An introduction of sorts . . .

So here I am, 60 years old, 32 years into a career in community photojournalism – the last 26 years spent covering the same few communities for a twice-a-week newspaper. That's a long, long time to look at people and activities that remain essentially the same from one year to the next, and still retain a sense of mission.

This evening at an awards banquet I ran across an old acquaintance, someone I met the first year I joined my newspaper. He was the staff photographer – only a few years older – for a community newspaper in a nearby town. He told me he was retiring within the year. I replied that I couldn't afford to retire. I probably had another ten years of work ahead of me.

That, however, isn’t the real problem. I don't know whether my newspaper has the same amount of time to survive the rapid changes taking place in community journalism. I've spent the past two days at a seminar listening to one speaker after another forecast the end of traditional newspaper culture in general, and the imminent demise of newsprint in particular. I am convinced that the Internet offers the only future for community journalism.

This humble blog is my personal commitment to understand and embrace the changes taking place in my profession.