The fun stories, the good news stories are needed, too

DUNDEE, New York - For most of the summer, I have been chasing stories for the Elmira Star-Gazette, the Ithaca Journal and Mountain Home magazine (out of Pennsylvania). All have been fun stories and/or stories where I knew what I was writing/photographing/publishing would be well appreciated.

Over the past weekend, I went to the Finger Lakes Wine Festival where I managed to find some friends pouring wine for their amigos (who own a winery) and voila! I was able to publish a photo of them, which promos their friends' winery quite nicely.

Plus, of course, they liked seeing themselves in the newspaper.

LINK: Monday's Wine Festival article in Star-Gazette
Then Tuesday morning there was a feature I had written about a local guy who is raising alpacas.

His hobby turned into a business that now has his entire family hard at it with a entire production of making yarn and products for sale.

He's living the dream which I chronicled and also gave a helluva boost to his business.

Right after it was published, I received several emails from people asking me for good directions to the ranch and little store. Multiply that times the circulations of the two newspapers and the family is in for a windfall.

It deserves it.

LINK: A passion for alpacas...

The experience this summer has taken me in a time machine back to when I started in the news business, writing hard-hitting, expose-type stories mixed in with features just like these. Looking back, the softer pieces may have made a bigger dent in the cosmos than any 'gotcha' story I ever wrote.

It's fun to make people happy.

I once took a photo and wrote a story about a local boy scout leader whose son had attained Eagle Scout - no small feat when your dad is the big kahuna of the troop. I can still see them standing there, posing for the photo. And the next day, when the photo and story were published, the dad came in and bought 50 copies of the newspaper.

One proud papa.

Professional journalists will often scoff at such stories, but know in their hearts that they count for a lot.

Nice to be reminded of it after all these years.

Always get the names, always get the names, always get the names...

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Forty pix into the Seneca Lake Wine and Food event this afternoon and I was sure I had at least a half-dozen good shots to accompany my story for the Elmira Star-Gazette newspaper.

And I was careful to get names and sufficient information to write captions.

I thought, I thought.

Wine in four packs

After writing the story (382 words), I dispatched eight photos to the editors. And in one photo, there was a young woman pouring wine who was clearly identifiable. But I hadn't gotten her name because I was at a booth where I thought I knew everybody.

I thought, I thought.

The rule of thumb in the journalism business is simple: If someone is identifiable, well, identify them damn it!

And so I after I sent over the photos - sans her name - I waited to see which of the eight shots the editors might pick. No sense going crazy to find the name unless I needed to.

Music at the event was great

You already know how it worked out..

That photo was THE photo they wanted to use - time to go crazy.

And so the Admiral and I went catapulting back to the event at the local park a mile away, only to find that the wine tasting was all closed up for the day.

Santo Crappo.

Using a very old-fashioned method - the telephone - I tracked her name down and so tomorrow's Elmira Star-Gazette will have Alexandra Doniger of the Hector Wine Company proudly displayed, along with one of her bosses, Justin Boyette.

Story over, lesson learned.

Again.