Defending Our Castle

Sports photography is in a golden age. With today’s equipment I often come away from a single college football game with more portfolio-quality photographs than I could have taken in an entire season twenty years ago. And after a game I want you to see those photographs. You do, too. I’ve heard from many of you on sidelines across the state. I was especially struck by one opinion from someone who works with one of the top teams in the state. They said they wanted to see photos on the page rather than illustrations. (I’m keeping this source anonymous since it was essentially a private conversation.) They complained to me that the team went to great lengths to give us extra access to players, we made great portraits, and the result was often a small mugshot in the paper next to an illustration of a ball of flames or some other piece of clip art. Over the past few years the Tribune has begun to rely on more illustration than it did in the past. Especially on the sports page, where the presentation of “sports-talk” types of topics has become more common. For example, if there’s a big football game coming up, you might see the big ball of flames, a panic button, or a golden egg on the page instead of a great photograph of the key players. What can I say? The way things work at the paper right now is that I shoot an assignment, send in my best work, and that’s it. The golden egg is out of my hands. A sense of humor helps ease the pain when your best work isn’t seen. A few weeks ago a friend uncovered a beautiful photo by Erich Hartmann in the archives of the famous Magnum Photo Agency, showing a boy reading The Salt Lake Tribune back in 1959. It was a great find and reminded me of the important role that documentary photojournalism plays in our collective history. A few hours later, another version of the photo popped into my in box, showing what the rest of the scene may have looked like: Thanks for the smile.