Why I’m thankful: More lessons from the courtroom

Introduction

As perhaps thousands of people now know, my conflict (for lack of a better word) with the Boone County Courthouse didn’t end a month ago.

If anything, these people know that:

• the judge rejected my written apology and offered a second opportunity to send another apology,
• I declined that second opportunity and did not send another apology; and
• the judge declared a 30-day ban for me to enter the Boone County Courthouse effective Dec. 15 unless I filed a request for a hearing.

What the vast majority of those people do not know is this: I never declined that second opportunity. Additionally, the 30-day ban has — as of yesterday around 10:45 a.m. — been lifted.

In this entry, I will attempt the following:

• explain how it was that I’d never declined that second opportunity,
• divulge all relevant details, including associated court documents and e-mails,
• discuss the importance of reporters’ getting ALL sides of a story and
• express my gratitude to the many who helped me and supported me through this tough time.

This account will be told chronologically. As was the case with my first account pertaining to this incident, it will be long. But so many people have read my account about how I made my mistake and tried to atone for it, and I can only hope that at least half that many will read this follow-up.

How it happened

As was published first in a Columbia Daily Tribune article and then picked up by the Associated Press, I received a statement from the court on Friday, Nov. 20. This statement came almost a full month after the Missourian director of photography, the photo editor who edited with me on that assignment and I sent letters of apology to the judge.

Click on the image to view/download the full-resolution PDF file.

Behind the scenes at Emily and Matt’s wedding

Two weekends ago, Jeff and I spent three days in Houston for my brother Matt’s wedding.

Matt.

Emily. (With some negative scratches in her hair.)

Although we were not the wedding photographers, we both brought cameras. Of course. Jeff shot digital, which means his photos were up and ready the next day. I shot film, which means my photos are just now ready.

There’s a reason why I shot film, and particularly Tri-X 400 film. I’d grown up poring over photos shot by LIFE photographers. The black-and-white photos of JFK and Jackie’s wedding always struck me as wonderful wedding photography, and I wanted to capture a similar, candid look using black-and-white film.

In the bride's dressing room an hour before the wedding, Emily reads a card sent up to her from Matt.

As a bridesmaid, I had special access to the bride’s dressing room at the Richmond House, where the wedding and reception were held. I knew the hired wedding photographer wasn’t scheduled to arrive until shortly before the ceremony, so I happily took it upon myself to capture some small moments among the girls.

How everything came together: Missouri defeats Kansas State 38-12

Somehow, Missouri got it together and knocked the socks off of Kansas State yesterday, when the Tigers pulled off a 38-12 victory in Manhattan, Kan. This was a victory completely unexpected by almost everyone I talked to before leaving for the “Little Apple” to photograph the game.

A player (yet to be identified) embraces Missouri junior tailback Derrick Washington (No. 24) after Washington ran a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

But I’m not here to ponder, consider or explain how or why the Tigers secured their victory.

Senior Leslie Horn reaches out to senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon after Missouri defeated Kansas State 38-12 at the Billy Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.

Rather, this entry’s title refers to the facts that:

• I’ve overcome my massive insecurity about shooting football, especially with equipment previously unfamiliar to me,
• my actually decent job at shooting the Nebraska game in inclement weather conditions was not a complete fluke, and
• I am (surprisingly) reasonably comfortable shooting college football now.

All this means that, now that I know the game and know I can get the action, I can and should focus on working different angles and getting shots unlike what editors, fans and readers expect to see from a football game.

But as it is for now, I’ve got a few action shots from the game I’d like to share with you.

Summer in the city: Blogging New York City photos

90ish days of summer

As I have previously mentioned, Jeff and I escaped the clutches of the greater D.C. area to spend three days in New York City in the beginning of August.

Strawberry Fields in Central Park on Friday, Aug. 7.

We spent those three days seeing the sights, mostly in Manhattan and mostly through our camera viewfinders. Jeff had his D700; I had my 30D and Olympus OM-1.

Here’s the conundrum: I shot on black-and-white film. Which means I have color photos (from my 30D) as well as black-and-white. The color photos are wonderfully vibrant, whereas the black-and-white photos lend a more old-fashioned look at the city. Because of the different moods they present, I’ll post the color photos separately from the black-and-white photos.

But today, I’m starting out with a bit of each.

Our bus from D.C. arrived two blocks from the New York Times building. So of course we stopped by the NYT before doing anything else.

