T is back with another guest post. In this piece he’s sharing his most memorable experience working as a photojournalist.
***
I started my job as a Photojournalist for WHO-TV 25 years ago (It blows my mind it’s been that long!) It’s a career that won’t make any lists for the most lucrative, but it has most certainly left me rich with experiences. One of the legendary photojournalists in the Des Moines market, Courtney Kinzer, likes to say “it’s a front row ticket for life.” That is often the truth. We cover things that people in the community care about, so it’s definitely pretty interesting most of the time.
I’ve seen a lot of crazy things and met a ton of really interesting people. I’ve been on the scene of blazing fires and tragic accidents. I’ve felt the tension in a courtroom as the verdict is announced in a first-degree murder trial. I’ve covered each of the last four U.S. Presidents and have gotten to shake hands and chat with two of them. (Obama is a White Sox fan and I’m a Cubs fan. Things got tense.) I’ve frankly forgotten a lot more of the wild stuff than I remember. I should have been keeping a journal.
RELATED READING: Guest Post: Finding Truth Amongst Trash: Thoughts From A Veteran Journalist
There’s one event that always sticks out in my mind though. It involved both tragedy and heroism. It is absolutely something I’ll never forget.
It was a pleasant Tuesday afternoon in June 2009, just a few days before the Fourth of July. The assignment desk sent me over to the Des Moines River near City Hall for a water rescue. Water rescues aren’t necessarily uncommon but are always worth checking out when you work for the local news.
As I approached the river it was easy to see that something big was happening. It’s not difficult to pick up on the energy of an active scene, and this was one of great urgency. I walked up to a crowd that had gathered at the overlook of the Center Street Dam. It’s a small dam used for hydroelectric power, but it churns up the water quite intensely. I set up my camera and peered over the concrete to see what looked like a young boy struggling for survival in the turbulent spillway. I distinctly remember thinking, “I can’t believe I might be witnessing a child drown right now.”
Rescue crews were hard at work, but overcoming the force of the powerful water appeared to be beyond their limits. They were able to get a flotation ring out, which the person caught, but they still remained stuck in the raging rapids. The next strategy was to use a boat to tow the person out. Unfortunately the boat didn’t have enough power.
Circumstances at the time provided an extra tool. A pedestrian bridge was in the process of being built over the river in this exact location so a crane was in place for the construction. I looked to my right and saw a construction worker being strapped up with a harness. A brave man was about to take brave action.
With impressive precision under immense pressure, the crane operator lowered his co-worker toward the struggling person in the water. Remarkably, he was able to reach the terrified person’s hand, lift them out of the water, and into his arms. This was, without question, the most sensational scene I’ve ever seen play out in front of me.
It turns out it wasn’t a young child like I had initially thought. It was a middle-aged woman. She and her husband had been on the river scouting out a place to watch fireworks for the coming days when they ventured out too far and got sucked into the dam. Tragically, her husband didn’t make it, and his body was recovered downstream a short time later.
After the woman was safe and on her way to the hospital, news crews at the scene turned their attention to the hero of the day. Everyone wanted to speak to him. Who was he? What was going through his mind? Was he scared? The man wanted no part of that type of attention. He declined interviews and went on his way, claiming not to be a hero at all. Just a man who did something anyone else would do for someone desperate for help.
Still stunned by what I had witnessed, I took my footage back to the station. It would be the lead story on the 10 o’clock news that night. A photographer for The Des Moines Register would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for the photo she captured at the moment of rescue.
This was a horrible tragedy for the woman who was rescued. My heart breaks for her every time I recall this day. It was also an incredible display of heroism by everyone involved with helping her get to safety. On top of all of that, it was simply a wild and almost unfathomable scene to witness, and when I get asked what is “the craziest” or “most memorable” news story” I’ve ever covered in my career as a photojournalist…it makes the answer an easy one.
***
*Click HERE to read all of T’s posts.
Leave a Reply