David Grace's first camera was a Brownie Hawkeye that he got when he was in elementary school. That camera sparked a 35-year career as a photojournalist and a nearly 45-year adventure as a photographer.
"For as long as I can remember taking photographs has been an ongoing passion," he says. "I can't remember a time in my life I wasn't interested in shooting pictures. From a journalistic standpoint, it's always been very interesting to me to be able to preserve a certain moment in time. From an artistic standpoint, it's been a great way to express myself. One of my favorite quotes is "journalism is the first draft of history.' I've always enjoyed being able to take part in helping to produce that first draft."
When he was a child, he says he took pictures of everything. In high school, he was the photographer for the yearbook staff at Patrick Henry High School, Glade Spring, Va. "I suppose you could say, that was my first introduction to journalism." At the time, there were no classes in photography or even an official yearbook class at PHHS, so he learned primarily on his own.
"Someone introduced me to Alfredo Castellanos who agreed to help me with my photography. He was always supportive and a great teacher. He let me sit in on his classes at Emory & Henry College. They corresponded with my seventh period study hall, so they let me leave Patrick Henry and go to Alfredo's classes." Grace later followed in his mentor's footsteps by teaching photography at Emory & Henry.
When he graduated he went to work for Claude Dean's portrait studio. "After two or three years, I answered a blind ad that said "Photographer wanted. Must be able to work nights and weekends.'" The ad was placed by the Bristol Herald Courier. He's also worked for the Washington County News. However, he spent the majority of his career at the Kingsport Times News.
"The first assignment I shot was a Little League playoff baseball game in the park behind Randolph Field. I'd shot a few sports in high school, so I sort of knew what I was doing. I got a great shot of a kid who hit a home run crossing the plate, jumping in the air and giving his coach a high five. They ran that on the front page the next day, and that was my first picture in the Bristol Herald Courier in August of 1980."
That picture is an excellent example of what Grace describes as the art of photojournalism. "It's being able to capture an image that doesn't require a caption for anything other than the participant's name. You try to capture not only the action, but the emotion. I want the viewers to feel as if they were standing beside me."
Viewers have stood beside Grace as he's covered politics, local news, technology changes, coal strikes, fires, murders, trials and anything that caught his eye. He's photographed five presidents (Carter, both Bushes, Clinton and Obama), vice-presidents and other politicians.
"I've always enjoyed covering political campaigns. I always say we've outlawed bullfighting and cockfighting, so politics in the only blood sport we have left. Campaigns are interesting because there is so much going on, and the stakes are so high." As much as he likes politics, one of his favorite assignments was the Pittston coal strike in 1988.
"That was a defining moment for the United Mine Workers and the coal industry itself. Things have basically gone south for the union and the coal industry since then. It was a very emotionally charged environment. It was an interesting 100 and some odd days, covering the pickets line every day. You won't see newspapers around here doing that any more. The financial resources to send two or three people to cover the same event, every single day for more than 100 days is a huge financial commitment for a news organization. We're seeing the end of that era."
He says he's enjoyed photojournalism because it's always a challenge. "You have to reinvent your product every day. There's a quote I like, I can't remember who said it, but it says, "You're only as good as your last picture, and that one's wrapping fish today.' That challenge really keeps you going or burns you out really quickly.
"Making similar events fresh is the hard part. You have to see it in a different fashion. I used to tell my students that you have to pretend everything is a snow globe. You shake it up; you look at it; you can see if from all angles. You can't just see it from your eye level. You have to wonder what the ant sees or what the bird sees. You have to approach things from different perspectives. That's what really defines how good you are; how well you can take the average mundane event and make it visually compelling to the viewer and tell your story."
He's had the opportunity to do things that most people only dream of doing. "I've gotten to go behind the scenes, photograph presidents, take defensive driving classes and fly with aerobatic stunt flying teams, to name a few. There's nothing like flying upside down in an open cockpit trying to take pictures."
His photojournalism hasn't been limited to the Tri-Cities. He's been published in daily newspapers throughout the U.S., including the Washington Post, New York Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Los Angeles Times and USA Today. His magazine credits include Sports Illustrated, McCalls, Information Age, Woman's World and publications through the U.S. and Europe. His photographs have also been used to illustrate stories on MSNBC and Court TV.
When he isn't shooting assignments, he enjoys shooting nature and what he calls wild art. Wild art are stand-alone photographs used in publications that don't have stories to accompany them – they are the stories.
One of his inspirations is Ansel Adams because "it's nice, clean work, done well. But when you look at it closely, you see how complex it really is." Other inspirations are Margaret Bourke White and Alfred Stieglitz.
Some of his favorite photos are a blue heron in flight, a pool hustler, "Moonrise over Meadowview," a series of photos of street kids in Nicaragua and some of his food photography. Many of them illustrate a slice of life, such as a carnival scene. He chose the cover image because "there's this one kid in the midst of all the others, who has such a glow on her face because she's just fascinated by the music."
He's seen numerous changes since his first job, not just in how newspapers choose to cover events but also in technology.
"I've always said that I like photography, because the learning curve is flat. In the first five to six weeks, you learn the basic technical stuff such as how to process film, how to make prints. After that, you add to the technical repertoire, but you refined your craft and learned from your mistakes. I carried a notebook around and wrote down what I shot, how I did it, what exposure I used and so on. Then when I processed it, I could see what worked and what didn't. Now all that information is embedded into the photographs.
"I always say that digital photography is gratifying because you see your mistakes as soon as you make them. We used to have to shoot Polaroids in the studio to make sure everything was set up properly. Now you just look at the back of the camera and adjust from there. It gives you a lot more flexibility, but there's no excuse any more for not getting it right in the studio.
"For photojournalism, you still only get one bite at the apple. If something happens, it's not going to happen again. You still need your instincts and reflexes. You look at a situation and try to figure out where it's going and where you need to be. That hasn't changed."
Something else that hasn't changed is the joy Grace gets from his photography. Currently, he is a freelance photographer and real estate agent.
