life after football

Not everything can always be perfect. This was a great story. The reporter, Greg Bishop, (ooo, another Syracuse grad) really did a great job. Life after football ran as a two day package earlier this week(you can see the secondary photo on Sunday's front page posted earlier). It focused on the physical and mental challenges linebackers deal with when their football careers end. Day one was the physical aspect. When we were all talking about how to illustrate this story, we decided to try and get portraits of the main players, with old action shots to supplement. We were excited about the possisbilities.

Unfortunately, I think we were all frustrated by the time the package ran. I know the photographer and I both were, I can only assume everyone else was. When looking back to see what went wrong, it mostly comes down to miscommunication, confusion about the story, and indecisiveness. I don't think one person or department is to blame. I think a combination of elements all contributed to it.-- I should note that I think the photographs are great and worked very well with the story --it is more the process behind it all I found difficult. In the end, I think the package looked nice and worked and hopefully the community will never know the saga behind it all.

One of the most important aspects of my job is to make the photographer's assignments a bit easier and less frustrating. And, in that regard, I think I failed. Even if I think I am doing all I can, I need to readjust. To continually push myself to come up with new ways and ideas to make things better for the photographer. To give them all the tools they need to succeed and do the best job possible. No matter how much planning you can have, sometimes photos just need to unfold naturally. Not everything follows a script and most of the time, that produces the best outcome.





These are from Day 2. Focusing on the mental aspects of no longer being in the game.