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My Deseret News and Church News Internship
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Tag Archives: Sports
Day 32
Today was a busy day, it started with a trip to Post Falls High School regarding the Post Falls school levy that will be voted on soon. My assignment was to take a photo of the gym being used because one of the plans if the levy is passed is to build PFHS an auxiliary gym because of overcrowding.
Next, there were a few “just get them done” assignments. One was to find people enjoying the sun, another was for a story on the rising gas prices, and another was for a new wood stove regulation. I needed to get these all done by around 4:30 because I had an appointment with a place called Summit Cider to photograph the preparations for the grand opening this weekend. I also got a stand alone of some city workers trimming the trees near McEuen Park.
Day 28
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.
Day 26
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.
Day 25
It was the first Saturday that I’ve worked here at the Press and it started out really weird! When I walked in the employee entrance all the lights were off, I was expecting it to be a joke! There was no one working, so I got to my desk and thank goodness there is a window in my cubicle because I didn’t know where the light switch was. A little bit later I got a text from the reporter that was working and she asked if I was on my way to the legislative meeting down at the library… I was never told a time so I wasn’t on my way, but it was just down the street and I figured I’d go a few minutes early so I could walk. It was a legislative meeting alright.
Next on the agenda was a gymnastics event happening down at the resort, apparently there were athletes from 11 states and also a bunch of locations in Canada. That was really fun to see, but gymnastics photos are tricky to take! Very different from the other sports that I’ve shot. I went yesterday too and determined to go back because I didn’t like any of my photos. This time I got some that I liked alright.
Thinking that since Shawn was still gone and it was still only me taking photos, I went to look for a stand alone after the gymnastics thing. It was a really sunny day and so I went down by the beach and the City Park to look for people. I found this guy with a metal detector and a go-pro on his head looking for stuff in the park and so I got a photo of him, he was actually pretty nice.
Day 24
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.
Day 21
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.
Day 20
Today was a hard day, everyone has those days where you wonder if you are cut out for what you want to do and today was mine. I went to the funeral for Chuck Buck of Buck Knives and also to the Chocolate Affair, later I covered an the wrestling finals at NIC.
Day 19
Woah, today was a really busy day for a change! Crazy busy in fact, but it was a good change, that morning meeting business is working out. Shawn said that he would rather have too much and not need it all than have too little and have to run file photos. I agree. My day started out with a feature portrait for the NIBJ of the KTEC (Kootenai Technical Education Campus) student of the month, this was about an hour earlier than I usually start, which was fine, and Emma got to come with me because we had to go straight to the location; she’s such a champ for putting up with me!
After the portrait, I was walking from the parking lot to the front doors of the Press and I heard a jackhammer next door at the construction site so I went over for a second and got a photo of him. When I got in, I was given another assignment to go follow up on a story that was written for the business section and take a few photos of the location putting up their sign, this is for a super uppity car wash going in off of US-95, that was pretty cool to see, it gave me a mild heart attack though when I got there because I thought I had missed it. I saw their electronic display was already up and I thought that was the sign Shawn was talking about; thank goodness I was wrong.
Next I was off to look for a few things, either a city cop pulling someone over, parking on the side of the road to radar, or a busy street. I first had lunch with Emma like I do every day but this time she came with me on a “ride along,” it was really nice having her with me! During lunch though, Shawn called and let me know of another assignment to check up on before 3pm, it was 1pm. There is some possibly changing legislature regarding the concealed carry laws in Idaho and he told me to see if I could schedule something with the sheriff’s office to get a photo… I called, they forwarded me to the lieutenant and he wasn’t there so I left a message (so did Shawn) and he never got back to us. I guess that happens sometimes though. So back to the traffic or the cop, I figured that the chances of me finding a cop pulling someone over were going to be pretty lean, so I got the busy street first and then figured we could look around for police.
Time got away from me and it ended up being time for a “sportrait” that I had scheduled for a feature regarding brothers on the same basketball team. That was tricky without lighting, we are awaiting the go-ahead to get some lighting for the press and it, i guess, has been a long time coming, regardless, it will be nice when it gets here.
