TWO MONTHS IN QUEENS

Okay. It's been three weeks now. I have to rise an hour earlier than before. I get to drive westward in the height of commuter traffic and I have plenty of time to contemplate my navel as I sit in endless, bumper to bumper traffic jams heading towards New York City. And then when I get to the Queens office, I have to drive around the block several times, trying to find a parking place from which I will not be towed. My crankiness is exacerbated by the fact that even though there are about a dozen NYP (New York Press) Parking spots on the street, they are usually filled by unmarked police cars from the Queens District Attorney's Office, which has their office in the same building as Newsday. And that means means that I have to expand my search to a several block radius and often have to schlep as much as a half a mile to first get to my office.

From that point, I may have assignments somewhere in the Borough (County) of Queens, or Brooklyn or Manhattan. And, once, I had to drive to New Jersey.

Bill Bradley withdraws from the presidential race as his stands with him during a press conference in West Orange, NJ. ©2000 Newsday

It started a couple of months ago when the Chief Photo Editor called me into his office and invited me to sit down. This is usually not a good sign. He told me that he was switching me with another photographer for two months. Al Raia has been working out of the Queens office since its inception. He was bringing Al out to our main office in Melville on Long Island, and I was going to work out of Queens. His reason? To give us each an opportunity to cover a different range of assignments. My thoughts? Al and I are the oldest staff photographers at the paper. Is it possible that he is encouraging us to retire, or quit? Nah. That's just my paranoia at work. But, when I'm sitting in an inert mass of cars on the Grand Central Parkway at 7 AM, it's not hard to think of this as a punsihment. I live 40 miles from the Queens Office. It used to take me 15 minutes to get to the Melville Office and now it takes me anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on traffic, weather and the time of day. Al lives 20 minutes from the Queens office. He's not a happy camper, either. I spoke with him on the phone, the other day. He does say, however, that he could grow to like the ease of parking that he encounters covering assignments on Long Island. I don't think that I'll ever get used to parking in the city. I find it hard to focus my attention on the assignment at hand when I am wondering whether I'll find my car where I left it. Or will I have to take a cab to the police impound lot to retrieve it?

I have to say, in fairness, that except for the commute and the parking problems, I do enjoy working with the editors, photographers and reporters in Queens. They put out their own edition of Newsday, which differs considerably from the Long Island editions. I mean, at first glance, it looks the same. It's the same format. It's still a tabloid. But, the Page One photo and story is often a local one and they stress the use of staff photos. There is a livelier look to the paper and there is a feeling of more energy from this staff than the one in Melville. It reminds me of what Newsday used to be like years ago. Lately, in Melville, most of us are relegated to shooting head shots and real estate. (Hmmmm. Seems to me that I have written journals about this in the past) Out of the four to six assignments a day that we cover on Long Island, probably four will be head shots for the business pages. And, out of those four to six assignments a day, I'm luckey if two a week get used in the paper. In Queens, I have been shooting two or three assignments a day, which gives me more time to try to do a better job. And, more often than not, all two or three shots will be in the next day's paper. Now, that ain't bad.

Abraham Lin (right) Instructor of Tai Chi at the Bayside Senior Citizen Center, teaches some of the moves. At left is 94 year old Emma Eberlin of Parkside Hills. ©2000 Newsday

In spite of all of that, I will be glad when my two months are up. The days are so long, and so much energy and emotion is used up trying to get to assignments and finding safe parking. I am totally beat when I get home. Anyway, Newsday and it's parent company and sister papers in the Times-Mirror chain have been purchased by The Tribune Company (Chicago Tribune). I have written to photographers at some of their papers and am pleased to hear what they have to say about their paper's commitment to photography. They all say that they are equipped with the latest in digital cameras. The Tribune is heavily invested in branching into tv and the Web with stories, graphics and photos. They have been sending their staffers to The Platypus TV Workshop, where still photographers learn the concepts of video, which just completed their latest program in Norman, OK.

And while I have written about my reservations concerning the use of newspaper photographers to also be required to shoot video for tv and web page use, I am relieved to find out that they usually aren't required to shoot both kinds of media at the same time.

94 year old Emma Eberlin of Parkside Hills concentrates on her moves as she takes instruction from Abraham Lin Instructor of Tai Chi at the Bayside Senior Citizen Center. ©2000 Newsday

94 year old Emma Eberlin of Parkside Hills concentrates on her moves as she takes instruction from Abraham Lin Instructor of Tai Chi at the Bayside Senior Citizen Center. ©2000 Newsday

In which case, I am anxious to get involved and grow a beak and webbed feet to go along with my already flat tail. In the meantime, I have another six weeks of Queens. Here are some samples of what I have been doing. First, here's a shot of Bill Bradley announcing that he is withdrawing from the Presidential race. Next is a series of three of a 94 year old woman taking lessons in Tai Chi. Jeez! What a gal! Then I got to go to the NY City prison on Rikers Island to interview a guy who learned how to run subway trains when he was 12 by getting friendly with the trainmen, until he found ways to hijack the trains and take them out on their scheduled runs. Of course he usually got caught and spent a lot of jail time. But, he loves it so much that as soon as he got out of prison, he went right back to stealing trains. And, finally, there's a two week old African Pygmy Goat that was a hoot.

Chloe, a 2 week old African Pygmy Goat shows a kid's natural penchant for being curious. She was born to Ginger at the Queens Wildlife Center in Flushing Meadows. ©2000 Newsday

I love this job. You get to meet such interesting people.

Darius McCollum, an inmate at Rikers Island, charged among other things with Reckless Endangerment. He has gone to prison for his penchant for impersonating Transit Authority personnel and taking subway trains for a ride. ©2000 Newsday

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