The Lasting Value of Photography

During the summer of 1996, I was a photography intern for the Athens Banner Herald. Athens hosted three Olympic Sports and I was assigned to cover Rhythmic Gymanastics as well as all of the buzz around town surrounding the Olympics. During the Torch Run, leading up to the Games, I made a photograph of Edwin Kendrick holding the torch high and running into downtown Athens, surrounded by a sea of spectators. The photograph ran a full 6 columns across the front page in a special edition printing of the paper that same day. Because of that photograph, the paper quickly sold out and they had to rerun the presses, again selling out. It was an exciting time and the photograph seemed to perfectly capture the city's excitement and honor of hosting the Olympic Games. Last weekend, the Banner Herald ran a story about the torch runners as part of their 10 year anniversary coverage of the Olympic Games. The article states "Kendrick said his copy of the photograph, like the torch, is in 'a safe place.'" To hear that is such an honor because it reinforces how precious and valuable photographs are and how they enable the viewer to relive and experience the memorable moments of our lives.