“Help me Mr. Wizard!”

Have you ever been stuck in an embarrassing situation where you just wish that Scotty could beam you up out of there or get a little help from Mr. Wizard?

While driving around looking for a feature picture on a slow news day a police call came across the scanner concerning a man perched up in a tree with a rifle near an elementary school. There’s nothing like the possibility of getting a spot news photograph that get’s one adrenalin flowing. Arriving near the address, I was stopped a deputy, whose car was blocking access to the scene. After a few minutes, he told me it was not a guy armed with a rifle, but someone up in a tree with a rope around his neck threatening to jump. Still, because of the nature of the situation, the officer explained that I was not allowed near the scene, but if I wanted to back up and drive down his neighbor’s driveway, I could possibility get some good shots from that location.

Sounding like a plan, I backed up, pulled over at the entrance, grabbed a camera with a 300mm lens attached and quietly positioned myself behind some bushes that offered a protective view from the police and a front row seat to the developing situation.

About thirty or so feet off the ground, standing on a tree branch, was this guy with a yellow rope around his neck and drinking coffee from one of those “Big Gulp” containers. Apparently he was pretty despondent over the fact his wife had recently left him and he was in the process of being talked out of ending his life by a suicide prevention officer.

A few minutes later, he happened to look over at my direction, and from his birds’ eye view spotted me. Yelling at the top of his lungs, “Hey photographer, do you really want a good picture, get ready!” Knowing my cover was blown and peering through the bush I could see deputies looking my way. Having already gotten a few good pictures, should I stay or leave? Just to make matters worse, I next heard from a half dressed woman leaning out of the upstairs bedroom window asking me what I was doing in her yard? When her husband appeared and asked, “what in the hell are doing with a camera outside our bedroom, as the situation was starting to get way out of hand only thing I thought of saying was, “I’m from the newspaper and your neighbor, Raymond, is up in a tree with a rope around his neck. “

Now taking the attention away from me they both left the driveway widow and as I quickly retreated to my car, I heard the balcony door open with the husband yelling at his neighbor, “Raymond, what in the hell are you doing up in that tree?”

Remembering a childhood cartoon, I thought, "There's no place like home"and wanted to desperately call on Tooter the Turtle’s friend, Mr. Wizard and request a transfer to anywhere and quickly. As I got into the car I’d cry out for Mr. Wizard to rescue me; and with the words "Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drome, Time for this one to come home" I safely departed the area and safely arrived back at the newspaper a few minutes later without any police cruisers in hot pursuit.

Things children do at events

One thing I’ve found out during my many years of covering events that involve children is that their attention spans are not always the longest. While assigned to cover the opening ceremonies of little league, I focused on this group of bored T-ball players waiting the festivities to get underway.

Everything, that could go wrong, did, which was fortunate for me as the series of photos I captured just got better and better as time passed. The coaches ushered the ball players onto the field and while they stood at attention waiting for the National Anthem, the PA system wouldn’t work. As the minutes slowly elapsed, each of the young players, who, reached the limitation of their individual levels of “paying attention”, gave up and just decided to occupy their time as they saw fit. The pictures, I came away with certainly did have that Norman Rockwell Americana feel to them.

“Don’t shoot, I’m only the photographer!”

On a slow news day, while post processing images and listening to the police scanner, a report came across that a Silverdale Bank was just robbed. Unfortunately for the bandits, a car buyer who was looking over cars next door, noticed a man running from bank, jump into a waiting vehicle that sped off. He was able to provide the Sheriffs Office with the cars’ description and license plate number, which turned out to be a Tacoma address. Now, if you’re going to rob a bank, don’t do it on the Kitsap Peninsula as there are only about three major roads leading off. Highway 16 and Highway’s 3 North and South. Figuring since they were Tacoma residents, I’d start my search oh Highway 16. Sure enough as soon as I reached the highway entrance traffic was starting to back up and I knew they must have been pulled over a mile or so up the road.

It’s helps to know you’re the area you cover and the many roads leading throughout the county. More than once, instead to taking the most direct direction to and from an assignment, I’d take a different route. This was three-fold purpose, gave me more mileage to claim on the expense form, a chance to maybe find a feature or two along the way and this besides, this method helped me learn my way around South Kitsap area. I knew that if I drove down a road-paralleling highway 16, eventually, I would run into the police action. Looking for the flash of the blue blinking lights, I stopped on a county road just below where the cars were pulled over, grabbed my cameras and headed up the embankment.

Upon reaching a barbed wire fence I realized that I needed to go back down to car, open the trunk, grab a pair of pairs so that I could uncouple the metal bands holding the wires in place onto the fence post. Once done, I placed a branch between the wires, climbed through and proceeded my way to the top.

