I was around 18 during my KC Star copy clerk period, where I became the weekend “weather page” minion, pulling in stats and maps from multiple sources for the Sunday paper. I guess I appeared eager enough to learn and do, so I was lucky enough eventually to get little shooting assignments from the Star (and morning KC Times, which was still going strong then). Really, pursuing photography was the reason I wanted to do any job in the newsroom in the first place.
On days off from work or school I obnoxiously parked myself for hours near the desk of one of the reporters I got to know, waiting for something to happen. In those days there were no cubicles dividing up each office space (see below). You could see from one end of the newsroom to the other. My passive-aggressive, unblinking presence sort of prompted him to find something for me to do … somewhere, just out of his hair. But from him I actually got some of the best opportunities!
The nicest -but scariest- tough guy I knew was the photo editor for the Times. Maybe because I didn’t run out of the newsroom crying when he’d get angry about what photos or excuses I brought back, he saw that I wanted to learn? Not sure. I wasn’t going through the usual process of graduating from KU or MU journalism school, but he gave me lots of really great advice when I needed it (which was always), as well as little “chats” where he’d remind me about the professionalism and objectivity required.
He quietly explained he had one staff shooter who was absolutely the worst, technically speaking -barely knew how to operate a camera- but he always came back with something (like a photo of Elvis’ last KC concert from about halfway across the big arena). The other photo staffers were also very supportive of my ignorance, thankfully, and gave me timely advice.
Both papers gradually trusted me as a sort of “permanent freelancer“: it was amazing! To me, the best assignments I got from both papers came with backstage passes, where I could arrive early and scope out the best locations.
- Linda Ronstadt
- Alice Cooper
- Procol Harem
- The Eagles
- Pink Floyd
- The Dead Boys
- The Spinners
- Gino Vanelli
- Iggy Pop
- The Babies
- Yes
- Todd Rungren
- Roxy Music
- Electric Light Orchestra
- and Eddie Money
I was also assigned rich kid parties (very weird, that planet was), fashion show receptions, (not for the models but to get quick head shots of designers like Bill Blass and Mary McFadden), trendy teenager-fad activities like face portraits on a photocopy machine (ok, remember it was the late 70s), and technically-challenging high school football games played on very-dark Friday night football fields. Halogen bulbs hadn’t been born yet; same for LEDs, way out in the future.
Somehow I “got” to go to the St. Pius high school field a bunch of times, where the lights on the field were not as bright as the car headlights nearby on I-29. Back in those days we had to “push” Tri-X B&W film from its normal 400 ASA to 3200 and beyond in order to get something on the film usable enough to make a print where you could partially confirm that upright humans had been there, doing something.
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