Skip to main content

Project Reflection...



We're two months into the new year and it's already showing a ton of promise. With new opportunities on the horizon and old ones coming to a close, one can't help but to reflect on the journey of it all. Today I found myself sifting thru archival footage as editors often do, and I came across an unreleased video file that I filmed and voiceovered a couple of seasons ago.  It was video of the final season of the beloved Archbisop Spaulding High School head football Mike Whittles.  Coach Whittles was a man with a contagious personality.  If you were one of his guys and was having anything short of a good day, it would all get better if you were in his presence.  Being a former football player myself his voice had a very familiar sound to me.  It still resonates with me.

Prior to the beginning of his last season Coach Whittles was diagnosed with Cancer in its advanced stages.  He went thru chemo with minimal success a the while remaining a relentless warrior. During the course of the season he'd miss a day or so of practice and battle his way on game day.  During that season I remember one instance where he called the team on speakerphone from his hospital room.  It was more than apparent that he loved his players and colleagues.

Unlike anything that I'd ever done before I found myself recording voice memos of my thoughts during that season.  There were moments that I couldn't even speak and I'd just let the recorder roll on dead air.  I broke the golden rule that a colleague of mine made up.  He always said, "J, we (video-journalist) never insert ourselves into a story".  I thought to myself if you don't insert yourself into the story you can't capture the emotion the story.  It was the one time in my career that I don't regret not listening. 

Nearly two weeks after the season I decided to pull my voice memos and lay them to the video that I'd filmed.  Little did I know that soon after Coach Whittles would lose his battle to cancer.  The video was the safest way for me to purge myself of what I'd witnessed with the team and what I'd just witnessed in my personal life.  A few months prior to the start of the season I'd just lost my childhood friend and high school teammate Jeff Wilson to a sixteen year battle to cancer. "Cancer Season 3" is what I titled the short narrative.  Mainly due to the fact that it was my third and final season covering Spaulding football.  

Project reflection keeps me grounded.  It's a firm reminder that not every story that we capture has a happy ending but they all have infinite value to those that we film them for.  They also impact you/us the photographers for the rest of your lives. 

The link below is the short narrative from the 2011 season.   





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Measure of a Man.........

the details are below the photos it's a must read story for the men.... The title of this blog maybe familiar to some, it's that of the autobiography of actor Sidney Poitier.  When you mention his name the words courage, great, intelligent, daring, brilliant and faithful may come to mind.  I've got a new name that replaces those words, Von Johnson.   My friend. My brother.  My cousin.  My new HERO. How and what does that have to do with the title? Yesterday, I observed what it means to live the final portion of your wedding vows,  "till death do us part"...... I can't even put it into words how I felt yesterday.  The only word that comes close is "helpless".   It was one of the rare moments in life where you want to take someone else's pain and throw it down the river and start fresh. I learned what the measure of a man is all about.   Can you live on life's edge and handle all it dishes out?  Can you stand in the toughest moments of opposit
22 comments
Read more

The Players That You Never Knew

With the opening Friday Night of the 2014 high school football season on the horizon, every barbershop in every small-town in America is probably buzzing with the conversation of who are greatest high school football players of all time.  It's a valid question considering the pool of talent that passes through most small towns.  People often wonder where these guys end up long after their playing days are over.  I've often asked the same question about many of my ex-teammates. Two in particular, Darius Brewnington and Kenny Shaw. If you were an athlete in the early 1990's they were arguably considered two of the most influential athletes in North Carolina's rich high school football history.  Unfortunately, like many other high profile athletes life happens.  However, even with the growing pains of life every man has his day of redemption.  With Darius and Kenny being former teammates of mine I wanted to see for myself who they are 20 years removed from fame. So t
5 comments
Read more

Pete's Road Trip

Two weeks ago my friend Pete decided to take a road trip without me. If you're like me, you're probably thinking some friend right? I guess it goes to show you that like most friendships, we too were total opposites. In our teen years, Pete was always there for my major sports accomplishments. For example, when we went to team camp at High Point University he and I won the 2 on 2 competition for the first time, together. A few years later we won the North Carolina State 3-A Basketball Title, and in my sophomore year of college he was in the stands when I scored my first collegiate touchdown. He and our mutual friend Johnny were going nuts. I celebrated so hard that Lamont Burns had to slap me so that we could kick the extra point. Pete was like a little brother to me. So like any other sibling relationship, I would have never told him that he was my motivation for my many athletic accomplishments. It's a part of the unspoken sibling code, worry your brothers, sis
10 comments
Read more