Trying to get a shot during celebration (03/15/06)

Frank Kenyon never had to deal with something like this.

But, then again, Frank never got to take the team picture after a regional championship by a Jay County boys basketball team.

The last time a boys basketball team from Jay County reached this level in the state tournament, it was 1948 and Frank wasn’t yet taking photographs for the newspaper.

And when he started in the news business, he was using a heavy, complicated, large-format camera called a Speed Graphic. It produced fabulous negatives, but you had to be a combination rocket scientist and weight lifter to use it.

These days, cameras are digital and so much simpler that anyone can use one.

That democratization of photography became abundantly clear on Saturday night.

My small role at Saturday’s championship game at Blackford High School was to get the team picture if Jay County won, along with crowd reaction and celebration shots. That way, sports specialist Ray Cooney could focus on post-game interviews.

At first, it looked as if I’d be going home empty-handed. Jay County trailed when I arrived, and I confess to a sick feeling in my stomach at one point when I wondered if somehow fate would always deny the Patriots a regional championship. I need not have worried.

By the final minute, I’d moved to focus on the student cheering section, when it became clear this long-sought W was finally going to become a reality.

A few minutes later, in the jubilant celebration on the court, a happy chaos reigned. Smiles and hugs replaced free-throws and rebounds, and cameras were everywhere.

Finding Ray, I relieved him of his camera and soon found myself lumbering around with two camera bags, one on each shoulder, and a camera hanging from my neck. It was as cumbersome as a clown suit.

As the last pieces of net were cut down, I asked Mindy Weaver to have her cheerleaders join the team at the center circle.

This time, I told her, let’s do the picture so that the team is facing the Jay County crowd. “I think the smiles will be great,” I said.

That, of course, assumed I had even minimal control over the situation. I didn’t.

With that many cameras and all that energy and enthusiasm, things took on a life of their own.

Before I knew it, informal shots of team members with JCHS principal Wood Barwick were morphing into a full-fledged team picture.

And when I suggested that we rotate 180 degrees to face the Jay County fans, I was kidding myself. Most of the Jay County fans were on the basketball floor.

So, in the end, I did what I hope Frank would have done.

I joined the dozens of parents and friends with digital cameras and cell phone cameras and took the picture that presented itself.

Still, it could have been worse. I could have tried to take it with Frank’s old Speed Graphic.[[In-content Ad]]