I had a rewarding opportunity to do a job shadow with Mike Siegel, photographer at The Seattle Times
last Friday.
It was all started from my search for internship opportunity
as part of the scholarship program.
I am a journalism student at Everett Community College and thought it
might be a good learning experience to be able to intern in a big news company
like The Seattle Times. So, I tried my luck.
Apparently, there was no internship position at the time I
applied. But in return, Jim Simons, one of the editors, offered me a one-day job shadow with their
photographer.
I took it. At least, there would be something I could learn.
I made the right decision.
So, Friday morning, I was at Seattle. The bus was
surprisingly fast that I reached the place far earlier than I thought it would
be.
I was supposed to meet Mike at 8 p.m. but apparently he had
an assignment to cover a house fire at Mountlake Terrace happened the previous night.
While waiting, I was given a tour to the newsroom, which was
so big. I should say that was my first experience being inside the real
newsroom.
The staffs were friendly. There I learned how they update
online stories and photos.
Then Mike came and I had a chance to see the process of a
breaking-news photo went online. In real time.
Again, I was given another tour. This time, we went to all
departments in the newspaper. It was so great to witness how people work in
newsroom, how newspaper was produced.
At 10 a.m. I was invited to join Fred Nelson, photo editor, to editor meeting. It was not much different with my
story idea meeting with the Clipper,
only this was more serious and hi-tech.
There were two editor meetings in a day (10 a.m. and 2:30
p.m.) in a room called fishbowl (because it was a room with glass wall).
The meeting was started with the presentation of readership
of yesterday issue. Then, story ideas from each department for Saturday and
Sunday edition. Everybody seems to have lots of stories running.
After that Fred explained to me about his job mediating the
photographers and writers. Good stories should go with good photos and good
photos deserve publication.
There was a breaking news: a Navy jet hit apartments in Virginia Beach, VA. Everybody was busy looking
for more information and photos. Again, I witnessed another breaking news in
process.
Soon, the news hit the top of a screen showing traffic of
online readership.
We were supposed to have a photo session with Kenny G (yes,
the saxophonist and he was from Seattle) but it was canceled.
 |
| My second press pass |
Mike contacted the event organizer, asking permission and press pass. When everything was okay, we geared up. Shooting time!
It was another learning experience to observe how a
professional photojournalist worked on the field. We shoot, took notes. I wish
I had a camera with voice memo like the one Mike used. But never mind, I
learned another way of recording information from him.
When we were done, I observed Mike working on his
assignment: selection, editing, captioning. Photos were sent and ready to publish.
That was pretty much the day.
Back to Everett, I had to work on my own photos and stories
for the Clipper.
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