The Iowa Photo: Just ducky

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We cover a fair number of groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings at The Gazette. That’s part of being a community newspaper. It signifies growth of the community, and it’s important to people.

My boss at the first daily newspaper I worked for taught me a good lesson: come back with a photograph that would wow him in addition to the matter-of-record shot of dignitaries throwing dirt.

I’ve won awards for some of those “Slosarian” moments as he’d call the photos of mine that wowed him.

That old lesson is part of how I approach every assignment.

There were a couple of inflatable pools set up as part of the set dressing to the groundbreaking of the Prairie Summit YMCA. I made some photos of the children just hanging out in the pool after the festivities. That’s another lesson I’ve learned: Stay later than everyone else.

I really knew I had my photo when the kids started playfully throwing the rubber ducks at one another.