Look Past The Obvious

DQ Down in Flames

Don't let the action distract you from getting the real story or the real picture.

A big lesson came from a blunder I made covering a Dairy Queen that burned. Everyone made it out safely after a griddle fire got out of control, so this was just basic coverage of a business going down in flames. I arrived on the scene quickly and as my nature is, begun immediately popping off a few pictures of firefighters and smoke. Tip: When you arrive on scene of anything, be it a fire or a retirement party, you want to shoot the first few good things you can in case the situation or mood changes and there is nothing good to photograph two minutes later. You can get better pictures later. By the way, I always use a long lens when shooting accident, fires and incidents – remember the Ninja ability of invisibility?

Continuing, after taking my initial shots I snuggled next to two women in the parking lot wearing Dairy Queen uniforms and chatted with them about what happened. Note: Always identify yourself in a friendly way when you approach people to get information. It is bad practice to gather information from people when they don’t know you are a reporter and what they say may appear in print. I jotted down the information from the women about the griddle and shot a couple more pictures of the firefighters going in and out of the smoke. While I shot, one of the women with her hand to her mouth remarked mournfully “What are we going to do, Deb? Where are going to work?”

I wished them luck and hurried back to the office to work on my pictures and story.

It wasn’t until the paper was printed and I read my story that I thought, “What a dumbass I am!” I did not see though walls like a Ninja. I covered the obvious and I let the action distract me from the real story. What I should have featured in my report was standing right next to me and I missed it. I needed to tell the story about the two women. What was it like working at that DQ? How important to them was that job? What are they feeling watching their livelihood go up in smoke? Had I done that, the story would have really rocked the reader and might have even helped those two women get new employment, but I blew it by letting the action keep me from seeing the real story. Fail.

The same is true with a sport event. Sure, you get the picture of the football player crossing the goal line and all that obvious stuff, but don’t forget to look around for the real story – the excitement, the conflict and the passion.

When shooting sports I often capture the action and immediately turn to my note book to record jersey numbers, scores and details, but I noticed in doing so I sometimes missed the chance to get a picture of the drama, excitement and intensity of the game. One time I made a determined effort not to quit when the action stopped and it played off big time.

It was a women’s softball playoff game and I was shooting from the dugout. After coming from behind and tying the game in the last inning, a batter put down a beautiful bunt to score a runner from third. I anticipated the play and got a great shot of the slide at home with dust flying as she scored the winning run. However, I purposefully kept the camera to my face and stepped out from the shelter of the dugout and literally said to the back of my camera, “Wait for it. Wait for it.” And it came. The girl hopped up from the slide and leaped high with her fist slugging the air and both legs behind her and let out a wide-eye scream. I captured the picture at the perfect moment leaping in the air and the disappointed catcher kneeling in the background. The dugout emptied, “We won! We won!” and I hopped up and down, “I got the shot! I got the shot!”