Community – 2007

2007 has been a hectic year for the Tribune photographers. Trolley Square shooting, Jazz going all the way to the Western Conference Finals, most of the state burning up in summer wildfires, the Crandall Canyon coal mine disaster, the Warren Jeffs trial. I can’t remember a busier year. We hired two new photo editors. We lost two photographers. Ryan Galbraith left the Tribune after 17 years. And now Danny Chan La has stepped away after a decade with the paper. For our tight family of photographers, these were tough events. Because it doesn’t happen. Once you’ve earned a spot on our staff, you’ve earned a rare rank and people just don’t leave. In fact, the last photographer to leave before 2007 did so way back in 1995. The staff at the competing Deseret Morning News has a similar stability in their photo staff.
This is what Danny looks like.
At the end of Danny’s last shift, we gathered at the Bayou to honor Mr. Chan La and the service he rendered to you, the readers of the Tribune. It was a small group of close friends. Even Ryan showed up, and it was good to see him. He left the paper so quick that we didn’t have time to give him a proper send off.
This is what Ryan looks like.
In the amber light of the tavern with drinks in hand (ranging from water to a bottle of the “fruity beer” Pete’s Strawberry Blonde), we smiled, laughed, made photographs, and repeatedly broke our own, “no talking about work” rule.