So far I’ve only posted when I had cool pictures to share. But more often than not, my job is little more than problem solving and today’s take is typical.

  My first example, a story about the “Energy Star Appliance Rebate” is what I think of as a window dressing shoot. Make the appliances at a local home improvement center look interesting enough to carry a section front.

  I played with the lines and repetition of the washer-dryer isle, waiting about ten minutes for a man and his red cart to drift through to add the shopper element to the image. Then I added a portrait of the appliance manager quoted in the story, leaving space on one side in case the designers want to drop the quote on the image. I finished it off with a detail shot of an Energy Guide label, giving the page designers an added element to play with. No award winners here, but as washer and dryers go, I think I made it look pretty good.