A TALE
OF TWO FISHERMEN
by Tom Hubbard
Emeritus Prof. Ohio State School of Journalism and Communication
A few years ago, I did a story on our own Dick Kraus for News Photographer.
I did a sidebar that didn’t make it into the magazine. This
is a tale of two fishermen. One is in Israel and one on Long Island,
but there‘s a connection.
I had just spent a couple of days with Dick at Newsday. He spent
his days staked out for perp walks. His photo of a clown accused
of child molesting wasn’t used because the clown covered
his head. Surprise!
I needed a while to synthesize my experiences after I left Dick,
so I pulled onto a Long Island fishing dock in my camper and made
lunch and went over my notes.
| I noticed
a fisherman silhouetted against the morning sun. I can’t
resist a silhouette so I made some shots of him. I always
speak to a subject if I have time so I went over and chatted. |
|
The fisherman,
Jeff Quarles of Deer Park, Long Island appreciated my company
and told me his life story. (My experience is most
people will tell you their life story if you pause to listen.
I always
found this a delightful part of photojournalism.) I asked about
his “POW” hat. “Nope, I got shot at but they
never caught me.” He spent much of the Korean War helping
repair Navy ships in Japanese shipyards.
He met his wife Nori in Japan. They loved for 45 years. Both worked
at Grumman Aircraft on Long Island for many years. She died on
April 20, 1996. She is buried in two places, on Long Island and
Japan.
Quarles flew back to Japan with her ashes in an urn on his lap.
For a Japanese funeral, no one touches the ashes but the husband.
Jeff reflects, “I used to wonder what I would do without
her and now I’m doing it." He copes by concentrating
on his fishing.
He remembers history, Korean battles and tales of World War II
vets he served with in Korea. Some were at Schofield Barracks during
the Pearl Harbor attack. Vets told him stories of having to overcome
the ammunition guard to get weapons to shoot at the attacking Japanese.
His Sunday is planned. He always visits his wife Nori’s grave.
He said, “I made a promise, I won’t forget you.” He
doesn’t
While I was spending this time with Jeff learning about a real
person, Dick Kraus was staked out at another perp walk, this for
a woman who had already been photographed at previous walks.
Over beers, Dick had told me a story that echoed my experience
with the Long Island fisherman. On vacation in Israel, Dick had
photographed an Arab fisherman mending and throwing a fishing
net. Dick chatted with a small group and learned the fisherman’s
net technique was exactly as St. Peter used.
I pondered the irony. Dick Kraus went to Israel and found a human
story about a fisherman. Back on Long Island, I find a parallel
story while Dick is staking out one more perp walk. Given a free
morning as I had, Dick could find my fisherman or another human
story in his own back yard. It’s ironic that Dick Kraus
was a better recorder of the real human scene on vacation, than
he
was allowed to be at Newsday.
I guess the moral is, you can learn a lot about the human condition
by chatting with a fisherman. Perp walkers seldom have time to
stop for a chat.
Tom Hubbard
Emeritus Prof. Ohio State School of Journalism and Communication
hubbard.1@osu.edu
