakes Middle School. I then went to Cricket’s Restaurant to try and find someone with a dog, they were having a viewing party for the best in show dog show. That was on my way to basketball. It was Lakeland vs. Lake City tonight. The best part about the day though was that I felt like I had improved.
At the end of the day yesterday Shawn asked me if I could cover basketball today and of course I said yes, I want to improve everyday so any chance I get to do so I’m going to take. Basketball games happen late and so since I was covering the game I also came in late which was nice; sleeping in doesn’t happen much but when it does it’s wonderful!
When I got to the Press however there was a lot noise next door from the construction guys so I went over to check it out. They had a huge gravel truck and the whole thing was on a remote control! I’m sure it’s not that new of a thing, but I’d never seen anything like that before, I felt myself having little kid envy wanting to drive the giant RC car! Sadly that didn’t happen. So I went about my business snapping photos. The worker in the blue hard hat came up to me afterwords and he asked me if I had to “develop” all those. I then told him that it was all digital so it was pretty easy. He then told me that his wife worked in circulation at the Press and that I should print one of him and give it to her so she could have it at her cubicle. I thought that was a pretty funny idea so I made her a draft print and delivered it.
Next, some hours later came the basketball game. This was the first round of the 5A district 1 Tournament and it was between Lake City and Post Falls High Schools. To be completely honest, basketball after the Fight for the Fish game just isn’t the same… no one dresses up, there is hardly any noise, there’s way less people. But it wasn’t so bad I guess. There were a lot of pretty good falls and I almost got hit by the ball and players a few times and that was pretty fun! Now, it time for another nice weekend.
Much like yesterday, today had a slow start. There were no photo assignments until late and so we went out to look again for stand-alones and Seahawks fans, none of which I found… however I did get the idea to ask a few hair cutting places if they had given any hair “tattoos” for Seahawks fans. I didn’t get anything right away but there was a salon in Post Falls that did one a few days ago and she will be sending us a photo.
The first thing we did was to hook up the video equipment and go over to the construction site next door and take some more photos but introduce video this time. We’re slowly building a pretty good collection of photos for that feature.
After a little time went by, one of the reporters hurries over to our cubicle and tells us in an excited voice, he just heard over the scanner that someone was walking around City Park with an assault rifle. Shawn sent Tess and I to check it out making sure we kept our distance, Mike (the boss) even wanted to come and make sure everyone would be ok. Turns out we didn’t find who was described, but we did find the person that might have been mistaken as one carrying an assault rifle. She, by that time was looking innocently through a spotting scope on her tripod, down the beach at some seagulls. We figured that’s probably what was mistaken at a distance for the weapon.
When we got back to the press, Shawn asked if I was ready for some wrestling, I of course said sure! So he sent me off to photograph the match between Coeur d’Alene and Lake City High Schools. This was the first time that I had photographed wrestling and it was pretty fun! It hurt the knees just like basketball, but it is a little slower so it’s easier to compose and plan out shots, at least in theory. And that was my day, again, filled with prayer and learning; this is a great experience.
Today my mentor came back to work! Also, the other press photographer had recovered from her 24 hour bug and she was back too! Today was a low key day, nothing too crazy happened. I started out the day taking a photo of a “check passer,” this is what we call it when one group or individual donates money to an organization or business in the community. The next assignment was a feature story about a high school senior who was just named Youth of the Year at the boys and girls club of Kootenai County. And that was pretty much it for today… except for when I forgot one of my lenses at the check passing and didn’t realized I’d left it there until I was on my way to the second shoot 3 hours later… it was still there thank goodness.
Coeur d’Alene Press Photojournalism Internship
FISH FIGHT
One of the loudest places that I have ever been was not a rock show, it was not Monster Jam, but it was at a high school basketball game. The rival schools of Lake City and Coeur d’Alene battle in a combination basketball game/spirit competition for a fish that the winning school gets to display as a trophy, showing their superior school spirit.
This was one of the first assignments that I was given as an intern. My mentor and I were there to get some action shots of the game, some celebration shots of the students and also of the school winning the fish. This was a fun assignment, it was a little challenging for me because I don’t have much experience shooting sports but a great learning experience. Next time I will for sure need some ear plugs.