J-school and the newspaper days

The epiphany of that January day on the Red River led to studying photojournalism at the University of Minnesota, then only second to the University of Missouri as a producer of newspaper shooters.  While training at the "U" under industry icons like R. Smith (Smitty) Schuneman and National Geographic contributor Jim Brown, I practiced the craft producing sports photos and human interest essays for a local suburban bi-weekly chain, Sun Newspapers.  I enjoyed editorial freedom and learned how to put a page together.  But I earned very little money.

In 1980 I was at a crossroads: move up to daily paper before I graduated; go back to school and get my degree; or do something else that could better pay the rent.  The daily newspaper market was bursting with Woodward and Bernstein era journalism school grads with idealistic and romantic notions of being like "Animal," the staff photographer character on the TV's The Lou Grant Show.  A career as a daily newspaper photographer was never so appealing.  And a sheepskin from the University of Missouri proved to be the ticket to get on with the big papers.

So I chose to stay close the production of images by going to work in the photo-processing industry and worked my way up the corporate ladder in the field eventually running the operations side of a Kodak amateur photofinishing facililty in the Twin Cities before the decade was done.

Here are a few samples of my image-making during the University of Minnesota and Sun Newspapers days:

Mainstreaming: A 1979 essay on a Bloomington, Minnesota
 elementery school program that introduced special education
 students to regular classroom situations for a portion of their
 school day

Frisbee form:  A contestant at the national championship competition
held in Minneapolis in August 1999 shows off his disc-catching skills. 



Winemaking, Minnesota-style:  Vintners Alexis and Nan Bailley pose in front of
 their production facility near Hastings, Minnesota.  Their winery was one of a
 handful in the state's growing industry in the late 1970s. 





Joy of victory and agony of defeat:  The winning team celebrates as a player
 of the losing team of the state championship football game crosses a yard marker
 on his way to teammates to console and be consoled as snow falls on the field
 in November 1978.