Creature from the Blog Lagoon 4: Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen
Recently, ZUMA Press contacted me to photograph the next day’s departure from San Diego of the hospital ship USNS Mercy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Mercy_(T-AH-19)) and http://www.mercy.navy.mil/), bound for Los Angeles to provide COVID-19 medical relief. I was already on the story by the time I was contacted - I’d scouted locations for good photos and had contacted the Navy’s public affairs staff to find out what kind of access I could arrange.
As a result of this prep work I had early, exclusive access for photos on the pier and I was able to speak with members of the crew to get details of the mission other journalists couldn’t. The rest of the media, arriving a couple of hours later, were restricted to an area outside the pier gate and could only cover the short press conference, finishing up with stills or video of the ship from a distance.
Thank you for the inspiration, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.