As of March 2nd, my 18 year relationship with the  Wise County Messenger will come to a close, as far as a paid employee. I started my journey there in 2001 working as a contract photog under the leadership of editor Skip Nichols. Skip found me on a street corner shooting the Main Street Christmas parade in Decatur,Texas. That night started a great journey and a life-long friendship with my mentor and best fiend Skip Nichols. Having studied for years in the field, I had all the technical tools I needed. Skip taught me the most essential part of photojournalism, to feel the emotion of the moment in front of you. A team was born and we worked together for ten years before Skip moved on.

I can’t think of a better way to get to know a town or it’s people than working at a community newspaper. My relationship with the Messenger has taken me places and helped me to experience life as I never would have in my life before media. Covering such things as National Finals Rodeo, every state championships in almost every sport  from various schools in Wise County and doing heartfelt stories that I really feel made a difference in the world. I would like to think that we took community journalism to a new level through the generosity of the Eaton family and veteran Messenger employees and leaders.

Ancient parable, “the only thing certain in life is change “  with that I will be hanging out my shingle as a full time contract photographer, along with my wife Lisa and her business Pro360VirtualTours.  I will be working on some personal vision stories, custom portraits and teaching photography classes as Texas Vision Photography. I think for an artist of any kind, it’s important to continue pulling from your creativeness in order to realize your full creative potential.

I would like to share a few of my favorite contributions to the field, along with my favorite images throughout my career. The first of which is the seven part series called ‘ Judy’s story ‘ . It is a story of a lady that had been diagnosed with cancer and was brave enough to want to help other women. Along with reporter Brian Knox, we started a 11 month journey with Judy and family. This story taught me more about journalism as a whole, in the way of building relationships and the ethical practices of being a part of such an intense story. The fact that all of this was shot with one camera and one lens ( Nikon D-70 and 24-70 2.8 ) taught me to put the value on the image and not the equipment. I learned the times to be invisible in the moment and when to be a part of the moment.

Kathy and Judy’s sister, Janice, clutch Judy’s hand that was jaundiced by liver failure.

I have always enjoyed the fast pace, ever-changing days working at the paper and would not have changed my journey in any way. Driven to take my photography to the highest level, this particular platform has been a great fit! Thanks again to Roy Eaton and the cast of pros at the Wise County Messenger.

I will be sharing my favorite sports, news and feature contributions in posts to come.