An anniversary and celebrations

By: 
Patrick Fisher, The New Prague Times

This year I reached 24 years being a combination reporter and photographer. Reaching that milestone reminded me of some time back when someone asked me how long I had been a reporter. At the time it was about 20 years and she was a little surprised as she thought people today don’t seem to stay in one field that long. I could understand as it seems people have moved on to a second career in another field before they reach 50 these days. It also seems that a few people have a third career before they retire.

For me, writing was what I wanted to do since I can remember. In kindergarten I made a little comic featuring characters from one or more Saturday morning cartoons. It was the type of illustrations you would expect from a child, OK. My drawing skills never advanced past simple doodling. As for my writing, people get to read each week what that is like.

My reasons for wanting to write was due to the books and some news articles I read growing up. Even some comics, which when you think about it without the words most likely wouldn’t tell as good a story. I read a lot over the years and I wanted to do what a lot of those books and news stories did for me. I wanted to inform people and perhaps make them feel something, perhaps a smile or maybe a lump in the throat. There are times I feel I’ve reached all of that. Other times I’ve been glad to write something that is clear, concise and has the important information.

Photography was something that I hadn’t planned on doing. In my college years I figured I would write and somebody else would do the photos. The fact is I was one of two students who owned their own cameras. I ended up taking a lot of photos, not only for my stories, but for others. Some of the photos were good, others showed promise. Over the years I’ve worked on improving my skills with a camera. One of my teachers in college explained that a person can take photos, but they can also tell stories with them and express emotions. Since then I’ve looked at photos from newspapers and magazines and I’ve tried to figure out how can I bring something of what I’m seeing into my own photography.

The holidays

With the date of this issue it’s about two days after Christmas and I hope everyone had a safe and happy one with family or friends. Every once in a while I saw on social media posts from friends asking if anyone wanted to gather on Christmas. Some have called themselves “holiday orphans.” It is something I can understand as some people live several states away from family or they came from a small family and they are unable to travel. I can understand it, because I’ve had a few times when I couldn’t get together with family. Thankfully I’ve had friends who have invited me to celebrate with them. I’ve been thankful that while I couldn’t be with the family I was born into I could be with those I consider an extension of my family.

In a few days we’ll be celebrating the beginning of a new year. It’ll be that time when we look at how our lives have changed and what we want to make better. There will be those of us who will make resolutions or promises of changing our ways. A few of us will also keep them in big ways, others in small ways.

However you plan to celebrate New Year’s I and the staff at The New Prague Times and Suel Printing hope that you enjoy it.

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