As of this week, I’ve been at the Grand Island Independent for 10 years. I never thought that I’d be here this long. Ten years ago, fresh from several internships in Indiana and Michigan, I came out to Nebraska for my first full-time, benefit laden j-o-b. I had made it.  I was an adult.  I had a career. And this place was going to be a stepping stone. I’d be here 2-5 years and then I’d be off to a bigger better paper. And then from there off again to where I’d be for the rest of my career.

That plan never materialized. Life, the industry and the economy got in the way. Some things happened and others didn’t. Along the way I’ve learned a lot.  Mostly I learned I can’t change the world. I can’t even budge it an inch if I really, really try and lift with my legs. What I did learn is I can have an impact in this little corner of it.  I can show the good in people.  That across color and culture lines we have more in common than not. That we have a shared sense of humanity and good in the world.  That when asked we’ll come together to help anyone in need. And that’s a good thing, to quote Martha Stewart.

The paper is a lot different that ten years ago. When I came here, I had my trusty film bodies: a Nikon N90s and an FM2 as backup with three to four lenses. I took out a loan to buy a 300mm 2.8 manual focus lens and a used light kit.  After a few years, I added an F4s to the mix.  A couple of years later we transitioned into digital.  My hands didn’t smell like developer, bleach and fixer when I go home.  (I secretly miss that a little bit.)  Digital has allowed me to stay at an assignment longer and turn the images around faster.  I can post images to the web immediatly after something happened. That’s better for us as a paper and an industry as well as for readers. Going digital has improved aspects of my photography like portraiture because I can immediately see lighting effects and adjust accordingly.

Regardless of what tools I’ve got in my hand, what hasn’t changed is my commitment to telling the stories of people around me.  And that is what really matters in photojournalism.  Ultimately it’s not about me as a photographer, but the subject.  I’m privileged to be able use my vision and skill to tell their story.

Robert Pore asked me today if I was going to be around in ten years.  Well…. I just don’t know.

Thanks Independent. Thanks Grand Island.

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Enough deep stuff.  Here’s a couple of pictures from my first month back in February 2000.

This one really ticked off one of my bosses at the time.  (It was published on the front page within a week of my start date.) He hated the photo because there was no face, it was a weird angle, and it was too close to being a silhouette.  I thought it worked for capturing the story about the weather in February.  It was really warm and this kid was playing basketball outside on a beautiful day in short sleeves.

And a last one.  Well, I just like it.  It was a couple of weeks after the last one.

Tracy Overstreet and I just did an update about Madisyn’s story yesterday. Turns out that after she bought calculators for her class, members of the community donated money and calculators for the rest of her school (except kindergarteners and first graders.)

Every year the Grand Island Independent chooses a Man and Woman of the Year. A story is written a portrait taken and they are honored on the front page, one on Dec. 31 with the other Jan. 1.

I was lucky enough to photograph the subjects this year. I tried to think of a cool location for the shoot, but all of the ideas met road blocks. So I asked Greg Ulmer at Grand Island Senior High School if I could use their small stage. It is a large space with black curtains and stage lights. I thought a simple portrait, a subject along in space, would work best. And it did. I supplemented the stage lights with three more of my own. Very successful indeed.

Man of the Year Don Dunn’s story.

Woman of the Year Dori Bush’s story.

CAPTION: Turning herself in a circle while  bouncing the ball lightly off the wall, Katie Brand works on her touch Thursday before facing Wood River at Lincoln Northeast High School during the first round of the Class C1 state volleyball tournament. Central Catholic won 3-0. (Independent/Scott Kingsley)

One of the great tragedies of working at a newspaper is that there isn’t always space in the paper for everything.  This is especially true when working state tournaments.  We’re always on the lookout for interesting behind the scenes kinds of photos.  Sometimes we’re lucky enough to be in locker rooms, and other times we have to just keep our eyes open.  It’s good we can have blogs these days so some of these photos see the lightof day.

After three straight weeks of shooting football in the dark, cold rain, I was treated Wednesday with two afternoon games. It was a gorgeous day and since they started early, it’s a lot easier to get more than just a photo or two.  This one didn’t make the paper but it is in our daily gallery. You can sort through our outtakes as well from the game.

The Harvest of Harmony Parade can be a tough assignment. There are only so many ways to shoot marching bands, not to mention bands going down the same street. More often than not though, the sun pokes out from behind the clouds and creates pretty light that helps make the colors pop. It also helps to inspire and keep me working to get better and better photos that have cleaner and cleaner backgrounds.

This was shot on Eddy Street looking up at the overpass while the Senior High Band was marching. The dark background helps really bring out the bright colors of the uniforms.

Sometimes things just work out. The assignment was simply that Kayla Van Wie would be wearing her gradmother’s homecoming dress (from 1956) to her own homecoming. With some time to think about it, and willing subjects, I turned the assignment into an outdoor portrait/fashion shoot.  This is one of the outtakes from Pioneer Park of just Kayla and the dress.