Feature Photography
Dean Humphrey / Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Every year the children from Kare-a-Lot preschool sing the national anthem at the Junior College World Series, and every year the Daily Sentinel's Dean Humphrey photographs their off-key but endearing effort.

Last year, though, one little girl was overwhelmed by the crowd of 8,000 baseball fans and began crying.

"And she never really pulled it together," Humphrey said. "But I thought she was very brave to stay out there.

"Pre-school kids are so wonderful to photograph because they notice you're there at first, but within ten minutes you're part of the environment."
Humphrey looks for emotion in his work.

"A lot of it is luck, being in the right place at the right time and getting the technical end right," he said. "But as photographers it's not about us. It's about the events and people and how things affect them."

A native of Montrose, Colo., he graduated from Colorado Mountain College with a degree in commercial photography and received a teaching certificate from Mesa State College. He turned to photojournalism nine years ago.

Humphrey lives in Grand Junction with his dog, Baruki. He has two daughters, Melissa and Alicia.