|
Bruce Crummy:
A
30 Year Retrospective
|
By
Alyssa Schafer
Bruce
Crummy has been a member of The Fargo Forum photo staff for
nearly three decades, and yet he still gets excited about going
out and shooting. His longstanding passion for photography
shows no signs of faltering.
 |
In
fact, September 2006 will mark the 30th anniversary of
Crummy’s work with The Forum. To commemorate this
landmark event Crummy is compiling a retrospective of
his work in photojournalism.
|
A native of Argyle, Minn., Crummy graduated from
Minnesota State University with a B.A.
in Mass Communications. After graduating, Crummy spent
six months working at the Marshall Independent in Marshall,
Minn.,
where he was required to have a “page-one” quality photo
available for publication every day. He said that at times it was a
struggle to find good shots, but he worked hard and got it done. Crummy’s
positive attitude toward assignments made for a smooth transition
into his position at The Forum.
Crummy joined The Forum photo staff in September
of 1976. It was at The Forum that Crummy
first encountered Cal Olson and Colburn Hvidston
III. Both of these men had a tremendous influence on Crummy’s
photography.
Cal Olson, the only two-time president of the
National Press Photographer’s
Association (NPPA) and one-time chief photographer for The
Forum, instilled
in Crummy the “Nuts and Bolts” of journalism.
He taught Crummy that excellence in a sports photo is the
peak
of action
with a twist.
To this day Crummy recalls Olson’s motivational saying, “That’s
nice, but what have you got for me tomorrow?”
Colburn Hvidston III, another former president
of the NPPA, who served as The
Forum’s photo chief for 34 years, influenced
Crummy in different ways. Hvidston,
in addition
to being an exemplary photographer,
was able to motivate Crummy to become visually better and
hold true to the highest ethical standards.
Crummy said that Hvidston had a really
good feel for people and always captured interesting moments
on film.
A third photographer whose work impacted
Crummy was Richard Olsenius, a former
staff photographer
for the Minneapolis Tribune, and former
photo editor and staff photographer for National Geographic
Magazine. Crummy said that he had always
been inspired by National Geographic’s
photos, and he incorporated elements of that style into his
work at The Forum.
While at The Forum, Crummy has had to deal
with all kinds of changes in the photography
field, including the advent of color
photography.
“ When we first went to color, I remember feeling that the images just
didn’t catch up right away. Maybe I was subconsciously thinking too much
about the colors, and not thinking enough about the photos,” said Crummy. “It
took a while to become color-blind so to speak. At this point, I try
to disregard color as much as I can and just concentrate on the image
itself.”
Now, nearly 30 years later, Crummy is still
working for The Forum — an
impressive achievement in the field
of photojournalism. During his
time at The Forum, Crummy has won numerous state, regional,
and national news photo awards, including first place in the
News Island Press
Association
and National Pictorial winner in the Photographers of the
Year.
Crummy has numerous award-winning photos, but
they represent a small fraction of
his work. Of Crummy’s total career
photos, two-thirds were taken in North Dakota
and the remainder in Minnesota. To mark his
upcoming anniversary, Crummy is archiving these
photos
in digital format.
Crummy decided to begin the project after a
woman who grew up in Moorhead inquired about
a photo that he took of her in the late 1970s.
Crummy
was unable to find the photo that the woman requested. But after
going through his microfilm for hours, Crummy
realized that his work was
something that he wanted to revisit and document.
“ I just decided it would be fun to dig everything out, see how things
have changed, and see how my style has changed maybe,” Crummy
said.
" Most of all, I wanted to have a historical access to my stuff for my daughters.
Digital form would be really easy to access.”
As
Crummy sifted through decades worth of photos, he rediscovered
many photos that he really liked. Crummy said he does not have
an absolute favorite photo, but that didn’t stop him
from describing one of his most treasured shots.
|
|
|
“Icy Aftermath”
|
 |
“Blue Light Special?”
|
 |
Jimmy Carter at “Farmfest”
|
“
One of my favorite pictures, was [taken] before I was at
The Forum. I was at the Marshall paper, and I covered then-Presidential
candidate Jimmy Carter at a small campaign stop called ‘Farmfest.’ He
was there, and there was an impromptu press conference.
This rush of humanity all-of-the-sudden descended on him.
I found myself five feet away from him, but he had his
back to me,” said Crummy. “[Luckily]... he
turned around, and I shot a full roll of him.”
“ It’s interesting because there’s this huge contrast between
a politician with a toothy, grinning expression and next to him is this very
large Secret Service agent with a very stern look on his face and dark sunglasses,” said
Crummy. “It’s a neat contrast and it makes me laugh every time I
look at it.”
“ I just enjoy the people [photos] that give you insight into human nature,” he
said. “I did a picture story on a biker named ‘Sausage’. He
weighed about 350 lbs and cut a dashing figure on his motorcycle. Actually, I
heard he dropped a tremendous amount of weight. It would be fun to find him.”
While tracking down “Sausage” may be a future project
for Crummy, at the moment he is concentrating on his work at The
Forum. In his spare time he works on his 30th anniversary project,
but with three decades worth of photos to sift through it is a daunting
task. Crummy hopes to have his retrospective completed by September
of next year.
In 2000, Crummy’s focus shifted away from photography and toward
his family. The death of his wife changed his life forever. Crummy
said that dealing with the loss of his wife was a difficult, uphill
battle, but he has finally come to terms with it.
Crummy lives in West Fargo, North Dakota. He has two daughters, Kristi
and Allie. Kristi, 22 and a University of North Dakota graduate,
is currently an English teacher and yearbook adviser at Moorhead
High School. Allie, 16, is a sophomore at West Fargo High School.
To view more of Bruce Crummy's work go to
http://www.inforum.com/photography/index.cfm?page=main_bio&id=22
|
|
|
