Lessons Learned
during my 40 year association with
The Post
By Ken Stewart ,
former staff photographer,
photo editor and freelance photojournalist
for the Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post
December 31, 2007:
A few weeks ago I photographed my last football game for The Cincinnati Post.
As I stood on the sidelines, in the chill of a 30 degree night, trying to capture a moment in time of that Newport Catholic- Corbin playoff game... I found it hard to concentrate on the action before me... Knowing that the newspaper would soon close forever.
My mind kept wondering back to the first football game I photographed for the newspaper, and a few of the lessons learned during my 40 year association with The Post .... It’s been a great ride!
Lesson 1:
Keep both eyes open...
It was September 29 1968, week four of the Bengals first season, and it was my first season as a staff photographer for The Post.
The Bengals were hosting the San Diego Chargers at UC Nippert Stadium and it was there I was "introduced" to Bengals tight end Bob Trumpy while he was attempting to catch a pass from the quarterback that I was focusing on with my long lens. Trumpy, while catching the pass, was hit by a Charger defenseman and they fell on me.. (Ouch! ) I never let that happen again.... I always tried to keep both eyes open... One for the viewfinder and one for the surroundings.
Lesson 2:
Never come back from an assignment without a picture!
Earlier that same year I was pressed into service at the last minute by the sports department to cover a Reds game for a fellow photographer who called in sick.
On my way to Crosley Field It started to rain. With each passing minute the rain fell heavier until finally driving the car was very difficult. Then a few blocks from the ball park I was involved in a car wreck (not my fault). There were minor injuries to me and major injuries to both cars. As my (new) car was being towed away, a Cincinnati Police officer offered me a ride back to the newspaper office (very nice of him). He also told me that he heard that the Reds game was rained-out... Good news... I was off the hook for not getting game photos, so I thought.
Back at the paper I checked-in with night sports editor Tom Swope, (who, I swear, had been at that same desk for at least 90 years). Without looking up at me the grumpy editor barked " your late kid... show me your pictures... I need to close this page"... I told my story... the wreck... the rain-out... showed my cuts and bruises... but he just barked... " you should have gone to the (Reds) clubhouse... now I have nothing for this page!" And so it went.....
Lesson 4:
Make the picture first... then take cover.
It was April 3rd. 1974, I was in a company car with reporter Mike Kennedy, we were driving north on I-71 in Blue Ash, headed to Xenia Ohio where a huge tornado had just blown half of the city away ...
Our two-way radio blared.. "We have a report of many tornados in the area..TAKE COVER! " shouted our editor.
Just as he said those words we saw a funnel cloud forming... Kennedy, the reporter, was at the wheel shouting holy s... what should we do? He grabbed the mic and reported what we saw... Our editor shouted back TAKE COVER! We could now see the fully formed tornado... It was heading right for us... Our car was being blown towards the side of the road, and into a bus that had stopped in the ditch. Kennedy was yelling Oh my God... The editor, on the two-way, was again yelling TAKE COVER NOW!
By then I was hanging out of the car window making pictures as fast as I could, and hoping my camera would be found undamaged after the funnel cloud blew us to Columbus...
Then just as quick as the tornado formed, it turned way from us.....
My tornado picture ran on page one the next day.. It was the full width of the page... and in addition, it was published in more than 700 other newspapers around the world, via United Press.
Lesson 5:
There are some quirky people out there!
One spring day I was assigned by the Women's department editor to photograph a garden club meeting (not a photographer's favorite type of assignment) at a house in Deer Park.
Upon arriving at the front door I was greeted by a sign telling visitor's to use the stairs off the garage... As a approached the garage I could hear that the garden party was in full swing (lots of ladies yacking it up). As I followed the instructions and was almost to the top of the stairs, a very large guard dog lunged at me from the landing... I fell backwards down the stairs landing on the concrete floor. In the process I severely dislocated my right arm from my shoulder. (Ouch!) as the dog followed me down the stairs...
The commotion caused the party host to come and investigate. When it was determined that I was not the meter reader from the gas company, and that I was in fact injured, the life squad was finally called, Not by the host as you might expect..but by me as I lay on the floor... As the medics were wheeling me out on a stretcher, my camera bag on my chest.. The garden party hostess called out... You didn't make any pictures of the party!
Do You Think They Will Send Another Photographer? ( my mumbled answer is not printable). When the women called the paper for a replacement photographer... she caught the wrath of our women's editor... the short answer was NO... the long answer is unprintable......
Lesson 3
Don't wait to say Thank You!
May 20, 1968. I was on the UC campus walking to a rather routine assignment to to "illustrate" a reporters story with a photograph.
As I rounded a corner I saw, and heard, a very large crowd in front of the Administration building... The crowd was made-up of mostly black students. They were chanting Black Power slogans, shouting demands with bull horns and conducting a sit-in...
