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A Thousand Words
BNH talked to WTNH-TV Chief Photographer Tom Manning, who was recently cited by the National Press Photographers Association as Photographer of the Year for New England and eastern Canada.
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Business New Haven
5/31/1999
By: Tammy Rachau
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How did you learn photography?
Actually, I'm pretty much self-taught. I started my career at WGGB-TV in Springfield, Mass, and that's pretty much where I learned from everyone there.
How did you first become interested in a career in television?
I was a student photographer. I always wanted to be a newspaper photographer when I was in high school, and I used to freelance for the local paper in Springfield, where I grew up. Two newspaper photographers there, whom I got to know pretty well, talked me into getting into television; they said television was the wave of the future, and that I should probably look into television. When I got out of high school, I was going to college. I actually didn't graduate from college, but while I was going, I applied for a job in Springfield, and I got it.
Are you exclusively a videographer now?
I'm completely video. I do television stuff for the news.
Congratulations on your Photographer of the Year Award.
Thanks. It's regional - it's for all of New England.
When did you get into television journalism?
I used to do still photographs, and then I got into television. I've been doing news, working as a professional television photographer, since 1983.
Do you have any particular pieces that you are most proud of?
I have a lot of stories that I'm proud of. I was involved in the Ken Curtis story, the guy that had murdered his girlfriend and shot himself and then was found incompetent to stand trial. We actually went under cover and found him going to school. It's a national story that's actually ongoing right now. He's being retried. That's a story I worked on [at WTNH] with Jim Hoffer, who used to be the investigative reporter and a producer. I did a lot of investigative stuff. That was an important piece, and it made a lot of news.
If you could travel in time and tape any news event in history, what would you want to tape?
There are so many. One of the reasons I love the news business is because there's something new every day - every hour, even. You can be interviewing the President of the United States in the morning, and in the evening you can be doing something completely different - it could be a house fire. You just never know what you're going to be covering, sometimes from one minute to the next.
Is there one type of story that is your favorite?
Well, I love breaking news. I love doing it all; I've done it all. I've done sports, I've done features. I do like longer format pieces, where you get to set some time and view people. One of the lines I use a lot is that I'm allowed by the nature of my job access to places that normal people can't go. Another thing about television photography vs. still photography is that usually on television, unless it's repeated, you usually get 90 seconds or two minutes, and you only get one shot at it. Whereas with a still photograph the viewer can study it and look at it.
Is there anyone who has influenced you in your career?
A lot of people have influenced me. There are some great photographers who have worked all over the country. I watch a lot of news and I watch a lot of photography. I don't think there is any one person, but there have been some great photographers. I'm the chief photographer here at Channel 8, so I supervise all the photographers, and I think we have a great staff - one of the best around. My own people who work here really inspire me as well.
Lately there's been a growing resentment against the media, and against photographers in particular. Do you ever sense that from people?
Yeah, sure. Especially after the Princess Diana thing. There are a lot of people doing [photojournalism], and I think like any profession there are some people in it that maybe aren't up to the standards of others and give the business a bad name. One of the things I've always tried to do is conduct myself in a professional and ethical manner. I think in any business you're always going to find a few people who maybe don't do things the way you would like them to do them. Unfortunately, that paints a bad picture for everyone.
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