Welcome

From Marywood to WNEP, I have to say it has been a wild ride. Never ever in a million years did I think one day I would be doing this photojournalism thing. I'm not as good as my fellow colleagues at the station, not even good enough to carry their sticks. But, I keep learning every day. It has been a strange road in my two years in broadcasting, and I want to share with you my experiences.

We might as well start from the beginning. I was hired as a Video Coordinator on April 17, 2011, the eve of my 21st birthday. WNEP was transitioning from SD to HD and I knew how to edit on Final Cut Pro, which was what we would be implementing once we went HD.

Sounds like an easy transition, right?

Not so much.

I had much to learn before this transition. Journalism 101 and Broadcasting 101 can teach you the basics, but you have to actually be there and experience being in news setting to actually get what was going on. The first few months were tough, but I guess I was coming along on the editing side of things. That's when my role slightly changed.

On one Sunday evening in July of 2011, our two photographers were on opposite ends of our viewing area gathering stories when a fire hit a horse barn outside Clarks Summit. This wasn't a normal structure fire that you'll see on your 6PM newscast. It was a big, big fire. Horses were trapped, hundreds of firefighters from dozens of companies involved. Our producer had no choice but to send old junior here to the fire. I only handled our news cameras once, my first day on the job just months earlier. A month later, we got new cameras.

Great. What do I do now?

I've only played around with a hand held camera you can purchase from any department store. I had no classes on cameras, no idea what any of the buttons or switches were for, or what their function was. All I knew was that I needed a white balance, hit record, and hold my shot.

That day was a learning experience for sure. I had no idea what I was doing. Our dayside photographer followed me to the scene and told me what I had to do. WBRE, our competitors were there, so I just figured I would follow them and figure it out. It wasn't too bad.

The scene: pure chaos.

The video: not great, but good enough for the first time.

The experience: worthwhile.

I saw so much that night. Horses crying out in pain from their burns, their owners searching for their pet, and firefighters exhausted from the hours of fighting flames. I'll never forget that night, but what I did not know was that I'd fall in love with this profession called photojournalism.

More to come - DS

http://lackawannacounty.wnep.com/news/news/barn-fire-injures-horses-some-missing/61711