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It’s an inevitable part of any photojournalist’s career that he/she will cover a controversial issue or event. I’ve seen my fair share during my brief career ranging from a meth bust on my first day of work to today’s event that saw a man sitting atop a fence overlooking a rail yard, which resulted in an hour-long standoff with police.

Today, the man did not jump as a group of three police officers seized him. They pulled him from the fence in a split second as seen in the slide show above. During this instance, I shot between 10 and 15 frames — in all, maybe 100.

We field a number of calls from angry or curious readers who question or want to know the thought process in our decision to run such photos. Last year, dozens upon dozens of people called and complained after I shot — and we ran — a photo a rollover accident.

Many felt it was a disrespectful display on our part. Some suggested we be sued for running such graphic images. So why is it that we choose to run photos that often depict a more graphic side of life? Do we lack common decency?

No, we are just like everyone else, but we do have a public service to provide.

In our meeting today, photo chief Michael Smith and I argued with executive editor D. Reed Eckhardt to run a second photo to further illustrate the situation. He declined and argued that if we allow one person to act insanely and reward their behavior with sizable coverage in the paper, then copycats will follow and line up on the Warren Avenue Viaduct for their chance to grace the pages of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

It is the nature of our society to follow fads. And just like Crocs or tribal tattoos, people mimic other bad decisions like school shootings or murder suicides. So it is with a great deal of consciousness that we report on such issues. When running images like the ones featured above, we take into consideration whether the photo is worthy of using space.

One of my great professors, George Gladney, had a theory on how to handle copycat behavior, “Run it once and then hide it inside the paper or omit it altogether the next time.” His theory was to eliminate the potential that people would behave badly based solely on the fact that they would be publicized for their stunts.

Eckhardt made particular note of this theory, as mentioned above. In deciding to run the photo in today’s paper, we compromised and elected not to run the individual’s face in print to avoid the possibility that a copycat would duplicate the stunt in hopes of being seen. We published an image based solely on the news worthiness of the story itself: a man dangling from a viaduct with a plethora of police officers (paid by our tax dollars) trying to lure him away from the edge. In addition, a number of citizens were affected by the event as the viaduct was closed during the incident, which caused traffic to be backed up on the side streets of south Cheyenne as motorists attempted to transport themselves to the other side of the tracks.

In short, this was an event that affected a large number of people in our community, and thus, had impact on our lives making it worthy of using our space.

Thanks for looking.

High school football is the man!

That is to say, it is the most exciting level of football known to man.

Luckily, I was assigned to shoot the two area high school games this weekend. God bless the Friday night and Saturday morning shifts. If only the shifts included a sandwich…

Anyway, to clarify as to why this is the most exciting level; on Friday, Central played Natrona and scored two interceptions in the fourth quarter (one of which Connor Long took to the house for a nine-point lead). On Natrona’s next possession, they scored on a single play to cut the lead back to two. Natrona got the ball back late and drove again. This time to the Indians’ one-yard line. On a fourth and one for the ages, Natrona pulled their offense and opted for a field goal.

Bad move or bad luck.

Tyler Stone missed after connecting with the crossbar to give Central a 21-19 win.

On Saturday, the South High freshman (the first-ever South High team) played now-cross-town rival East High. East took a dominating 21-0 halftime lead, but the upstart Bison rumbled back (sort of). South cut the lead to nine before an East pick-six ended all hope. For prosperity, South scored again for a 27-18 loss worthy of a high-five and a handshake. Not bad for a first-year coach and team.

High school football has a margin of error wider than John Goodman’s neck. Anything can happen.

If you don’t believe me, my brother, who has the athleticism of a roll of Scotch tape, made a QB sack in his season opener somewhere else in the state.

Good luck to all the players and enjoy the slide shows.

(note: East High and other area teams will make their debuts soon and slide shows will appear magically for part II)

WTE photo editor Michael Smith shot the first day of public school in Cheyenne on Wednesday. Today was more than just the first day of public school for the students of Rossman Elementray — it was the first day of the newly-built school. The $12-million school was completed this summer and principal Dennis Dix opened its doors for the first-ever classes within the halls of Rossman.

Thanks for looking.

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Monday marked the first day of school at St. Mary’s, and strangely, my first time shooting a first day of school. As expected, many of the younger kids cried upon realizing they were leaving their parents’ sides for a life of the daily grind.

I have no witty comment about their tears for fears. Other than this; I, too, cried on a particularly rough first day of school. Sadly, it wasn’t even my own. It was that of my sister, Alexis, in August 1988.

For most of my life to that point (all four years in fact), my sister and I spent every single waking minute together. I even slept in her room every night despite the fact that I had a fold-out sofa bed of my own across the hall. So as you can imagine, our first day apart was stressful.

Wearing a blue dress adorned with white lace fringes, and a particularly nice pair of knee-high white socks (must have been the style, but more likely, poverty), she smiled as she left my mother, my father and I for Mrs. DiMori’s kindergarten class. Much like the young children of St. Mary’s, I came to the realization that she had just become a statistic, another working body in the ever-evolving human race and was leaving my side.

I was crushed.

My mom carried me away from the school — me crying on her shoulder — as my dad snapped photos of my anguish. To this day, the image is a family favorite (they must hate me).

A year later, I joined the statistics and began kindergarten. It was rather uneventful as I was a seasoned vet having witnessed my sister’s ascension into adulthood a year earlier. My attitude reflected that of Ice Cube’s in his song “Ghetto Vet”, “Fool, I’m a vet you can bet that I could dance underwater and not get wet.”

In short, these tears shared by the children of St. Mary’s will last only a moment, but the knowledge and experience they obtain will last somewhat longer.

Thanks for looking. Click below to see more images.

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Do you remember this? Pure, unadulterated enjoyment. The last weekend before nine months in the classroom. The only glimmer of hope at the zero hour and the last chance to run amok like a drunken Hollywood starlet.**

I do, all too well.

The feeling of day one of the school year haunted me for two decades. That weekend had the effect of a culmination of every Sunday night from August through June happening all at once. It was sort of like being blindsided with inevitably bad news. Like a trip to the dentist after eating cotton candy dipped in caramel, chocolate sauce and 3/4 inch button head screws.

Not good.

How do I know? Because I recently lost half a tooth to a similar foe — a plastic wrapper.

Anyway, I’m a proponent of education, sure. But as a kid, it was never exciting for me to end my days of no shoes, no shirt, no reform in favor of the scent of rubber cement and the sights and sounds of brick school house U.S.A.

This image above reminds me of everything I loved about youth. Freedom, exhilaration and running water (pay your bills kids). I took this image as a last ditch effort for today’s feature art. And appropriately enough, it works as an illustration for the end of summer and the beginning of another academic year.

Thanks for looking and good luck to all who will return to their appropriate educational facilities in the week ahead.

**These kids were soberly running amok in a good-natured fashion just in case you were wondering.