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Back in the day, in a former life, in a galaxy far, far away…I was  college graduate heading out into the world, hoping to  land a job  as a photojournalist.  I had just spent 4 years honing my craft, learning from brilliant teachers and peers alike, and smelling way too many chemicals in amber colored  darkrooms.

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mHumor me as I take a little trip down memory lane…

My major: photojournalism

My part-time job: photo lab manager.

This is me trying to keep all the college

students in line in the photo lab.

Don’t I look oh so very intimidating

and scary?

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My goal: to land a cool job taking awesome pictures.

This is me bothering  some nice old

man just minding his own business

getting some sun in the park.

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My most prized possession: my Nikon FE and stylishly rugged Domke camera bag.

Here’s the trusty old Domke bag (30 years old now)

and various paraphernalia from the olden days

of photography: contact sheets, negatives, good

old black and white prints, and my Western Kentucky

folder.

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After I graduated from college, I moved from Kentucky to sunny California to find my fame and fortune as a photojournalist. As often happens to the best laid plans, life had something else in mind for me. Before I even got a good start looking for a job, I met my future husband, got married, and before I knew it I had 7 kids.

Fast forward  30 years to the present. The majority of my photography has been in the form of snap shots of my kids. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been fun documenting my family’s life in pictures, however I’ve been feeling the itch to get back to my photojournalistic roots.

I finally gave up my old relic film Nikon, and replaced it with a digital SLR Nikon. I replaced my old rugged Domke bag with a more stylish and modern black camera bag.

The clincher in choosing this bag…the super cute pink and green stripes inside! As soon as I opened it up, I knew I had to have this bag.

Next came some advice from my friend at Reuters about how to get press access when I don’t actually work for an official paper or magazine. It seems that Coffee Break with Liz and Kate isn’t quite official enough to gain me press access into some places, thus my NPPA (National Press Photographer’s Association) Press Pass.

So I was all set with my new camera, my new camera bag, and my press pass. Now all I had to do was figure out where to go test out my new stuff.  My daughter’s boyfriend was headed to a huge wrestling tournament at a local college that weekend, so I decided to go there for my first “official” press pass shoot.

Perhaps here is where I should tell you I am not a big fan of wrestling. Just watching my 8 year old son wrestle for one season was enough for me to know that I did not like watching boys beat up on other boys….even on a wrestling mat with referees controlling the whole thing. When he got elbowed in the nose during his very first match, it was almost unbearably difficult for me to stay in my seat and refrain from rushing out to the mat to fix his boo boo.

Nevertheless (what a strange word), I headed off to the wrestling match to venture back into the world of photojournalism. I put the pass around my neck, my camera bag on my shoulder, and with my camera in hand, walked right up to the press entrance. I stood tall (well, as tall as someone who is 5’1″ can stand) and confident, and walked right through the press entrance as if I knew exactly where I was going, and exactly what I was doing. Inwardly, I was ridiculously nervous that they would take one look at me and say, “What’s this woman doing here? She doesn’t belong down here with the real press photographers.”

But no one said a word. No one even gave me a second glance. I waltzed right down to the mats, and plopped myself within feet of the wrestlers.

I began to shoot, timidly at first, a shot here, a shot there. And then I discovered the most amazing thing…shooting pictures is just like riding a bike. No matter how long it had been since I”d been on a real photo shoot, it all came rushing back to me, as if I had been doing it all along. I was having a blast, even though I didn’t have two or three cameras strung around my neck like the other sports photographers, and I didn’t have a nice long fast shooting lens. I didn’t care, because I was having fun.

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Somewhere along the way I noticed something odd starting to happen as I was shooting the  pictures.  Perhaps it was because I was the only woman down there on the floor shooting. Perhaps it was because I reminded these boys of their moms. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence, but I don’t think so. The boys started giving me “the Look” as I was shooting them in action. Though I’m sure none of them would ever admit it, to me “the Look” was a pleading  look of  “Save me MOMMY!” It tugged at my heart strings. I wanted to drop ( I mean gently place) my camera to the ground, and fix their boo boos.

Take a look at “the Look” these boys are giving me. I don’t think it’s just my imagination.

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And as a mom I wanted nothing more than to run right out to the center of the mat and tell the big bullies to stop beating each other up. As a photojournalist, however, I squared my shoulders and pretended like it was all in a days work.

The End…heehee

Read Kate’s Other Adventures!

New Season of the Bachelor. Jake returns! See which 15 girls made Jake’s first cut. Click here.

Here’s a Bachelorette update on Jillian Harris and fiance Ed Swiderski. Since the cameras on The Bachelorette stopped running, this relationship has been swamped with controversy. It seems that Jillian is standing by her man, Ed, even though accusations of Ed’s unfaithfulness are now surfacing. Two women have come forward claiming they were carrying on relationship with Swiderski while he was trying to win Jillian’s heart during the filming of the reality show.

Ed Swiderski and Bethany Steffen

Bethany Steffen, 25, a Chicago marketing developer, claims Swiderski sent her this racy text  “Bring beer and condoms,” on June 3, after he was already engaged to Jillian. When Ed left the show on April 15 due to “work reasons” she says he spent the night with her on April 23.  Steffen says,”Ed just has this way of making people believe what he wants them to believe.”

Ed Swiderski and Lindsey Johnson

Also claiming to have a relationship with Swiderski is Lindsay Johnson, 29, a litigation technology consultant.  Other bachelors on the show say that Ed was exempt from the show’s standard cellphone and laptop ban because he said it was imperative he have access for work. Johnson claims he stayed in contact with her during the taping of the show and said he was only on the show or fun and that he was not attracted to Jillian. “I miss you dearly.  I love you…Hopefully they’ll get me home tomorrow.” he emailed Johnson three days before he told Jillian he had to leave for work.  Johnson also claims that while Ed was briefly off the show (he later went back and was chosen by Jillian to be her fiance) he spent the night with her on April 15 and went to a wedding with her on April 23.  Johnson says, “He was cheating on Jillian…  He was deceiving me the entire time.”

Jillian dismisses these claims as lies and says they are nonsense and inaccurate.  She says, “We really plan on trying to get out of the limelight and trying to get on with our lives.”  Swiderski also denies the two women’s claims.

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee break!