We arrived via bus in Manhattan on Thursday evening. After swinging by the New York Times building — no longer in Times Square — we dropped off our luggage at my uncle’s apartment in the Upper East Side and ate dinner at a small, nearby diner. Where I had homemade ravioli for the first time ever. It was incredible.

By the way, here’s a photo of fellow Review staffers and me at the New York Times building in 2004, back when it was still in Times Square. Did you know Times Square was named after The New York Times?

From left to right: Andrew (future business manager), Armin (future sports editor and managing editor), Mrs. van der Pol (adviser), me (future features editor and EIC), Chanel (future news editor), Morgan (future scrivener, features editor and managing editor) and Anna. As staff of our high school newspaper, we spent spring break in the city for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference.

Jeff and I started out the next morning (Friday, Aug. 7) at Central Park, which was only a few blocks from my uncle’s apartment. We didn’t spend that much time there, though — lower Manhattan and Brooklyn were calling our name. But of course we took some photos.

Panoramic view from the north end of the lake in Central Park West.

This will probably be the only entry with both color and black-and-white photos. I’ll be posting more photos over the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Flashback to the 90s: A Third Eye Blind concert

Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins likes to perform barefoot, apparently.

As I wrote last week, I photographed a Third Eye Bind concert last Tuesday. Two projects and a wedding weekend later, and upon the insistence of my friend Cat, I’m finally posting these photos.

Third Eye Blind guitarist Tony Fredianelli.

When I was assigned to cover the concert, one of the editors referred to Third Eye Blind as “everyone’s favorite band from 2000.” Since I’ve had my head (and ears) stuck in a 1960s/70s rut for the past 21 years, I wasn’t sure I was familiar with the band’s music.

So Jeff had me listen to six or seven songs. And of those, I immediately recognized at least five from the opening chords.

It was definitely a throwback to contemporary radio play during my adolescence, and it definitely helped explain why the concert at The Blue Note was sold out.

City lights

Last night, Third Eye Blind played a sold-out show at The Blue Note. I was there not as a fan, but as a photographer for The Missourian.

But before I photo’ed the show, I wandered downtown Columbia a bit.

Eighth and Cherry.

When I first came to Columbia three years ago, I fell hard for downtown. Having an eclectic assortment of restaurants, shops, services and government buildings right at my doorstep was a complete novelty after living in Houston for my entire life. Within a month of living in Columbia, I knew downtown better than I knew the MU campus.

Then I started exploring downtown at night. And downtown at night is a completely different creature.

It’s just more beautiful.

Ninth and Broadway.

This was the first time I had time to wander downtown at night since at least April, and the first time I’d done so with a camera since freshman year. So I kept it simple. Having no tripod, I couldn’t hand-hold long exposures for too long.

I love this parking garage, even though it doesn't have nearly enough public-parking spots. (Everything else is permit.)

I’ll have Third Eye Blind photos up either later tonight or tomorrow before I leave for Houston for my brother’s wedding.

No, I’m not the wedding photographer. But I will be bringing my film camera and a roll of black-and-white!

As for the severe lack of photo updates this past month? I’ll get on it. I promise.

My new resume, because it’s that time of year again

Because it’s that time of year again — internship application season — I’ve completely redone my resume.

For two years or so, I’ve used a variation of the following format and style:

I’ve been pondering my new brand and style for several weeks. One thing that I knew I wanted to change was how regimented my old resume is. So last night, I played around, and here’s what I turned out:

My actual new resume is a little different from the one I’m showing and have uploaded. Namely, I removed my mailing address and cell phone number for privacy reasons and, accordingly, shifted the top heading (“(photo)journalism by Chris L. Dunn”) a bit.

But I really like my new resume. The new format — two columns all the way down, indentations instead of bullets and no lines — is clean, airy and organized. To punch it up a bit for impact (and save on what would be excessive costs for color printing), I’ve introduced an 80-percent opacity on the body text. Finally, the new heading typeface gives the whole page some pizazz and a creative feel.

Now it’s time to whip up a letterhead that’s congruous with this resume — and pump those applications out before deadline! Wish me luck. And, as always, I’d love to know what you think about my new (or old) resume.

Lessons from the courtroom: A photography faux pas

• UPDATE (10:38 a.m., Nov. 25, 2009) — By my general reckoning, at least thousands of people know there’s more to this story, as of this past Friday. Various editors, journalism school faculty and I have since worked to remedy the situation. Now that we’ve tied up our loose ends, I believe now is the time to clarify exactly what happened — at least on my part. Please read my blog entry for the second (and final) component to this incident.

