"Did You (I) Work Hard Enough Today...?" July 4th. 2009 Weekend.

I occasionally find myself wondering if I've put enough into an assignment, workday, week, personal-project, whatever. You get the idea. This isn't a field where you can second guess your techniques and beliefs in creating images, and certainly not your equipment. Most of the time I have a finished image in my mind from a particular event, or some version of what I'm trying to accomplish. Working through this past 4th. of July weekend, I was faced with a broad range of assignments and picture possibilities, and choose to attack each opportunity aggressively.

Not to mention the nearly 400 miles I drove on Friday & Saturday to / from assignments. Saturday afternoon also allowed me to coordinate a freelancer's coverage up north in Sullivan County of an abducted baby case, which in turn developed into a story where the young father has now been charged with attempted murder. It's a good thing that our guy was available, and acting on instinct; I made the call from the newsroom on the holiday "to get him going..." Just like my old days on the photo desk at the NY Daily News, as an assignment editor a few years ago.
The longer I work in this business and continue to meet the daily challenges of being a newsphotographer, I continually realize the hurdles we face and have to overcome, sometimes literally at a moment's notice.
You know, stuff that doesn't show up in the boxscore, if you will. -cg.