The expression on his face spoke volumes, too. Two photographers in very different situations looked into the faces of people who, by choice or obsession, defined the best and worst of human possibility. And the photographers gave us those faces in the next day's paper, filled with wonder in one case, fear and hatred in the other. It is what they do, and they do it so damn well. While reporters might be able to ease back a little with their notebooks, photographers have to stick their heads up and point their cameras at what's going on.
Photographers are a very special part of the newspaper.
So we tend to get upset when one of them gets mugged at the front door. We hate to see the talent getting manhandled. When Rachel Ritchie was at that street fair Sunday and she heard gunfire, she didn't do what I would have done or what most people would have done. She didn't dive for cover. She started taking pictures.