424 hours as a photojournalist

424 hours as a photojournalist My summer working for the herald publishing company

First, a bit of background: Iowa State requires every journalism, PR and advertising student to complete a 400-hour professional media internship before they graduate. Although I interned with Iowa Public Television for well over 400 hours last summer, it didn't count toward the requirement because I hadn't completed all of the prerequisite classes. I knew I needed another internship the next summer, so I decided to change course a bit and apply for photo positions at various newspapers across the country.

I landed a job at the Herald Publishing Company, a family-owned newspaper organization that runs seven newspapers throughout west-central Iowa. I primarily worked for two weekly newspapers: the Guthrie Center Times (Guthrie Center) and the Guthrie County Vedette (Panora), but occasionally had photos published in the Carroll Daily Times Herald, Jefferson Bee and the Adair County Free Press.

I used this summer as an opportunity to see what being a photojournalist in a small town would be like and I truly had no idea what to expect.

It turned out to be one of the best summers of my life. Here are some photos and a little bit of background of what I've been up to for the past 93 days.

My first real* assignment for the Guthrie Center Times was covering the 2A district track meet at Panorama High School in Panora. I am very familiar with how the sport of track works, as I participated in the sport for four years so I'm also comfortable with photographing it. So I decided that I wanted to challenge myself. After all, Tom Knapp, a freelance photojournalist for the Herald Publishing Company, was also there to take photos (just in case I happened to screw up I think). I decided to look for interesting angles and lighting as I knew Tom would be solely focusing on the action shots. The sun was setting fairly quickly, so I knew I needed to act pretty fast. I turned toward the bleachers and saw this group of spectators perfectly silhouetted against the yellow sky. (* I say first real assignment because my first actual assignment was a check presentation- very boring).

Five days after my first day, my boss, Ashley Schable, sent me a text the morning of Monday, May 16th to say that there had been an overnight house fire in Guthrie Center. I was in Des Moines at the time, so I arrived on scene approximately 10 hours after the fire department arrived on scene. She didn't know the address, so I just drove around town with my windows rolled down to find it. I came to the top of a hill and saw at least a dozen fire trucks, so I knew that had to be it. I still didn't know what to expect, but when I turned the corner, I saw the remains of what looked to be a big house and my jaw dropped. There was ash the size of my hand in yards a block away from the scene, and smoke from remaining hot spots was perfuming the sky. I began by taking photos a good distance away from the police tape, as I was new to the city and didn't know any of the firefighters or law enforcement officials. I spent an hour on scene, slowly making my way around the perimeter of the remains of the house. Shortly after I got to the scene, the Department for Criminal Investigation also arrived. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the house fire was deemed as arson, and two girls were killed in the fire, but only one body had been accounted for.

Coincidentally enough, later that evening, I heard sirens wail down the highway. I thought they were heading back to the scene, so I immediately jumped into my car and followed them. Turns out they were on their way to Panora (7 miles away from Guthrie Center) to aid in another house fire. Luckily this one wasn't fatal, but the scene was somewhat chaotic because multiple fire departments had been called (the Guthrie Center and Panora fire departments were on scene at the fire in Guthrie Center for well over 12 hours, and were exhausted).

State track was basically a repeat of Drake Relays. It was cold, rainy yet a lot of fun. I shot alongside Jeff Storjohann (the photo editor at the Carroll Daily Times Herald) and Tom Knapp. Between the three of us, we were covering at least a dozen schools within the Herald Publishing Company's coverage area, so we stayed busy. However, I found myself shooting other races as well. I captured this shot at the end of Anna and Marie Hostetler's historic 3,000-meters. They finished first and second and the whole stadium erupted in cheers.

This is a prime example of being in the right place at the right time. South Central-Calhoun's Kody Case totally wiped out during his handoff in the boys' sprint medley relay at the state track meet. But, it was still a legal handoff!

A lot of my assignments in May involved taking photos of activities that elementary school kids were taking part in. This particular photo is of "STEM Day" at Guthrie Center Elementary School. The kids were learning about different professions in the STEM fields, and Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright was teaching them about his job and how to be safe. A little background on Marty (I'll go into further detail later on!): he knows EVERYONE in Guthrie County. So when he saw me taking photos, he came up to me afterward and introduced himself and questioned me about what I was doing/who I work for/what my deal was etc. He told me to stop by and visit him sometime, but I kind of just shrugged it off because I thought he was kidding. Little did I know that he would become a good friend of mine later in the summer.

Stormy evenings were something that I was never actually assigned to take photos of, but I always turned them in anyway. This was the first one I shot, and the way the sun was illuminating the fields and the contrast between the dark sky and the bright stop sign was straight out of a dream. I must have spent 20 minutes in the middle of the intersection taking photos.

I think I must have photographed what felt like 100 field days in the span of a week and a half. So much fun.

Memorial Day services in small towns are a BIG DEAL. I swear, the whole town was there.

Apparently people in small towns are also VERY passionate about proper flag care. One assignment I had was to literally walk around town and photograph flags that were torn, soiled or dirty.

Chuck Grassley rolled into town on the last day of May for one of his annual 99-county town hall stops. The small meeting room in the Guthrie County Courthouse was tiny, I think it's only meant to hold 40-50 people but by the time the event started, at least 80 passionate Iowans filled the room. It got *very* heated from both sides of the aisle.

One of my favorite stories I worked on during the summer was one I pitched about all of the public areas in the counties where people can enjoy the great outdoors. This campground- Nation's Bridge- is located just north of Stuart, and is one of my favorite places in the county. There's a lot of trees with excellent hammock potential and the campgrounds have a lot of wide open spaces.

