A Little News

I went to church last night and my pastor said something that reminded me of photojournalism. He was telling a story about a guy who found a beautiful flower growing in a crack between a building and a sidewalk in a large city. The guy is amazed at finding such a flower in such a place and has a “discussion” with the flower about why it is growing there. The guy says the flower should be in a garden or a field or somewhere to really showcase its beauty rather than in that crack. The flower says to the guy that it doesn’t know where there are any gardens or fields so it is just blooming where it is planted. Other than the oddity of a man conversing with a flower, it is a pretty illustrative story.

What a great metaphor for photojournalism. We so frequently equate success with working in a big city at a large newspaper that we can easily get distracted with our final destination and fail to make the most out of where we are today. I have probably touched on this before and will probably do so again so just bear with me. Where you are is not nearly as important as who you are. From the same message last night, our pastor said that is doesn’t matter what you are doing if what you are doing doesn’t matter. In other words, are you doing what you were created to do? If you are then the location is far less important than actually doing what you were made to do. The reason I am saying this is because it took me so very long to get over not working in a large market and trotting around the globe, or at least around the country. I kept looking beyond today and not really making the most out of where I was.

As life has turned out, I have only had two jobs in photojournalism. I began my career at The Daily Advance in Elizabeth City, North Carolina in a beautiful community by the Pasquotank River and not too far from the beaches of the Outer Banks. My next job, and still my current job, is The Decatur Daily in Decatur, Alabama. At the paper’s high water mark it was only about a 30,000 circulation paper on Sunday and it has all the pitfalls of a small newspaper. It also has some very nice things. Among those nice things is the fact that Decatur, and Hartselle where I live, is a great place to live and raise a family. I have my baby laying in the floor beside me even now while I am typing. He is our eighth child and it would be tough to find a better place to have a family than here. So is where I work more important or is how I work more important?

I think you will find that the conditions of life are pretty similar all across America. You will find good, bad and ugly mixed in slightly different proportions in any city, town, village or county in the nation. Granted, they are more concentrated in big cities but so is the traffic and the cost of living is through the roof. The key to a happy life is to find a job you like working with people you like living in a community you like. Ambition is great just don’t let it drive you crazy. Be ambitious where you are and aggressively pursue your dream. You just never know what you will find around the next corner in your little corner of the world. If you get the opportunity to live and work in a big city by all means go for it. If you are in a smaller place, find the stories that make your town what it is and tell those stories. You will find that the people I report on in Decatur, Alabama are not all that different from people that the NY Times or Washington Post reports on.

I would like to think that I have the talent to move on to a bigger newspaper. I have not locked out the idea of moving on to another location and have even tried once or twice in the past few years. But I have learned a few things about community and friendships and family that make the location where I am working far less important than the fact that I am working in the job I was created to work in. For you guys who are students, get those internships, as many as possible at the best places possible and do all you can to get to your dream. For you guys who are like me and have worked for years in small newspapers just remember that you can do anything you want to do in photojournalism right where you are but it is really up to you to make the most out of your opportunities. Make friends, live your life and do your work keeping the main thing in focus in your life.

About the photo: I shot this very nice portrait of a lady and her mare on an assignment about the mare nursing an orphaned calf. The calf has become too aggressive for the mare and the lady now nurses the calf with a bottle. This photo didn’t fit the assignment and didn’t get published but it was really my favorite from the shoot. As it pertains to this post it is just an example of the excellent moments you can come across no matter where you are as long as you are looking for them.

Photo copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.