My individual story is a great opportunity only half accomplished.

Gerry Dumas, father of Dr. Nick Dumas

 (PHO245/Aaron Gonya)

     At the end of every semester I tend to reflect on all the opportunities that I missed. Now don’t get me wrong, I have put a hundred percent into every class I took this spring. I drove hundreds of miles and took thousands of pictures.  I have to be satisfied that I did all that I reasonably could under the circumstances.  But I’m not. I have spent the last two weeks thinking about what I could have done better, how I could have handled things differently, and wishing I had spent more time chasing down good ideas.    

    I had my individual project for this class handed to me on a figurative silver platter, Gerry Dumas, a local HVAC contractor, was the only spectator watching team Red take on Black at the Tam-O'-Shanter in Sylvania. Gerry yelled down to ask me whom I was shooting for, and we ended up talking for nearly an hour.  Gerry is an interesting character, from talking to him I could tell that he is a man of deep convictions, articulate, never at a loss for words and one very proud father.  Gerry's son Nick is a player on team Red and a successful local chiropractor. Nick is an energetic player, always in the heat of the action,  On a couple of occasions in the penalty box, I had an awesome human interest story delivered and ready to assemble.  

 Nick Dumas, in the penalty box

    Thankfully, I had the foresight to set the Canon 7D down on my coat, point it up towards Gerry and start recording video. That much I did correctly.
     Oh, I started off on the right foot, following the Sylvania senior hockey league for the next several weeks. The night I met Gerry I got about 10 minutes of decent background audio of him talking about his son. I took hundreds of pictures. (too many)  I knew that I’d be able to go back and get clean audio, detail shots, and good portraits of my subjects. As well as background images to give it some flavor.  Red team dutifully skated it’s way all the way to the championship, emerging victorious if unheralded.  Sure, I’d have time to flesh it out just a bit more.  I didn’t go out after a second story when I had time, thinking I had it wrapped up. 

     

Nick Dumas works past a white team defenseman.

    But I didn’t, our busy schedules combined with my reluctance to inconvenience people  I don’t really know, kept me from getting the rest of my story, and by then it was too late to start over.  I had to go with something that, in my mind, is half finished. I made too many images, creating for myself an editing nightmare

      The story is great, devoted father guiding his son through life, bonded through their mutual love of hockey, could have been great.  It had great characters, great stories, great background.  It’s heartwarming and positive, and it’s half done.               
       If I’m ever in this situation again, I’ll push, plead and beg for fifteen minutes I needed to get the rest of the material. I learned a valuable lesson.

Sunshine gives us a lesson in courage

Lynn G. and Shelly A. work to prepare the greenhouse at Sunshine Farm for spring planting. (No last names given)  PHO245/Aaron Gonya)

Mauren Sherry delivers

the clean laundry to Sunshine residents. 

    Storytelling is such a vital component of photography, without being able to tell a story all we are doing is making snapshots.  This semester has been a wealth of new experiences, especially with taking intro to photojournalism. I feel that I now have a better understanding of how photographs work together to tell a story. Going to the Sunshine with our class was another great lesson in working together, not just in how our pictures work together to tell a story, but how we as a class had to work together to cover a larger story than any of us had attempted alone.

Steven A. is assisted by Ashley from OTPT.
(Occupational therapy,physical therapy) 

    Working together was a lesson in how each of us, though we all have certain commonalities in our education, life experience and point of view. Each of us brought a different eye to our photographs, and in turn, each of us created very different images.

    I think all of us may have been a little outside our comfort zone that morning.  Sunshine is a very positive environment, but you would have to be a very embittered person not to feel for some of those people suffering bravely through disabilities we cannot begin to imagine. I felt genuine admiration for the courage and dedication of the staff and volunteers  who work tirelessly to give them the best quality of life possible.     

Another great hockey story I could have followed

    And why I need 40 hours in a day and 12 days in the week.

Karen Repass watches her son Jason playing
hockey. (PHO245/Aaron Gonya) 

     It’s almost the end of the semester, and with it comes the end of a class that I had wanted to take since I first learned  of it on my return to Owens.  Pho-245 has been one of the best classroom experiences that I have ever had. It’s been an incredibly fast paced journey these last four months, and I regret that it’s coming to an end.  tempered of course with bloggers complete inability to function effectively.

     I followed Sylvania senior hockey for most of the season, mostly to learn about shooting sports, the difficult lighting and incredibly fast motion have been a technical challenge for me.   More importantly were the host of life lessons learned about dealing with people, and looking for stories in unusual places, and I have learned that good stories are everywhere.   

Repass assists the goalie 

      Karen Repass has watched her son Jason play hockey his entire life. Karen and Jason would have made every bit as good a story as the one I chose.  Karen watched and supported her son through the years  from Jason playing for St. Johns to his career  in coaching to working with young kids learning Hockey.  I  watched “Red” as they are simply called, skate their way through the last month of the season and right to the championship.  And I will hopefully be able,  once this semester comes to an end, go back and do some work with the other programs at Tam-O-Shanter.  For now I just want to share these few pictures from the championship game, and get back to writing a few more of the many stories I found during the semester that I wish I could have shared. 

#24 Jason Repass