Taking shots

Only once did I take a trip whose sole purpose was photography. A trip where you get up before sunrise and go to a pre-determined spot and set up your tripod and hope for great color and then shoot and shoot and shoot some more, then go out later for sunset in a beautiful place and set up your tripod and wait for the light to change and shoot whether or not it does.

Most trips I take are with sightseeing and enjoying family and discovering new places in mind. Of course the camera is constantly working then too, but rarely is there time to set up a tripod or wait for light to change. More often it's a quick stop for the shot and then a sprint to catch up with my companions. Mostly I drive everyone crazy because all of the sudden I'm not there. I stepped aside to gather a quick shot of a cute alleyway, or a tree overhead or a group of children or a bunch of flowers or a design on the sidewalk. Everything's interesting in a new place.

It's heavenly when the stars align and the family trip and the photo op combine all together all at once. It happened one late evening in Japan two years ago. With no bus or taxi in sight, we walked toward our hotel around Lake Ashti as it was getting darker and darker and we were getting hungrier and hungrier. What seemed at the time a great inconvenience was in fact a gift, as these pictures attest. This wasn't a moment setup, this was a moment lived. I stopped over and again and caught these views, as did the others with their cameras -- it was almost surreal in its beauty and quiet and we weren't so hungry we didn't appreciate it.

There is beauty in waiting to find and there is beauty in being found.














































Next week is my second-of-all-time photo trip. I'll be heading to the Olympic Peninsula with other equally passionate/fanatical aficionados of the sport, who willingly get up an hour before sunrise to drive to that perfect spot and stay up an hour past sunset to drive home from that best overlook, who are able to take dozens if not hundreds of shots in the same spot at the same time and who get inspired by everything from moss on a tree branch to waves around a seastack.

Maybe I won't drive everyone crazy.

Off the record

Here's a good one from an article entitled, "Queen hugs first lady in break from protocol:"

"A Buckingham Palace spokesman who asked not to be identified because of palace policy said he could not remember the last time the queen had displayed such public affection with a first lady or dignitary."


I so love that. Yes, I love the affection between the two women, but more than that, I love the caveat about the spokesman.

It's so good to know why those who speak when they're not supposed to are not supposed to. (Was that just two endings on prepositions?!) (Did everyone follow?!)

Usually it's something like, "Who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak." Or "Who spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy."


This is relatively new, this explaining why we weren't supposed to get the news we just got. As I recall, they used to just say something like, "Who spoke on condition of anonymity." Period.

It is so nice to have the rest of the story.

And the ethics of it all is most fascinating. As a reporter, if you're going to ask someone something he's not supposed to tell you and then tell the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD in an article, is your conscience somewhat asuaged by indicating why you were not supposed to have that information?

We all know that there's some information that gets accidentally slipped out on purpose. Candidates and presidents want to guage public reaction before some things are cast in stone, so things just start spreading without a nameable source overtly doing the dirty work.

Still, it's amazing the number of unauthorized accounts in any given newspaper these days. Everybody wants to be Deep Throat.

But if we're truly wanting to be open and forthcoming, let's put it all out there: "Who spoke off the record because he'd lose his job if his superiors knew he was talking to the press." Or, "Who didn't want to be quoted because it might bring down the organization that he wants people to think he's supporting." Or, "Who asked that his comments not be attributed because the queen would not like the truth to be known on that point. And certain others."

There's a lot we wouldn't know anymore if people only spoke on the record. The press is, without doubt, the fourth estate -- the one that keeps the other three from getting into too much trouble.

But sometimes someone needs to tell the press that we know what they're up to too.