Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Life with a photojournalist

Gerry has had a pretty rough month of assignments. The young girl with ALS passed away and then he had to photograph Elizabeth Edwards funeral. He was there at 8am and stood in the cold and rain until the funeral at 1pm. These are not the days he enjoys. I have felt so sad for the Edwards family this month and find myself wondering what their poor children must be going through. Gerry hates this part of his work, the paparazzi element of it, he is a story teller, and if you saw his ALS pictures, you can see that. Anyway, this post really has no point, I just liked this picture of him and I like what he does for a living. Life is always interesting around here, it has been since the day I met him. Back in the day, when he worked for a newspaper and we didn't have Wesley, I would go hang out in the photo dept. watching him develop his film and make prints in the darkroom. I rode around with him in his car with a police scanner and a two way radio, and a 300 2.8 and Nikon F2's sharing my seat, and frequently ended up sitting in the car on the way to dinner and waiting while he hopped out to shoot a feature or a spot news shot. I have walked the golf course with him at the U.S. Open, sat on the basketball court behind him during the NCAA championships, ACC tournaments, sat with him to shoot a sunrise or sunset in freezing cold weather, held on to lenses while he changed cameras, help mount prints for contests, watched him take on idiots that were appointed as "security" and twice his size, cringed as he argued with police officers about his right to shoot a photo, and have seen his compassion for his subjects and the amazing way he tells their story. This has been an amazing year for him, he went to the Olympics, shot riots at the G8 Summit in Toronto, shot some great military packages and watched as a child the same age as his own, died from a horrible disease. Like I said, it's never dull! It's not always easy either. Lots of dinners have been put on hold, lots of plans changed, lots of events missed. Gerry is also very passionate about what he does so it's not always easy living with the intensity, but it's interesting and I wouldn't want it any other way. It also shows me that I have a lot of tolorance and patience, because I know a lot of wives that don't deal with this life style very well, too bad for them, it can be a lot of fun! So, all of this because Gerry emailed this photo to me yesterday and I liked it, see what pictures can say!

9 comments:

cookingwithgas said...

It says love to me.
Love what you do and love those around you.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Hollis Engley said...

All of that sounds very real, Tracey, based on my own years carrying those Nikon F2s and F3s. A wonderful job when you have time to create a story, a miserable job when you have to shoot things like funerals and auto accidents. It ain't all sunsets for the people like Gerry who keep us in contact with reality through their lenses. That ALS story was a great one, by the way. I looked at it after your post, and then it showed up on Yahoo News yesterday. It's good to see good work used. Merry Christmas to all three of you.

Tracey Broome said...

Hey! Merry Christmas to you two as well!!!!!

DirtKicker Pottery said...

It's truly a blessing to love and be good at what you do for a living.
Merry Christmas to you and your family :)
Cindy

Michèle Hastings said...

what a nice tribute to the man you love!

Mr. Young said...

He is lucky to have a wife at his side who understands and supports his passion for his work. From our family to yours - May your Christmas be a blessed one, and your New Year filled with family, friends, and success.

ang design said...

sounds like a great place to be trace and have a super christmas with your fam..

Tracey Broome said...

Hey to all of you and best wishes for a FANTASTIC Christmas!!!!!!!

Christie Minchew said...

Awwww. you have a great gift of writing, too. I love that you love your family :).