POD: Day 136

During the Atlanta Seminar earlier this month, I received a great piece of advice from LA Times photographer, Barbara Davidson. She told me to contact newspapers and ask them if I could shadow one of their photographers. I am always looking for ways to expand my knowledge and improve my skills as a photographer, so when I got home I took her advice. After contacting a few newspapers in NC, one of the papers I heard back from was my local newspaper, the Winston-Salem Journal. On Wednesday I had the incredible opportunity to shadow Winston-Salem Journal staff photographer, Bruce Chapman, for the evening. He made a stop at Finnigan's Wake to get some photos to go along with a story about the smoking ban in Winston-Salem. 

Photographer, Bruce Chapman, left, waits for a moment between diners at Finnigan's Wake to accompany a story regarding the smoking ban in Winston-Salem.

From there, the rest of the evening was spent at the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum for the Frank Spencer Classic (a local high school basketball tournament). He covered the final two games, Forsyth Country Day vs. West Forsyth and the championship game, Winston-Salem Prep vs. West Stokes. The championship game was intense, complete with three OT's, a team technical and the title of longest game in the tournament's 37 year history. In the end, West Stokes was victorious over Winston-Salem Prep with a final score of 83-71.

West Stoke's Austin Fleming, left, jumps to block a shot by Winston-Salem Prep's Mike Hughes, top right, as West Stoke's John Spainhour sticks around to assist during the championship game of the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic at the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum, Wednesday, December, 28, 2011. West Stokes defeated Winston-Salem Prep 83-71 to win the championship. Fleming, who had a total of 3 blocks and 18 points, was named MVP of the tournament.  

While the game was exciting and provided me with a little practice before we start shooting basketball in the Spring semester, I spent a lot of time observing Bruce work and asked him a lot of questions. He answered every one of my questions thoroughly and gave me a *lot* of wonderful advice, specifically about the importance of preparation, from finding out which players to watch to entering as much information as you can into Photomechanic so your captions are basically ready to go when you're working on a deadline. Many thanks to Bruce for being so nice and being a great teacher!