Roast and Ride was quite the experience. For those of you who aren't familiar with the annual event, it's essentially a political rally that consists of a motorcycle ride from Des Moines to Boone, followed with lots of barbecue and speeches. This year, Mike Pence was the "headliner." I had to wait in line for TWO HOURS just to park so I was worried that the motorcyclists were going to beat me, and I was going to miss the shot of them riding in. Luckily, I made it with 20 minutes to spare.

Local swim meets were always in the evening, which made for numerous opportunities to play with light.

There's a special place in my heart for photographing kids getting to interact with their local heroes. This little guy was so fascinated with hearing his heart beat, and I tried to capture both his and the EMT's expressions through the woman's sunglasses.

I'm never one to pass up a trip down the river with Mom. Especially if I'm getting paid to do it! The stretch of the Middle Raccoon River from Panora to Redfield is absolutely beautiful.

Sunrise bike rides are the absolute best. I'm so fortunate to have been able to live two blocks away from the Raccoon River Valley Trail this summer.

The BaCoon ride always goes through Panora, so I stationed myself at PJ's, a local diner, for the afternoon. PJ's is likely the cutest restaurant in the whole world and all of the local law enforcement are regulars.

Relay for Life was supposed to be held outside, but due to an impending thunderstorm, it was moved to the ACGC gym. Awful lighting, but I think it worked when the luminaries were lit.

Guthrie county has some E X C E L L E N T stargazing spots.

Every Friday night, a local band would play at The Port on Lake Panorama. This particular band was the "Rocky Raccoon Band" and they sang Beatles covers. I would have stayed for the whole show, but this was my last assignment of a 12.5 hour day so I left after the sun went below the horizon.

One of my favorite assignments was photographing the restoration of an old nursing home/mental hospital. One woman (the one standing) decided that she wanted to buy the property after the state shut it down and turn it into a retreat-style location where people can make art, grow produce and enjoy "a day at the farm." The building was pretty run down as it hadn't been lived in for two-and-a-half years.

Seen along the Raccoon River Valley Trail between Jamaica and Dawson.

The annual WHO Tractor Ride turned out to be my favorite assignment of the summer. I got a pretty bad sunburn on my back, but all of the farmers were so nice and made my job fun.

Lots of evenings were spent shooting ACGC baseball games.

This particular photo was shot during an assignment at Springbrook State Park. A group of elementary school students came out to learn about aquatic life, history, forestry and survival. The students in the survival group were told to build a fort out of only dead matter. Photographing the kids was essentially giving me flashbacks to my own childhood.

Vacation Bible School in Panora. This day was particularly sad, because news had circulated around town that a local mom of four committed suicide earlier that day. A lot of the adults were crying but were trying their best to hide their tears from the young kids.

If I could sum up what working in rural Iowa for a summer is like, I would bring up this assignment. On July 17th, community members gathered at the Guthrie County Courthouse for a Bible Reading Marathon. Many of them planned on staying the whole day, but all of them came prepared with lawn chairs and granola bars.

Playing with shadows.

High school baseball games are so much fun to cover, especially when the team you're covering wins.

Seconds after this photo was taken, a 60mph gust of wind nearly knocked me on my feet.

Sometimes photos are made from pure luck.

My photo editor and mentor, Jeff Storjohann. A great photographer, an excellent teacher and an even better human.

Pamela Swanson is a camp host at Whiterock Conservancy. Prior to coming to Whiterock, she's biked 2,000 miles across the country, battled Lyme disease twice, survived a propane explosion and has taught special education around the state.

Joe Nichols, Guthrie's River Ruckus. I purposely left the crowd out of this shot to draw attention to him and the moon.

My second time photographing Dustin Lynch.

Playing with shadows before the semifinal state baseball game at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Emma Reinhart is a local middle schooler who is battling leukemia. At this event, people who raised money had their heads shaved. In this photo, Emma is shaving her mom's hair.

Every summer, the Lake Panorama Ski Team puts on a show for community members. Unfortunately, the waters were pretty rough from an incoming storm, so many of the skiiers lost their balance and fell.

BLASTED.

Pools of light are becoming some of my favorite things to shoot.

Hope Arganbright is a member of the Yale Saddle Club (which is within our coverage area) so I reached out to her and asked if I could grab some shots of her getting ready for the Cowgirl Queen Contest.

And lastly, perhaps one of the greatest parts of my summer was forming my relationship with Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright. He may be one of the friendliest people I've ever met, and loves to joke around. He also knows Guthrie county like the back of his hand, so he took me on a ride along because I wanted to know where the best sunset spots were. Quick facts: he has a pet chicken named Lucky, because it fell out of a truck on its way to be slaughtered. His favorite artist is Elton John. He drives with his left hand and waves with his right. He rarely leaves the county, and when he does, he feels different the second he crosses the county line. Only one button on his shirt is actually real.

If there's one thing I learned this summer that I would want someone to know, it would be to take time to appreciate the simple things. Working and/or living in a small town almost makes you feel like you're living in slow motion. The conversations you have with people are often long, even if it's just with a woman at a gas station. You're given the luxury of watching the corn grow from a small sprout to a tall stalk while driving to work. You can see the Milky Way with your naked eye on a clear night. Time is not wasted at stoplights, but rather meant to be used for waving at and making eye contact with people at four-way stops. People look out for each other as if everyone is neighbors. High school athletic events are a BIG DEAL.

I would urge everyone to spend time in small towns and pick up the local paper. Something as small as that may change your life a little bit.

Appreciate

424 hours as a photojournalist My summer working for the herald publishing company

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