I’m not trying to be philosophical, but life isn’t everything it can be if you don’t sometimes take chances. That’s why I’m out of the general assignment pool to cover primarily politics.
Risking my comfy general assignment position at the station isn’t what I set out to do, but I’d fallen into a rut of my own making (mostly by being considered a dependable news photographer).
One of my best qualities isn’t in how I shoot the news. In my opinion, my strength has been in my ability to always just get the job done.
That also extends to helping my fellow photographers get the job done. I’m someone who can be counted on to pick up their phone and help out with tech questions even while I’m racing towards a deadline.
Not everyone thinks like me, but if only one of us makes slot, then it’s still a fail.
Yeah, I have a bit of a hero complex (and a healthy dose of ego to go with it), but I love what I do (and sometimes, yes, I do actually swoop in and save the day).
Dave Bryan, our Political Reporter, was having trouble. He works nightside on a difficult deadline for an earlier show (9pm -vs- 10pm) and his stories are often more complicated and generally he gets twice as long (two and a half to three+ minutes) as most general assignment stories for the 9pm newscast.
We’re in the number two market in the country. Most photographers at our station can handle that workload, but I believe we can all agree, it’s not an easy assignment.
Nope, it’s not easy and it doesn’t take much of a bump in the road to derail an otherwise basic shoot, edit, liveshot type of night.
A while back, I volunteered a suggestion. Dave and I have been through a lot on the road covering politics. Our trip to both the Democratic and Republican conventions last year was one of my most epic assignments EVER! I get along with Dave and he’s always shown that he appreciates my work and abilities.
“F-BOMB, let me work with Dave every night.”
(Sorry, for the f-bomb, but sometimes that’s how I talk.)
Some people think I’m crazy. Others are just happy it’s no longer a rotation and they’re sort of dodging a bullet.
Surprisingly, there was some reluctance to take me out of the general assignment mix. There was a time when we had fewer resources for SNG (satellite truck) work and I do a lot of the training and I fill in for the Chief Photographer and, well, shucks, I guess I’m just a handy guy to have around.
Somebody in the chain of command decided to take a chance and give it a shot (or maybe Biljanic flipped a coin). So, long story not-quite-as-long, but not exactly short, covering politics with Dave Bryan has been my regular assignment since mid-December.
The stories have been pretty eclectic.
A marijuana initiative, Governor Brown, Sheriff Lee Bacca, the drought, President Obama, the Department of Water and Power and pretty much everything Dave has worked on in the last couple of months in the field is what my assignment has been.
Dave doesn’t usually do high speed chases, bear sightings or Justin Bieber.
Well, he would if the bear or Beiber were running for office, but I think you get the idea.
What’s it been like?
It has been weird (marijuana initiative) and cool (Yoko Ono sighting during a Mayor Garcetti interview at The Berverly Hills Hotel), but at least always interesting and all the stress and problems that have plagued Dave’s 9pm hit have gone away.
(Heh-heh, those first two examples are interchangeable.)
Have the problems really gone away? We still have problems and we make mistakes too. The problems maybe haven’t gone away so much as we’ve managed to squash them and make it on the air. No. Matter. What.
As for mistakes, well, hey, shut up you! (cough-cough, Melrose)
It’s not always pretty (I was dubbed the King of Funk for one particular home brewed on-air graphic), but Dave’s happy and I feel better about the work I’m doing now, more than I have been in a long time.
We don’t know how long this assignment will last. One thing about a news operation is that it’s always changing. We can worry about that or we can just get out there every day and Lord, try to do a good job.
Worry? Yeah, you know what? (F-BOMB it) We’re doing that second thing.