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I shot this when I worked in Vancouver. There was a rain storm at the Clark County Fair and a spontaneous mud fight broke out.
The photo was widely published and somehow Dennis Miller held it up and said something funny about it on his show. That's what I heard anyway.
I posted this photo because I reminds of something I had no idea of when I first started out as a photojournalist. When little moments come together like this and a photographer is there with the right lens and manages to be in position to get the picture, it's really kind of a miracle. When I took this photo I was just out of college and into my first few years as staff photojournalist for the The Columbian. I thought I would be in position to take photos like that all the time. I thought it would be easy to make pictures like that. I thought I could go to any county fair or community festival and walk away with great photos of very interesting moments. I took this miracle for granted. I thought I made that picture because I was a "good" photographer.
I know now that I had very little to do with it. I was just ready when it happened. That was the extent of my involvement.
I've been to dozens of county fairs and even more dozens of community festivals and parades and gatherings. Rarely does something happen that interesting that I'm ready for.