Since I have become a full-time photographer at The Bellingham Herald I have come to absolutely love searching for a CLO (cutline only photo) and the thrill of having to find something photo/news worthy in Whatcom County. These photos usually run on the front page of The Bellingham Herald and I also must provide a cutline with a quote or even a short story to accompany the photo. More often than not it’s an adrenal rush for me including during the winter when it gets dark so early and I only have so much avaible light.

On Thursday I was driving around looking for photos and from Lakeway Drive I could see a skateboarder boosting out of the bowl at the Bellingham skate park. I made a quick u-turn and headed towards the skate park.

I ran across the street and started talking with the skateboarder Sage Overstreet who is a junior at Western Washington University. We talked and he just started skating again and I did my best to capture his frontside 360s and frontside indie grabs.

“I’ll do it until the day I die,” Overstreet said. “We have been really blessed this winter compared to normal because it’s been really dry and we can still skate.”

I lucked out on my CLO hunt that day and the photo landed on Monday’s front page paper.

I truly love my job.