Shooter finds challenge in every assignment Irs a tough way to start the day - with iJ (ace full of spraying ice - but at least news photographer Michael Lloyd ('75) gels his picture. A Winterhawks hockey star has been immortalized and a day in the life of a photojournalist lJas begun. Back at The Oregonian, a little yellow slip of paper on the assignment board teJ/s Lloyd to go to Grant High School. Space shuttle astronaut Gordon Fullerton is due to address students of his alma mater at noon. lloyd is a product of PSU's now-defunct journalism department, which was partly a product of the adjunct leaching of Oregonian and Oregon Journal staff members. "AU of my photography was from David Falconer, who was chief photographer for The Oregonian at the time," said lloyd. He also look feature writing from Oregonian reporter Early Deane and advanced reporting from the Journal's managing editor Ed O'Meara. Then Lloyd paid them back. The PSU student started working at the downtown daily on a "part-time part-lime" basis in 1972, and by 1974 he was a full-lime staffer, working nights and weekends while he finished school. After graduation, he took over a couple of Falconer's classes for a year and advised the 1978 Viking yearbook staff. lloyd was part of " steady stream of talent that left PSU classrooms for the newsrooms and darkrooms. of the two daily papers. The Oregonian photo staff currently boasts four PSU grads. Fullerton is late and grabs a sandwich with the principal. Not picture mJteriJ/. Lloyd sets up his tripod in the middle of the stilmpede in the hall so he can catch the astronaut on his way to the auditorium. But Fullerton takes an unexpected route. Inside the auditorium, the liglll is hopeless. Lloyd packs up disconsolately .1nd waits on the front lawn for a set-up picture. The photographer, who was once Criticized by fellow students for his documentary style, prefers to shoot spontaneously. ''I'm nol a big previsualizer of pictures. I think you owe it to your subject 10 wait and see what he's Itke." But Lloyd does hiS share of studio work. On the sports page that morning was Lloyd's color photo illustratmg Olympic gold medalist Mary lou Retton's new career as a millionaire. "It's kind of hard to make an exciting picture of a cereal box, a book and an exercise Jersey. You know, it JU t doesn't sing!" His dream assignment - if he can't do the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated - is pretty close to the one he was sent on last wlOler. He spent three weeks with the orrh\\'est Medical Teams in Elhiopi;:), a trip that pose 6 I PSU Perspective, Fall 1985 turned out to be "gratifying personally, profeSSionally, spiritually, and any way you slice it." The visible results were a 12·page text and photo supplement to The Oregonian called "Small Victories" and Lloyd's own slide-tape presentation. Still. Lloyd was dissatisfied. "I felt like I left behind a lor more than I ever brought back," he said. " 1got only slightly below the surface." Getting below the surface to show "what makes people tick" is Lloyd's goal for himself as a photographer. "A 101 of photographers and journalists are fairly decent amateur psychologists," he maintains. "Unlike television, we can get down to what people are feeling inslead of just what they're saying. But I'm not here to make judgments either." Politics pose a parHcular challenge for lloyd because there is so much "public face" to get beyond. But a couple of longterm, in·depth assignments - the property tax baule in the 1983 state legislative session and two separate weeks with Portland Mayor Bud Clark - have made him itch for the upcoming gubernatoTl.11 race. Fullerton emerges from the school and is surrounded on the portico by curious boys. The girls stay at a distance. Ifs a natural, and Lloyd goes into action. The smile comes back to his face. The assignment has been saved. " I don't believe in the philosophy of journalistic objectivity," says lloyd. "You have to make so many subjective decisions aboul what you're shooting and when you shoot it and what you're ullimately going to present to fhe public. But I believe very much in fairness." Lloyd thinks like a full-fledged journalist, a status only recently accorded news photographers. The days of being a sidekick for the writer are over, says lloyd. at least at The Oregonian where photographers arc more involved than ever in what happens 10 their work after it's turned in. lloyd is also a part-time picture editor, working closely With the spans department to combine words and pictures to their best advantage. He groans when he picks up his next assignment at 3:30 p.m. Something for the "Style" <teetion. Hf! walks over to the newsroom to consult with the fashion editor and the two at" them drive down to the office of a stylish young Cilreer woman. "I'm iust Roing to shoot and run, " Lloyd had predicted. But the Story and photos by Cynthia O. Stowell office setting is interesting, the dress pretty, ilnd soon the photographer is humming along and the hour goes quickly. By the time he gets back to the photo deportment, IJe's on overtime and he still has to layout a sports page. Trust is a big issue for lloyd in his work as a photojournalist. "Most Conlinued on page 7
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