In a city the size of Philadelphia there are lots of press conferences every week, and there are visual journalists who get to cover many of them. I do my fair share, but thankfully it’s not a lot.
While I get along with my colleagues working in television and online video, when I cover a press conference I do everything I can to stay away from them, with their cameras on tripods in the back of the room, focused on the lectern for as long as subjects stand there talking.
Video has different needs, plus for a still photographer, I really don’t handle standing still very well.
When covering a press conference I do all I can to get something different than a podium picture. Sometimes it’s just a matter of arriving early, as in the photo of Fran Dunphy’s retirement presser. (Later that night he coached his 1000th game as a head coach. My colleague Charles Fox made some wonderful images before, during and after the game).
Or, the recent announcement that Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was launching his campaign for a third term.
At a press conference where South Jersey elected leaders denounced the ICE arrests of immigrant restaurant owners I concentrated on their son.
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color: