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After five months of editing I’m about to go back to shooting full time. One constant was the high quality of work put in by the Tribune’s photographers. I’d like to thank them for their efforts. The work turned in has repeatedly blown me away. Here is a set of favorite photographs (one from each Tribune photographer) that has, as one friend would say, “melted my face off…” I called Paul Fraughton off an assignment so he could race to the scene of a stabbing where he took this powerful photograph of Jack Pankow comforting his son Tracy, whose twin brother was stabbed to death in the parking lot of a Dollar Store. Such a tragic story. Paul’s photograph makes me feel like I was there at the scene, watching and feeling this family’s pain. It hurts. I will never forget this image and how sad I felt when I first saw it. Our newest photographer, Djamila Grossman, has the freshest eye. Going through her work from any assignment I’m left stunned, wondering how she comes up with her unique points of view. This photo was from a bison roundup on Antelope Island. Like most of her assignments she came back with not just one, but several wonderful photographs to choose from. Rick Egan spent multiple days in August covering the desert search for suspected cop-killer Scott Curley. Here, Deputy Eric Houston scans the horizon. Rick is amazing to work with, always willing to drop everything and go wherever we need him to without a single word of complaint. Not even a sigh. Amazing. Scott Sommerdorf captured a humorous juxtaposition at a SWAT standoff. But aside from the humor, this photograph brings home the danger that innocents face in potentially violent situations like this one. Scott puts a lot of thought into his work and it pays off for us constantly. We often pigeonhole Francisco Kjolseth as being our resident studio and portrait expert. He is that, but he also shoots the pants off of any other type of assignment. Francisco made this frame at an immigration press conference that was thoroughly hijacked by the opposition. Chris Detrick found a great angle and dramatic light while photographing Todd Hageman and others competing in the Tour of Utah Prologue. Hey Chris, what a shame we didn’t get on any mountain bike trails together this summer! Once the snow melts we’ll put rubber to dirt.

Al Hartmann is a machine. Every day he is our first photographer on duty and our go-to guy for breaking news. I love the sense of danger in this frame. Even so, I had a hard time deciding between this shot and the one he took moments later, when the exhausted and sweaty firefighters poured water onto their faces in an attempt to cool down. Steve Griffin hit a home run with this photo from a rally at the state capitol when California’s Proposition 8 was overturned. Beautiful light, the rainbow, etc. Very cool, just like all of his work is. But I’m not supposed to talk about Steve so we’ll quickly move on…

Leah Hogsten takes some of my favorite photos. Looking at her work you can tell that she is often in perfect tune with her subjects, able to put them at ease and anticipate what the best photograph or moment will be. This was her take of a lemonade stand in Draper. It was one of my first days in the editorial meeting when I put this up on the screen and the reaction was incredible. We loved it. Are any of my colleagues reading this? Now that I’ve buttered you up, anyone want to trade for my Friday night shift? Just kidding. Thanks for all you’ve done…