Hello from the new photo editor at the Daily Herald! I’ve been a photographer here for just under three years and I’m excited to move into this new role. We’ve been lucky enough to attract some incredible talent to our photo staff (and are working on bringing out some more) and I’m looking forward to helping get that talent to the right place at the right time to come away with the best photos they can.

As one of my first acts as editor, I am bringing back our Photos of the Week gallery in order to showcase some of our best visual work from each week. This week our photographers witnessed the start of high school graduations, Memorial Day preparations and an impressive helicopter rescue of a crashed paraglider. More than anything, though, sports coverage ruled the week with Grant spending a lot of long days out in the sun shooting softball and baseball playoffs.

Softball and baseball are challenging sports to photograph. The action happens fast and is hard to predict. Sitting out in the sun for hours on end, it is easy to let the mind wander, but if you do you will miss those fleeting moments that decide the game.

On the photo staff we often muse that the reward for slogging through a long week of playoff games is the emotion that comes with a win or loss in the championship round. Aside from racking up some great action shots during the week, Grant did an amazing job telling the story of these athletes rounding out their seasons. Coming away with a defining image from a championship win can be tough, but there are happy, feel-good images ready for the taking. Shooting a championship loss and capturing those emotions is a much more complex task. Grant performed well in both cases – shooting two wins and two losses.

Please take a moment to look at our work in the gallery.

-Spenser