Doing My Job

Daniel Enrique Gomez was killed in Iraq July 18. I met his family July 24. It was a very hard day.

I love my job. I have a real passion for what I do. I also love people, and usually connect with the people I photograph. Some assignments are just painful. I feel my subject's hurt as anyone would, but here I am with a camera to take a picture.

When I am confronted by death covering a news event like a wreck, an airplane crash or some other breaking story, I am insulated from the reality by my camera.
While I am shooting, I don't have to deal with it. That usually comes later.

The old days when I retreated to the darkroom to get my prints done, I had a private place to cry. The next day I was shooting another story, and in the conversation about something completely different, someone remarked "I thought newspaper photographers are tough." I think a lot of us shooters have very sensitive souls, we just tough it out and get our picture.

There is a reward in being able to show our readers the love felt by a dad for his
son. Guess that's a reason to do it.