By the time I reached the highway and from the sound of branches cracking underneath my feet, the officers, thinking I might have been one of the robbers’ companion, who was giving themselves up, had their hands on the gun handles ready to draw. All I could say way, “Don’t shoot, I’m only the photographer!” The robber, who was being cuffed, glared and barked, “Don’t take my picture!” One of the deputies, whom I knew well, said, “Son, you got more things than worry about Jim taking your picture.”

Sometimes, in cases such as this, it helps to have a sense of humor to ease a tense situation. Besides, I bet it gave the deputies a funny story to spread throughout the sheriffs department.

Thoughts are miles away

While living on the island of Terceira for two years was truly an immersion into the old rural world lifestyle. Day after day, I had a photographic game plan of sorts and would assign myself a different assignment ranging from industry, farming, fishing, arts & crafts, religious ceremonies, landscapes, generally I wanted to cover the island much like a National Geographic photographer would. As I wandered through the village’s narrow cobblestone streets, photographing people at work,
I noticed a religious parade of young girls, who will take their First Communion, carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary during a religious celebration honoring the festival Divino Espirito Santo..
After photographing the parade I was invited by the family to take pictures of their First Communion at the local village church, Which made for some interesting pictures. As four participants took their First Communion seriously, a little one's thoughts were miles away.

This is gotta be a first

In all my years of taking baseball pictures, ranging from high school, college to the pro ranks, this picture is gotta be a first for me. While covering today's Seattle Mariners vs. Texas Rangers baseball game in the 10th inning I finally made a picture of the ball breaking a bat. What's so amazing is that Sport Illustrated photographer Rod Mar, and I took the same photo. But, in his, the bat is a bit more broken. I have never been able to get a picture of the ball breaking the skinny part of the bat, however I have taken plenty of pictures of the bat flying apart, but without the ball in the frame. Now, what are the chances of capturing this type of shot? What’s even more amazing is that two photographers three feet apart nailed it.

Beer can be medicinal too

Working as an on call, part-time staff photographer at the Seattle Post Intelligencer from 2003-2009, offered me a wide variety of assignments. There, I was known as the ” Mickey of photography”. You know, the kid on the Life cereal commercial, where his two older brothers pushed a bowl full towards him and said, “Let’s see if Mickey eats it?” It seems that from time to time, I received the not so glamorous day to day grunt assignments, so that a few of the staffers could devote their time on projects, high profile news or driving around looking for daily wild art.

One of these assignments was of Norms Destiny, a 6-year-old racehorse at Emerald Downs. After developing hind end leg problems, the horse, co-owned by his wife Leona Orr and Vince Hemninson was going to be put down in December 2001. On Christmas Eve James, went to go spend time with the horse and brought along some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a half rack of Coors light and drank it with the horse. The next morning when he awoke the horse was standing and walking around the stall. So in a few days Norms Destiny seemed to be getting better and was taken to Vince's farm for a yearlong workout. In 2002 the racehorse took a fifth, fourth and four second places. This year the won a $12,500 claiming race on July 6th, his second of the year and two third-place finishes. The owners feel it's time for him to retire.

Upon arriving at the track and meeting his trainer James Orr, he asked, what kind of pictures do you want of Norm? When he opened the frig and showed me beer and sandwiches he brought along and could feed them to the horse, I thought, that’ll work. I was able to capture some pictures of the horse guzzling down it second Coors Light beer after eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich fed to him by Orr.

They got character

Throughout my years of photographing around the world, the one thing I’ve noticed is that I truly enjoy taking pictures of the elderly much more so than the young. Why, because they’ve experienced life much more fully than a youngster and it shows on their faces. To me, more the wrinkles the better photograph it’ll make. Experiencing life and its trials and tribulations is like reading a facial road map; it shows their true character. Most of the time they are just honored to have their picture taken.

Out in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean, on a wind swept island, where most of the islands’ residents live in one-horse villages on a two-lane cobble roads, the Azoreans are different from their more modern counterparts of Portugal. By today's standards, the 300,000 inhabitants are mostly poor and ill educated. While most residents, have full time jobs they are also part-time fishermen and farmers, to help make ends meet, and these hardship are lines etched on their faces of life.

On another island nation, Japan, can also afford the photographer a chance to capture some great character study photographs in a land where the elderly is highly revered. I’ve never had a problem in getting my elderly subjects to let me capture the pictures I wanted. Photographing people in foreign countries required a different mindset. What I’ve done in the past to calm distrust was to introduce myself and try to communicate that I was interested in them and what they were doing. Also, learning a couple of words in the language showed them that I was interested in them and that opened the doors to make good photographs.