July 8, 1998

The week before last I had a great week assignment-wise, getting one nearly every day of the week. But my last one, a baseball game, was horrible. I just didn’t perform. I spent almost 2 hours there and has just 30 frames of a baseball game between Fair Oaks Legion and their opponent. The story was a general sports feature on the Fair Oaks team, and they wanted feature and action from the game, in addition to a picture (feature or action) of one of the star players, Adam Mashofsky. Strike one: he didn’t play. Adam is a pitcher and sat in the dugout (in the shade no less) for the entire game EXCEPT for when he coached first base for an inning. I knew that was my chance, so I snapped off a couple frames of him standing at first base. Not very exciting. And the rest of the action was horrible. I just didn’t get anything besides your general pitchers pitching and batters batting. I could make excuses, but it just comes down to the fact that I didn’t get the job done that night. The paper ended up running just a mug shot of Adam, cropped so you just see his face. I was disappointed in myself.

Fast forward to July 4th. I got another assignment after nearly a week of nothing to shoot a neighborhood 4th-of-july parade. This was to be a stand-alone, in color, on the front of the city edition. It was a big assignment and I so desperately wanted to do well and redeem myself. I got there about an hour and a half before the parade started. The people in the parade were preparing their cars, getting ready, chatting, etc. I made sure to get some names here so I didn’t have to track them down during or after the parade. That was a smart thing to do because I didn’t see them after the parade. There wasn’t much going on, so I roamed, and just observed.

Kay Ceragioli of Sacramento, dressed as the statue of liberty, rides on Michael Boller's car during the River Park Neighborhood Association's 3rd-annual 4th-of-July parade.

When the parade was about to enter its last leg, kids joined in with all sports of decorations on their bikes, wagons, roller blades, etc. I knew this would be where the picture was. Immediately I saw a “no fumar” sign on the back of a girl and others around her dressed as fireworks. This sign had really caught my attention. I approached the people who looked like her parents standing next to her, introduced myself, got names and made sure they knew what I was doing. They promptly proceeded to line them up for a group shot. NNNOOOO!!!! The girls hadn’t noticed my presence until this moment. My cover was blown, but I still stayed with it and got a nice shot.

When I brought the two rolls into the office money morning, the photo editor was very pleased, and even chuckled a bit at the pictures, even though he was having a bad day. Thank goodness he was pleased. That took a big monkey off my back. Now I sit here, like many other days, at 10:47am, waiting for a page, so I can work today. I have a good feeling that I will get an assignment, but you just never know.

 

Joe Jaszewski

July 8, 1998

Sisters Maria D'Amigo (left) and Giustina D'Amigo (center) sport their firework costumes during the River Park 4th-of-July parade as their friend Claire Arnold advertises the importance of safety when handling fireworks.

 

earlier journal home later journal

Joseph Jaszewski
< joeja@ucdavis.edu >
Student
Davis, California
Other journals by Joeseph Jaszewski
358 April 17, 2000 Thank goodness for film
353 February 25, 2000 McCain in California
345 February 17 , 2000 Wrestling with the WWF
335 November 20, 1999 Trust your instincts
331 Is Photojournalism Dead? Joe Jaszewski Why be a student of photojournalism, if in fact its deceased?
315 September 12, 1999 It was one of the businest days
313 September 6, 1999 T-Ball days
300 July 10, 1999 "We'll Make This One Work"
293 June 30, 1999 105 degrees. 5pm. American Legion baseball, Rio American High School
289 June 2, 1999 Exactly Two Months Ago
287 May 31, 1999 One of my favorite subjects to photograph
275 May 1, 1999 How do you cover a demonstration when you are the target of crowds displeasure?
268 April 22, 1999 While out on assignment, I usually have some clue of what I should do, and when I should do it.
256 March 25, 1999 Hoop Frames
249 March 15, 1999 Perhaps those who should be most concerned about the future of photojournalism are students
220 February 9, 1999 Airlines are a Curious Thing
203 January 18, 1999 Last week I was asked to join the staff of The Sacramento Bee’s group of 7 community weekly newspapers, Neighbors.
196 January 4, 1999 The next step
187 December 13, 1998 Shoot with just one body, a 35mm f/2 lens, and a roll of 800 film.
177 November 21, 1998 Sometimes, things just have a funny way of working out and fate joins your side for a bit.
164 October 27, 1998 It sure feels good when someone in a management capacity notices the work you do and goes out of their way to acknowledge the quality of that work and compliment you.
154 October 7, 1998 Getting my feet back on level ground
148 September September Tom Hubbard Thoughts on being a freshman Guest Journal Thoughts on being a freshman Photos added 9/29
137 August 24, 1998 When formal assignments are running thin and I just have that itch to shoot, I rely on my family to provide a subject: themselves.
130 August 6, 1998 The bar keeps getting raised
119 July 24, 1998 I had no guarantee of selling the photos I was about to take. I figured if I couldn’t get anyone to buy them, then I would just chalk it up to experience.
114 July 17, 1998 . The best high school photojournalism program in the world
110 July 8, 1998 Redemption
103 June 25, 1998 Let’s go and knock on other people’s doors and meet them
91 June 12, 1998 This was a milestone for me, considering I had never had an assignment from a commercial newspaper
71 May 8, 1998 Why I chose Photojournalism as a Career
 
Contributor since 1998
  
   


home |about this documentary | the journals | search this site | reviews & talkback

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
http://www.digitalstoryteller.com/YITL
This site is protected by United States Copyright Laws
Website Design Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 F.R."Fritz" Nordengren Digital Storyteller
F.R. "Fritz" Nordengren