Shared experiences

The aspiring journalist! 

When I first started out in journalism, my mother accompanied me to pretty much every assignment. We toured Trinity Music City USA in Hendersonville, Tenn. We also attended chamber luncheons where the state of local finances was illustrated with a photograph of someone's armpit. We went to parking lots that were the starting lines for marathons; we went to a tiny, one-roomed library to document a middle-aged woman dressed up as the tooth fairy. One summer my mother drove the entire expanse of the Denver area so I could cover one high school graduation ceremony after another.

I loved having a partner for these writing assignments. As much as I loved the job it was better when there was someone to share it.

When I moved away to work at another paper the best assignments were still the ones I did with my co-workers. "There is safety in numbers," a fellow reporter would say when we teamed up. She was right. It was a lot more fun covering the 4-H livestock auction with someone else. It was more fun having someone else in the car while chasing after a fire truck to find out if there was a fire only to have the County Road slowly fade away and then vanish completely in a field.

These days, because everyone in the office is so busy, there isn't time to do collaborations so I have been a solo reporter. Till today.

Today, my 13-year-old nephew came with me to the community's Easter Egg Hunt. I took my camera and notepad and Connor borrowed my mother's cherry red digital camera and we set off to Ashley Pond to provide coverage of the holiday event.

Connor exhibited a confidence and an enthusiasm for snapping stranger's pictures that impressed me to no end. He photographed little kids taking part in a bike rodeo, firefighters giving tours of their engines, police officers manning booths and the endless lines to the bouncy houses. When we felt we had total coverage of the event, we journeyed over to the Los Alamos Daily Post office and downloaded his pictures. We opened each photo in Photoshop and every good shot got a fist pump from the young photographer. I showed him what his pictures would like once they were published on the website.

Connor was giddy on the ride back home. He asked if the Los Alamos Daily Post does internships and offered his photography services anytime we needed them-even if it was during school.

I was giddy myself. To share a great experience with someone else is a true gift. But that gift becomes more profound and infinitely more valuable when you share something you love with someone and they love it just as much back.