“Hello, this is Chris.”

“Hi Chris, this is Josh. You need to tell me the truth about what happened in court yesterday. And don’t lie to me, because lying isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

That’s how, via a phone call today at 9:13 a.m., I found out I was in trouble.

Here’s why:

Yesterday, I spent almost six hours in the Boone County Courthouse as the pool photographer for the fourth day of William Clinch’s first-degree murder trial. Armed with a 300mm lens, a 70-200mm and a 17-35mm, I knew the following before I entered the courtroom at 12:45 p.m.:

• Do not photograph the jury.
• Do what the judge tells me to do. Do not anger or even mildly irritate the judge.
• Be respectful and quiet. This means not firing off more than three frames at a time.
• Do not photograph the jury.

I photographed the jury.

That is why:

• the Missourian reporter was kicked out of the courtroom this morning,
• the photo director (Josh, above) called me,
• I had to explain exactly what happened to several editors,
• I could have been put in jail for contempt of court,
• I spent the next hour tearfully worrying and wondering what would happen next,
• I wrote a letter of apology to the judge,
• I ended up on A1 of The Columbia Daily Tribune and
• I am writing this blog post.

More specifically, I am writing this blog post to clarify exactly what happened. I believe in transparency, and I believe that other journalism students and journalists can learn from my mistakes.

Therefore, I am laying out everything that happened. This is the truth and is consistent with my letter of apology and my explanation to various Missourian editors and colleagues. And the truth is long, so this blog post is long. But I hope you’ll keep reading.

Lessons from Bill Eppridge

Ever seen this photo?

Photo courtesy of Time Inc.

The man who captured this tragic moment, this stunning blow and this iconic photo is an MU photojournalism alumnus.

His name is Bill Eppridge. He’s shot for LIFE, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated, and he was in town for the past three days. He gave a presentation to about 150 journalism students and faculty, received a Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism and talked to my staff photo class. He also reviewed my portfolio on Wednesday afternoon.

I’ll be honest here:

• I haven’t seriously looked into summer internships/jobs (yet). Being in class 16 hours a week and working at The Missourian and the equipment locker for at least another 20 hours a week have stretched me thin on any other pursuits.
• I haven’t given a good, long, hard look at my work over the past year. Plus, between photo editing at The Maneater in sophomore year, reporting in Jefferson City in junior year, working at Philmont for three summers and interning at washingtonpost.com this past summer, I haven’t had much time or many opportunities to be an actively shooting photojournalist until this semester.

But as soon as I heard that Bill Eppridge and his wife Adrienne — who is a photo editor — were volunteering to review students’ portfolios, I knew I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. So, in 10 minutes, I threw together a quick portfolio of single images (fortunately, I’ve been posting all of my best work from the past two years on my Flickr). And then I swallowed my nervousness as Bill and Adrienne looked over my work.

Tony Hawk and Twitter bring skate tour to Columbia

Tony Hawk is a MAJOR twithead.

The one and only Tony Hawk.

Using the hashtag #THTH (“Tony Hawk Twitter Hunt”?), Hawk has started a Twitter revolution in which he reveals stops on his BirdHouse tour. He tweets scavenger hunt-like clues to locations where more clues are hidden — and then, whoever finds a clue must reveal its contents and, therefore, the location of his next tour stop.

On Friday, Hawk announced he would be in Columbia… on Saturday.

So, of course, every little kid with a skateboard, every college student with a camera and a lot of other people showed up. And I showed up.

Simon Midkiff, Logan Prange and Bubby Rios-Diaz vie for the attention of Tony Hawk's promoters, who were tempting the crowd with a free skateboard.

Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins warms up on the half-pipe before the demos officially start.

Jesse Fritsch on the half-pipe.

I arrived late to the event after I wrapped up another Missourian assignment, so I missed Hawk’s street-skating demo. I wasn’t assigned to cover Hawk, but my editor called as I was walking toward the skate park. Turned out the assigned photographer was 40 minutes away — so, a darned good thing I was already there to make up for him!

Walking into the skate park knowing I was legitimately covering this for a newspaper empowered me to ask the promoter to get me behind the barricade and in front of the nets. A few complications and 20 minutes later, I got access.