Photojournalist - James Keivom - Behind the Viewfinder

July 23: Learning from a true storyteller

I'd call him the best damn reporter I've worked with, but Jim Sheeler is so much more than JUST a reporter.

Sheeler is a Dirt Devil for every tidbit, every quote and every twitch his subjects make. His curiosity and enthusiasm for the heart of the story keeps him alert for things others miss because they need to blink.

Sheelerman doesn't need to blink.

Sheeler spent five hours at the airport interviewing Tibetan families who were about to be reunited with family members they hadn't seen for eight years. He missed nothing as he diligently interviewed everyone in the family tree. On a story about a local diner closing, Sheeler relentlessly interviewed workers and patrons, chipping away till he found a thread that wrapped the story up like a fine Christmas present for his readers.

His page-long obituary columns demand to be read first because he always seems to sum up, in a single sentence, his subject's "Rosebud". Mark was a mentally ill local character who sold photocopied sheets of his poetry on the street. Sheeler elegantly described Mark's poetry as "an unofficial collection of his thoughts, held together by a single staple."

Sheeler's visual acuity could come in handy if he ever chooses to become a photographer. His melding of images, concepts, arcane trivia and poetry raise the bar for other writers and threatens our(PJ's) job security if he ever decides to tell his stories a thousand words at a time.

Other things I learned from Sheelerman:

o Appearance matters. I don't remember ever seeing Sheeler at an assignment in shorts or a T-shirt through the summer. Unlike his T/short-wearing brothers in photography, he's always in slacks and a well pressed shirt. I've noticed, by process of experimentation, that people accord you more respect when you are dressed well. My old boss WAS right with his no jeans/T-shirt policy.

o He really listens. He compliments his subjects with his total, undivided attention. It's magic watching him disarm his subjects: they look like they could tell him their deepest secrets. Sheeler could squeeze a great quote out of a rock.

o He sticks around. A caretaker at a clubhouse for mentally ill people complimented him when she said no reporter had stayed so long and talked to so many people for such a short story. I had seen him patiently sit through several boring meetings at the clubhouse, collecting little vignettes and ideas. He rarely knows where the story will lead him but knows he can let it simmer and stew once he's combed the scene for every possible quote, detail and image.

o He's never used "My photographer" in an introductory sentence.

Anais Nin wrote: "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." I think she had Sheeler in mind.

Sorry, but I have to go now and make a reservation for my obituary.

July 27: Size matters

Lately, I've been getting increasingly frustrated by our newspapers lack of respect to size. They run the photos postage-stamp size and never bigger. Can you read this? And when they do run photos, they often layer packs of text over it.

In the words of Sam Kinison: "I UNDERSTAND the desire to feel like cutting someone's f**king head off and stuffing it in a bowling ball bag when they swerve at you while on a bike and such..."