This Week in photos 11/23-11/29 2008

In the past couple weeks there hasn’t been a day where I said, “what am I going to photograph today?” Between three gift guides, gas prices below two bucks and the holidays approaching, job security is a great thing. And there was another huge story this week too which I can’t forget about. Placer Hillmen back in the playoffs. With all the media hype around running back Dalton Dyer being a foster kid, Placer forfeiting games and Colfax taking their slot, it has been an interesting week. Then the ruling was reversed and added a whole new twist to the story when Placer replaced Colfax’s playoff berth thanks to a judge’s over ruling. Almost instantly the story caught fire and went national gaining nearly 30,000 page views in one day. Media outlets from the San Francisco Chronicle to Yahoo Sports.com wanted their hands on our story and any photos of Dalton they could publish. Try Googling Dalton Dyer’s name and you will see a full page of stories written and broadcast during the past couple days.

When stories like this hit our town, it’s really an opportunity to put Auburn on the map and show the bigger media guys we can hang. Despite the overwhelming situation and stress it has put on parents, coaches and the athletes, we wanted to own this story.

The night we got word the Hillmen were back in the playoffs we needed a photo to go with the story. Our editor Deric Rothe suggested I get a crowd shot of the Hillmen all around Dalton cheering him on. I told coach Montoya the idea and he mentioned I should wait until after practice, which wasn’t ending until 9 p.m., too close to our deadline. He was very cooperative though allowing me to do the shot before practice began.

As soon as Dalton hit the field, television media bum-rushed him, wired him with a microphone and started conducting an interview. Meanwhile, waiting for television to get what they needed I chatted with a few players and told them the photo idea so they could help gather players and get Dalton where I needed him. Time was running out and Montoya was starting to yell out drills to get his players warmed up.

As soon as 13 News was done I grabbed Dalton, along with some other players and had them gather around. Once a few players got involved a few more walked over, then a few more, until there was half the team with Dalton. I tried to get the team excited about going to the playoffs so there was some emotion in the photo. With arms pumping in the air, mouths opened and Dalton’s huge smile I popped off a few frames and got my shot. Little to my knowledge Channel 13 News was filming the shoot and added it to their broadcast that night (http://cbs13.com/video/?cid=7). We ran our photo 6 columns, which lack for a better word is gigantic. I Can’t remember the last time we ran a front-page 6-column photo. I think someone in our office commented that if McCain won the presidential election, we wouldn’t have run a photo that big.

Assignments like this are why I love being a photojournalist and having our work presented on a national level.