Friday, July 29, 2016

Shooter for hire





     When you cover a swirling, four-day story like a national convention, it helps to have a home base. Since the newspaper didn't send me to Cleveland until the last minute, I couldn't get into the press center, and had to improvise. That involved setting up shop at Johnny's Little Bar, which was ideal for several reasons: it was only a couple blocks off Public Square, they would charge my phone for me behind the bar, and the burgers were pretty good. 
    It did get crowded, and I would slip upstairs to the empty banquet room, where I met Noah Brooks, a freelance photographer from Florida. We got to talking. There is an enormous gulf between those of us lucky enough to still be on the staffs of what remains of the great news organizations, and everybody else, in the slurry, fighting to find work and to be paid. He was on his laptop, trying to find somebody interested in his photos, trying to find somebody to toss $50 his way.
     He showed me some photos he took in Ukraine during two recent trips there. If they seem
Noah Brooks
unusually artistic, that was his goal. "I was really looking for two things: art and war," he told the Ukrainian Chicago Magazine.  

     I wanted to help him get his work seen, and told him if he sent me a few photographs, I would put them up on my blog, for what it's worth. He did, and here they are. He's hoping to go back to Ukraine in September, and could use a few connections who might be interested in working with him. 
    I don't get the sense that the photo editors of the top press organizations are reading my blog. But you might know somebody, or be involved with a social agency that needs dramatic photographs of war situations, or be involved in one of Chicago's many cultural or artistic organizations that could use his work. If so, I've got just the guy for you. He can be reached at noahbrooks99@gmail.com.






4 comments:

  1. I'm surprised you weren't sent to Phillie.

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    1. Stirring photos from Mr. Brooks. Wishing him good luck.

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  2. Donald Trump embodies the worst warped ideas of what America is and could become! He panders to some AMERICANS fears, hatreds and prejudices, so what does that say about those who think or believe he's really the answer? I get that people are fed up, we all are, but remember, WE let politicians and ourselves do this to our system and our way of life, and NOW we want to know what went wrong, com'on people! Sure, I blame Trump for taking advantage of a vulnerable, time and situation, but that's what he does for a living, very well I might add! There's plenty of blame to go around folks, don't you think? That's the really scary part! He's either unstable and mad, or both, or there's a whole lot more to this than we ever suspected! It wouldn't be the first time!?

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  3. For Trump ALL press, is good press, he doesn't care! Your talking about him right, your feeding his ego! His take is, "See the people love me, I'm smart enough and doggone-it, people like me, they can't stop talking about me"! Enough about ME, let's talk about YOU, what do YOU THINK ABOUT ME! It's insane!

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