Gazette photographers selected their favorite photos from 2012.
A huge job requirement of being photojournalist is working to see things differently. When Paul Ryan held a sendoff rally at his hometown high school on Aug. 27, the hometown photographer found a picture that appeared nowhere else. It was a good day.
Photo By: Bill Olmsted
When shooting golf, it can be a challenge to get something beyond the routine. Generally, the better the golf, the tougher the shoot. When Sam Van Galder left a city tournament shot short of the the 16th green at the country club, I was hoping my picture of his next shot would be better. Definitely not a routine image.
Photo By: Bill Olmsted
In May, Cpl. Benjamin Neal returned home after he died of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. It was a sad day, but it was also uplifting to see the way the community turned out to say goodbye to a soldier who gave all. I covered the return starting at the airport and raced to Orfordville to capture the parade through his home town. Shooting with a long lens, I was lucky enough to catch the honor guard carrying the casket framed by American flags blowing in the wind and a final salute.
Photo By: Dan Lassiter
Needing a lede photo for the next day's front page, I searched for a few hours in mid-November without much luck. While checking along the Ice-Age Trail I spotted a cyclist dressed in a red jacket. Wanting to try something different, I drove ahead and waited for him to ride by. I used a slow shutter speed and panned the shot though leafless trees along the trail. The end result was a very unusual abstract photo.
Photo By: Dan Lassiter
I needed to find a weather photo so I visited Rockport Pool on a mid-July day. I knelt under the high dive and shot several young people diving off the board using a wide angle lens. Most of the photos did not work because the jumpers faced the wrong way or were not lined up with the board. But one frame worked by offering a diver upside down and facing the water with his arms out almost symmetrically. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Photo By: Dan Lassiter
This photo made it as one of my favorites of my 6 months at The Gazette because despite most peoples' inability to do anything but look at the camera as I watched their behavior change, Long would have kept marching right over me and allowed me to get a really gorgeous image.
Photo By: Mark Kauzlarich
Every time I look at this photo I see the same woman with a smile and tilted head first, then the gentleman near the front picking his teeth. I love the focus placed on someone but the President. Now, only a month after leaving The Gazette, I'm moving to Washington, D.C. in pursuit of a career as a photographer both in the District and internationally. This is one of the first photos I made of a sitting US President and I hope it won't be my last.
Credit: Mark Kauzlarich
This photo is not a favorite for the usual photographic reasons. I've lived in Rock County now for more than half my life. Some folks may not really understand it, but the people that I photograph are my neighbors. I'm connected to this place. To see the outpouring of support in May for the family of Ben Neal was a moment of great pride for me. It was a great honor for me as a community member to be able to help tell the sad story of a town's love and respect for one of its own.