Looking over the crowd I first noticed that they had a TV cameraman (who was a black man) surrounded and held a book to his lens... These were not happy people... and it was obvious they didn't like to have their pictures taken... So what to do?
Well.... this looked like a big story to me... So I got busy making pictures (from what I thought was a safe distance) of the main event...
Gimme that camera! said the voice of a very tall black guy who was grabbing at my camera strap while he punched me in the eye. (ouch!) I Don't think so, I said... I'll leave here but you can't have my camera! With that came one of two other guys from the crowd and ripped the camera from around my neck (Ouch! ) as the other guy grabbed me from behind through me down and kicked at my back (ouch!). My camera was repeatedly thrown to the ground until it sprung open.. The roll of film was pulled from the cassette and held to the cheering crowd, in victory...
While all this was happening two (white) UC students protested my assault and attempted to come to my rescue... As they approached one was beaten with chair leg, the other was hit by a trash can thrown from the crowd... The crowd cheered... Then my camera lens sailed past my head... thrown like a grenade towards Clifton Avenue... The crowd cheered...
The two UC students who tried to help disappeared from view as I was taken to a nearby hospital... The sit-in event, and the assault on me and those two students made banner headlines on the front page of that day's final edition.
I never got a chance to publicly thank the two students who were assaulted. So to those two brave students from Bridgetown named Ron Rechtin and Ronald Koppenhoeffer.... Here is a very belated and sincere THANK YOU ! Sorry I waited 40 years!
Lesson 6:
Family is....
Early one morning I was involved in a very serious car accident that was unrelated to my job. When the life squad finally got me to the hospital, I was close to death.... Obviously I recovered, But I will never forget the out-pouring of cards, letters, and flowers, from the Post staff. Or the visits to the blood bank by my fellow photographers, that also included my competitors from across town at The Enquirer. Nor will I ever forget the generosity of The Post's management who made sure I received a full weekly pay check for all those many months I was off the job.
To use a Forest Gump-isum...Family is.. What family does....
Lesson 7:
The grass is not always greener!
After spending 16 years "On The Street" as a photographer ( 6 with another company and 10 with The Cincinnati Post) I was promoted to Editor of Graphics and Photography at the Kentucky Post.
As it turned out it was a real challenging position.. I was the sixth person in that job in less than 2 years... Vance Trimble, the Pulitzer Prize winning editor of the KY Post chewed-up photo editors for lunch... and enjoyed it!
Trimble soon retired, but his successor enjoyed his lunches too.
After 6 years as a photo editor I was burned out.... I left the newspaper business... for greener pastures.
For the next twelve years, as I operated my own commercial photo lab and photography supply businesses, I yearned to be back on the street were the grass is really green. There is nothing that can compare to newspaper photography.
Finally I sold the business and began a career as a freelance photojournalist for various magazines and newspapers. The Post is one of my favorite clients, they're family... and the grass has been green on my side of the street for more than 8 years.
Lesson 8:
I have experienced the most progressive era in the history of photography!
During my 46 years as a photojournalist I have witnessed many changes in cameras and editing equipment.
Going from the 4x5 speed graphic, with its 2 exposure sheet film holders, to the 35 mm SLR camera with its 36 exposure roll film, and 1000 mm telephoto lenses, and now to the digital film-less cameras that can capture hundreds of images, at up to 8 "frames" a second, on a single memory card .... Fantastic.....
And, where we used to take portable (wet) darkrooms on the road, to events like Reds spring training camp, and set up in a hotel bathroom to develop film and make our prints.... We now use a laptop computer to edit and transmit our digital images to any publication in the world, directly from the event with-in minutes of making the picture.. no film to develop.. no prints to make... A photojournalists dream has come true!
Lesson 9:
Nothing lasts forever!
I'm mad as H--- because I give a D---!
You would think that any company that has been in business for 128 years... could, or would, or can find a way to stay in business! But No... They are willing to let the better of Cincinnati's two daily newspapers close. They are willing to give up a voice that Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky desperately needs... They are willing to release extremely talented reporters, photographers and editors into the wind...
Who is going to watch over the politician's corruption? Who is going to watch over wrong-doing's by police? Who is going to spread the word of the good things that citizens do? Can we rely on just one watch dog left in our community who could be influenced not to publish a story or two and no one would know...... because there is no second voice.
Courtesy of Jim Borgman/ The Enquirer
The Lights Are Now Out at The Cincinnati and Kentucky Post Newspapers
Following 128 Years of Service to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, the final editions of the two E.W. Scripps owned newspapers were published December 31, 2007.
Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky will now have only one daily newspaper, The Enquirer, owned by Gannett a huge media company that also owns the 26 Community Press and Recorder weekly newspapers in Greater Cincinnati.
Final Day @ The Post
The Post’s staff of reporters, photographers and editors who stayed to the last day to publish the final edition.
Photo by Ken Stewart © 2007