Being a small town photojournalist can be rewarding and humbling. Everyone loves the cute kid shot or the slam dunk by the high school basketball star. Take a beautiful shot of a rainbow at sunset after a storm and reprint requests pour in by the bucket fulls. Photojournalism is not all rainbows and little kids however. Many times I found myself taking photographs of people at the lowest point in their lives. Aiming a camera at them when they found themselves in situations that would show them in the worst possible light. Sometimes the photographs would be of bad people getting what they deserve. A criminal just after getting caught by the local police. A convicted killer in tears as a judge hands down the death sentence. A drug dealer dealing with a life behind bars.
Sometimes however, the camera captures innocent people in tragic situations. Family members holding onto each other at the shore of a lake as divers search for their missing friend. A mother collapsed in the arms of a neighbor, a tiny shoe left alone in the road in front of them. An elderly couple in tears as firefighters continue to put out flames which have destroyed the home they have lived in for 30 years. These are the difficult times for people and they are also the most difficult times for me as a photojournalist.