I resolved that we’d just head back to the Press but in driving back I still wanted to keep my eyes out for police, amongst silent prayers that I would be able to find something, I spotted some police lights… a lot of police lights. Emma and I drove over to see what was going on and there were probably eight squad cars, police and sheriff, police boats (it was over at the marina), a fire truck and a crowd of people. I pulled up right behind Shawn’s car and I was glad that the situation was already being covered however I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of my own. Apparently some guy decided he didn’t want to live anymore and so he was trying to freeze himself to death in the lake, he had been there for over an hour; he had to have had some mental disorder or maybe he was on some crazy drug because he was raging and twitching, just freaking out. It was crazy to witness, but not long after I got there the police got him out. I hope he recovers.
Also, kind of big news, AP wanted a couple of the photos that I took for the LGBT weddings story that we did back on the 30th. Cool! They will be using them in a weekend story that they will be doing on the chapel. this hasn’t ever happened before so I’m not sure what to expect but I still think that it is pretty cool.
Day 15
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.
Day 12
Today was a late start for me at the press due to some errands I had to run in the morning, but when I finally got there I was given an assignment to go back to Hayden and shoot some photos of a kids tennis workshop given by former French Open winner Luke Jensen. That was a lot of fun but also a little challenging. There weren’t too many kids and the few that there were, were all over the place and so it took a little bit for me to get my bearings so I could get some shots of them interacting with Jensen and good layering of the kids. Eventually I got it, however I need to get better at anticipating the shots I want…I guess that comes with experience.
Day 10
I started out today with the fourth and fifth-graders of Bryan Elementary. It was really fun! The school put on a Seahawks themed lunch for the kids and they were encouraged to wear their favorite sports team jersey and hat. We wanted to get some photos of the event in anticipation of the super bowl and show some Seahawks pride, and those kids were loving the chance to show their pride.
The next assignment that I had the chance to go to was for a story on an up and coming LGBT and alternative wedding chapel. This one was particularly difficult for me in particular because of my beliefs toward marriage. I believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that is the way it should be; just because the world’s standards are changing, doesn’t invalidate the things that God has said. I in no way shape or form feel like people of a different sexual orientation are less than human or should be treated as such, but my beliefs on the matter are with what God has said about the subject. I’ll leave it at that. As was my assignment however, I got the photos I needed for the story and we left. Feeling like a minority but proud to be so.
Day 9
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.
Day 7
You know, one of the best things about doing my internship as a photojournalist is that I get to go out each day and take photos of all sorts of things, I love it! Today the first assignment was pretty simple, today is a foggy day, go out and find people doing things in the fog. The editor was doing a story about the abnormally warm weather in contrast with the East Coast currently, they wanted a shot of the fog and also the sun later in the day. So that’s what I did, and it was really fun! I love walking around in the fog so that made it all the better.
Later, the basketball team from North Idaho College was going to the Boys and Girls Club to play with the kids, and so we went to that and got some shots of the kids interacting with the team; it was like a war-zone in there.
Today was also a big answer to an on-going prayer. Each day I have been praying to see an improvement in my photography, to be a little better than the day before. That’s what this internship is all about for me, sure it’s to learn the details of how a paper works and how to be a photojournalist for a daily paper, but it is also to bring my technique and my skill up to the next level. Today I took a shot of a couple yogi’s enjoying the foggy morning and I thought it was good, but didn’t really pay too much attention to it. Fast forward to around 4pm, Mike (the boss) was in the photojournalist’s cubicle and he spied the photo on my screen. It caught his eye and he was very vocal about how much he liked it, and that spread like fire. My mentor Shawn also was really vocal about it, saying how blown away he was and then a few more people came in to check it out and congratulate me on the shot! I was shocked. It felt really good to have all those people like my photo but most of all it was wonderful to have my mentor notice my improvement. God hears and answers prayers.
Day 1
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.