I wrote a story for inewsource that published this morning about a long-ignored yet powerful law in San Diego requiring every person or corporation doing business with the city to disclose the financial interests behind themselves.
It’s a long read and typically we break those up with graphics (photographs or charts) or video vignettes. It makes the thing more digestible for readers.
The problem is, some stories just don’t lend themselves to photographs. How do you shoot a compelling photo of a law? Or capture “backroom deals” with a camera? Not really possible.
So for this story, we enlisted artist Ben Chlapek, a freelance illustrator, designer and printer out of Chicago with a unique style. He and I worked together to identify key elements from the story — a baseball stadium, a skyline and an exploding Rolls Royce — while some were left entirely to his discretion. …
In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world…
…and you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind.
Mankind — that word should have new meaning for all of us today.
We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore.
We will be united in our common interests.
Perhaps it’s fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom…
…not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution..
but from annihilation.
We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist.
And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday…
…but as the day when the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!”
We will not vanish without a fight!
We’re going to live on!
We’re going to survive!
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!
*happy independence day everyone.
Last month, I attended a Port of San Diego public meeting during which I spoke briefly with the CEO, Randa Coniglio. She told me, offhand, that a director in the Port’s records department had stumbled across boxes containing tons of old photographs of San Diego’s waterfront, including aerial photos, candid portraits, tuna fishermen in action, sunbathers and hundreds of others — including a giant shark caught in the bay.
Being a photographer and lover of all things old and musty, I asked to see them. The port obliged.
These are some of my favorites.
Shameless plug: If you’re interested in a deep dive into the history of San Diego’s waterfront — and why it looks the way it does today — check out my story from April.
Look at that face.
Alternately titled, “Reservoir Dogs, 1972.”
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