Sure, it's just a dated photo - but this rather Seinfeldian snapshot features a few dear friends I still miss and emulate. You might say they were my mentors, but at the time I didn't think of them that way. Instead, they were my competitors; two photogs and a reporter from across the street. But they were so much more, for their collective guidance made me the news dork I am today. I don't know if I should send flowers or file a lawsuit, so instead I'll try and recall what each of them gave me.
Paul Dunn taught me how to shoot a walkdown, how to talk your way up a widow's porch how to blend in among the junkies and flatfoots that populate the world of Cop Shop reporting.
Woody Spencer taught me how to shoot - but strictly by example. Night after night I'd watch his version of a story we'd both shot and weep openly at all my missed opportunities. It was Woody who first explained to me what NPPA stood for, Woody who awed me with the power of the tripod. Though no longer behind the TV lens, his eye is still legendary Downeast and I consider my self lucky to have studied under him. And then there's
Carolyn. Then a Kusbit, now a Dunn, forever a Yankee Paul's wife and professional partner taught me that no matter how many trick shots I pulled off in a piece, no matter which police dispatcher I'd sweet-talked at lunch, no matter how deftly I'd chopped my spot, it didn't mean dick unless my facts were straight and my delivery clear. Thanks guys, I haven't forgotten a thing. Nor have I failed to notice I'm the only one still in the business. Perhaps there's a lesson plan you failed to share with me...
Thanks for nuthin!
4 comments:
I read this one and was transported back in time to my days at the circle 7 in Miami. Two people there helped me go from a schlub to a guy that could tell a story. Mark Londner a reporter whose words could make any story sing but who always said the pictures drove the words not the other way around. I traveled with him all over the world and it was always amazing what he could do with the stuff I would give him. He lost a battle with cancer and the TV News world is worse off because of it. The other is now a PR flack at Los Alamos. But in our younger days he was the guy that I wanted to out shoot every day. Who would tell the better story was the contest that was decided every night at 6. It was a jury of 2 but we were our toughest critics. Those days were some 16-17 years ago but everytime I hit that record button I use what I learned from two of the best
Oh, STEW....i feel like crying, and not just because you posted a horrendous photo of me on your blog. What was I WEARING?
I remember the day that photo was taken...you helped us move into our first home...which we still live in...hell, at least its paid for.
I was in K-town last week - hung out w/Woody, talked to a bunch of the cops we used to meet on crack street at dawn on occasion...those street cops are now majors with mortgages and families...so you see, we've all moved on.
But you will forever be tied up in my memories of those years...
Dude, I had hair! ... I had hair!!!
You and me both, buddy.
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