Last week I spent a wonderful time in Oregon. It was rather unexpected.
Oh, I knew I was going down there for a long time. But, it was for a work related class on writing and photography. I thought, quite arrogantly, that I was going to see and hear a lot of what I already knew.
Instead, we had a wonderful speaker for disaster/crisis writing. Ralph DeSantis worked for the owners of Three-Mile Island during their, shall we say, crisis. He was an entertaining speaker who’s “do’s and don’ts†were gleaned from experience, often with a lot of the don’ts.
He discussed candidly the PR disaster that ensued after the plant experienced a meltdown in one of it’s reactors. Video DeSantis showed displayed officials telling reporters it wasn’t their business to know everything that occured. I can’t think of a bigger mistake to make!
Learning from these mistakes helps make a company more transparent, and while that might be intimidating to the company, the reward is improved trust within the community.
On the photography side, I was completely blown away by instructor Dave LaBelle. Besides being an amazing photographer, he’s got an energetic, inviting personality that you can’t help but be drawn in by. Charisma? In spades!
An instructor of photojournalism at the University of Kentucky, I can’t help but be a little jealous of his students. A semester or more with LaBelle would be incredibly informative. His teaching style, in the short time I experienced it, is very open and honest. I think he coaxed some of the best photography out of me that I’ve done in some time.
It all boiled down to a pretty simple instruction. Be observant. See things you may not be looking for. For me, that produced some humorous shots. My photography from this time can be found in my Gallery.
So far, I haven’t been able to find Dave’s new book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The Great Picture Hunt 2 can, however, be found on the National Press Photographers Association web site. I highly recommend it.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Teri // Oct 18, 2006 at 8:33 PM
My sister and her son live in Portland, OR. I find myself drawn to the area more each time I visit. About a year ago, I got to visit Multnomah, Klamath and (I think) Horse Shoe Falls. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend visiting the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery. Jen, Jakob and I drove up to Crater Lake. Go here to see what little we saw. Yes. That’s SNOW. It started about, oh, an hour before we got there. Stupid winter interrupted our plans. Also? Be sure to visit Mt St Helens. Hope all is well. Take care.
2 Roger Asbury // Oct 18, 2006 at 9:32 PM
This trip down was the first time I’d ever flown over Mt. St. Helens. It was an awesome sight, as we flew over as the sun was still fairly low on the horizon. Wish I was sitting somewhere on the plane where I could have better utilized my camera.
Also, you wouldn’t happen to be Teri Hegland would you? I noticed from your myspace that you graduated from Ben Eielson in 1993.
3 Teri // Oct 19, 2006 at 7:11 PM
Oooohh… we have a winner! Yes. Well, close, anyway. Now a hyphenate. Hegland-Rose, thankyouverymuch. *grin* Married nigh 11+ years now. Thanks to a certain TallGuy’s flight benefits, I travel much more now. I’ve hit 49 states and am ever-so-patiently waiting for Hawaii as the 50th. Seriously considering Hong Kong as my first international visit. Woooowoo!
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