BMX racers. High School volleyball & football. And a few other assignments I’ve already forgotten. The past week (almost) panned out as another typical week on the job. Well, not so typical, as I spent three days covering the end of an emotionally charged murder trial, and witnessed the defendant found guilty on all 23 counts of a killing from May 2004. Cameras haven’t been allowed in courtrooms in the State of NY for quite some time now, and I believe it’s now up to the judge’s discretion for each case, so the paper was pumped that we were allowed visual coverage during the attorney’s final summations on Wednesday, the jury verdict on Thursday, and then a final sit-down interview with the son of the victim, who also was shot during the crime. Those long hours spent in the county courthouse with other media, as well as our top-notch crime reporter, Oliver Mackson, cautiously made my part relatively easy. I mean if you can call hanging out in the courthouse corridors for something like 6 hours waiting for a jury verdict easy… It all brought back a lot of memories of covering big trials in the city, and throughout my career. Oh yea, there were a few high school sports assignments thrown-in during the week, and the installation of a new college president at Mt. Saint Mary College, where the access was really good. Here’s a slideshow of the week’s take:
*(No audio this time. Use the arrows at the bottom of the player or click the image to scroll forward through the slideshow. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the credits button at lower right of the player. )
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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