An Analog Log

This is how it was . . .





















7/30/83, Marshalltown, IA (UPI): The Iowa Boys State High School Baseball Tournament--After securing a nearby cheap motel room which served as a makeshift photo lab(the tiny bathroom outfitted with a portable Unicolor enlarger resting on the sink, three printing trays in the tub with a safelight hanging from the shower curtain rod, and a film processing tank filled with Kodak HC-110 developer at the ready)and photo editing/transmission center(the telephone dismantled and alligator-clipped mouthpiece wired to accommodate the UPI domestic transmitter), I was fully equipped and totally prepared to cover this crucial statewide event. Armed with a Nikon FM camera, auto winder, and 300mm/F 4.5 lens--locked and loaded with Tri-X film--I was the archetype of a sports photographer for that time.


Positioning myself along the first base line in the 100 degree heat, I had the opportunity to strike sports photography gold. When an errant throw from left field stretched a single into a double scoring a run, the catcher was forced to dive for but miss the cut-off relay, and I follow-focused/squeezed off three sequential frames sensing I had captured something remarkable. Rushing back to the darkroom, I waited in eager anticipation to view the film I had just shot. After it cleared in the hypo, I knew this photo had "legs". Quickly knocking out a print(which from exposed film to finished product took less than 30 minutes, thanks to resin-coated photo paper and the utilitarian hair dryer for both film and paper), I offered this photo to the statewide split(meaning it would be transmitted to only Iowa and Nebraska clients), but after the regional editors in Chicago were able to see it, they recommended it for the entire Central/West region--something normally unheard of for state-specific stories. Later I learned this "inconsequential" Iowa boys baseball photo had been published in several client newspapers throughout the Central and Western United States--much to my amazement!

We've come a long ways since then, but our past still defines who we are today. To all the former Unipressers of the world, I salute and thank you for the memories!