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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Kelly Glossip cover story
Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 2:08 PM on 06.20.10 |
->> Charles, I'd love to know some of the background in how you handled the coverage of Kelly Glossip. How did you ever manage to fade sufficiently into the background to be there when Glossip woke up at 4 a.m.?
Wonderful story. Great job.
--Mark |
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Charles Ludeke, Photographer, Assistant
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Brooklyn | NY | USA | Posted: 6:14 PM on 06.20.10 |
->> Mark, thanks for the curiosity. I'm happy to answer any questions.
I'll give a bit of background information to help explain how I got to that point.
My professor tipped the story to me, after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a piece about Kelly in late January, a month after Dennis' death. After a bit of research on the story and getting in touch with the reporter to get Kelly's contact information, I finally made the call in March. It took me a few weeks to garnish up enough courage. It's pretty ballsy to cold-call someone like this. But I had to.
He agreed to meet and hear me out as I pitched the story. I initially thought I'd be spending, at most, an hour with him that first day, then drive back home. Within 10 minutes, he welcomed me to make photographs. I ended up spending about 8 hours with him.
After that, I drove down every weekend to spend time with him. For the first few trips, I drove down Sunday mornings and spent the whole day with him. A lot of the time was just photographing his every day routines. That and talking to him, trying to understand what he's going through.
I'm pretty young and haven't dealt with something this tragic in my life, so it was hard to comprehend what he was going through, but I tried my best to empathize and understand.
Eventually after a few weeks of spending time with him, he offered for me to come down on a Saturday night to photograph him with friends going out to the bars. Up until that point, I hadn't photographed any interaction with friends, so I wanted to show some emotional support that he does get (which led to the bar photo, #7).
He even offered to let me stay the night in his other bedroom so I wouldn't have to travel 2 hours home and 2 back the next morning.
I'd say that was my passing the Rubicon of both the story and our relationship: he trusted me enough to stay the night.
After a few works-in-progress critiques in class, my professor suggested that I try to get a photo of Kelly waking up. She explained that I needed a photo to really drive home the point that they shared their bed, and it was a sexually intimate relationship.
The trouble was, because of the extreme emotional trauma, Kelly was lucky when he would sleep for four hours. One time, I tried setting my alarm at 5 to get him waking up. But he woke up before it went off!
As the end of the semester and deadline neared, I knew I had to try to get the photo. I had to ask. The worst thing that could happen was that he could say no.
So I did. Right before he went to bed, I asked if he wouldn't mind my making his photograph as he woke up. I explained I'd come in early in the morning and sit in the corner of the room, as to not disturb him.
He understood and said it was fine.
A few hours later, I woke up at 3:30 in anticipation. When I went down the hall, I found something to my surprise and delight: his bedroom door was open and the two lights shining on the photos of him and Dennis were left on.
The Photo Gods smiled on me that morning.
So I waited.
I sat outside the door until he woke up. Luckily, I didn't fall back asleep. It was a little before 4 a.m. when he got up.
I imagined he would've taken a bit to get out of bed, but he woke up and got out quickly. So fast that I didn't even get in a frame.
I said good morning and asked if he slept well. We made some brief conversation, and he sat on the bed for a split-second. That's when I made the one frame. And it worked.
Whew!
So yeah, it was an amalgamation of trust, friendship, timing and luck. I treated him like a human being. I listened with an open ear, and cared. His story mattered to me. And I wanted to tell it as best I could. I think Kelly realized that, so he trusted that I wouldn't portray him in a false light or misrepresent him.
I wanted to be honest and fair.
It was hard. But I like the challenge. As my professor said, it's like trying to balance a group of spinning plates. I just hope I didn't break any of them.
That was probably too much of an answer, but I hope being open and honest will help other people when they try to find such intimate moments in their own stories.
If you or anyone else has any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!
–Charles |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 12:21 AM on 06.21.10 |
->> Charles,
No, it wasn't too much. Thank you for the excellent insight into the personal and practical process of a long-term story.
--Mark |
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