Goodbye, Steve
May 1st, 2008, 3:34 am · Post a Comment · posted by itsonlyagame
I don’t know if much has been made of this in the newspaper (if it’s been mentioned, I must’ve missed it). Longtime Journal-Courier photographer Steve Warmowski’s last day at the paper was Wednesday.
Of all the people at the newspaper, I think Steve was the most widely known. Anytime we’re out in the community and we tell people we work for the Journal-Courier, they always ask us about “that photographer.” That’s Steve. You’ll probably be at a game someday and you’ll wonder what’s missing — until you realize it’s the guy in the orange coat and the weird blue hat.
There are few people who can be described as the heart and soul of a place, but Steve was that type of person. He had an energy and an enthusiasm for newspapering that was infectious and hopefully even contagious. I met him at my little interview lunch before I was hired some eight years ago (before they hire you here, they take you out to eat). I knew right away that this was where I wanted to work. I could tell these people genuinely cared about what they were doing (and they still do). You can’t say that about all newspapers, believe me.
Steve is a great shooter, but his technical skill as a photographer was overshadowed by his love for telling stories about people. I never thought he would quit the business. Not in a million years.
Steve took most of our sports photographs. He got all the big plays, but he was always looking for the small moments within a game. He turned in lots of photos of players helping opponents to their feet after they had fallen on the field of play — the types of moments that reveal the character of the young people we cover. I think those were his favorite pictures.
Steve was always willing to go the extra mile — literally. I remember waking up at 4 a.m. or something crazy like that so we could get over to Indiana to see the MacMurray football team play Wabash College. Steve wanted to take a nap on the way, so he made me drive his car when we got out on the highway, even though I had never driven a stick. Somehow, we made it. We’ve been trying to save some money here at the paper, so I rode with Steve to lots of events in the past several months. He did all the driving.
So where’s he gone? Steve is going to concentrate on taking wedding photographs with his wife, Tiffany. He’ll be doing some freelance work as well. Steve and Tiffany have been shooting weddings on weekends for about the past year now, and the double duty finally became too much to handle.
The Journal-Courier will get along without Steve, of course, as it would get along without any of us. After all, they’ve been putting out the paper since 1830. But it’s going to be a different place without him here. Steve made a difference.
I miss the orange coat already.
