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Rodolfo Gonzalez’s award-winning work reflects an important
attribute displayed by every good press photographer. That
is, they thrive in all weather conditions and on any assignment,
however unexpected and varied.
Gonzalez wore one of the American-Statesman’s credentials
at a significant moment in American and Texas history. It
was Gov. George Bush’s inauguration as U.S. president.
However, his and the American-Statesman’s plans for
their page-one photo the next day were in danger as rain soaked
the U.S. capitol. In addition, the new president was viewing
the traditional inaugural parade from behind bulletproof glass.
These impediments didn’t stop the veteran Gonzalez.
He snapped one of the year’s memorable images. President
Bush rests his hand over his heart as the U.S. flag passes
and rain droplets shimmer from the glass in front of him.
"Like many others, I was positioned across the street
in a two-story platform," Gonzalez recalled.
"The platform was covered for the most part, but it
was very cold that day.
"I made that image with a Nikon D1 digital camera and
the 80-200 S-Wave zoom lens."
Later, a Texas tornado skipped over his own neighborhood
before touching down a scant two miles away, near Interstate
35.
Hurrying to the scene, Gonzalez got his shot of a truck
driver phoning for help as he used his upended rig as a shield
against the wind.
"That was made with a Nikon D1 digital camera and a
17-35mm S-Wave zoom lens," Gonzalez said.
"It was my first big storm since returning home to
Texas (from the Rocky Mountain News in Denver), and it was
a scary reminder of just how severe the weather can get here.
"After chasing storms all morning long, I was soaked
and chilled to the bone. I went through one rain suit and
a jacket.
"I couldn’t get out of my head for a week the
music in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when Dorothy and her
dog Toto are picked up by a tornado."
To protect equipment, Gonzalez does "the same thing
most of my colleague do. I use trash bags, towels and a Chamois
cloth to keep clean the fronts of lens.
"A few years ago film cameras could take a pretty good
soaking, dry off and work fine," he said. "I doubt
that the newer digital technology could do the same."
The trial of the drunk driver who marked for life Jacqueline
Saburido proved a difficult and moving assignment for Gonzalez.
"That was a tough image to make because it happened
so quickly, and it was such a tender moment," he recalled.
"Jacqueline, a young beautiful woman from Venezuela
studying at the University of Texas was severely burned in
a DUI accident by an underage teen drunk driver.
"Covering the trial during most of the closing days,
I would watch as she and other victims and their families
would file past me and other members of the media on their
way back into court during breaks in the trial.
"As Jacqueline passed one day another photographer
turned and whispered to me, ‘How do you shoot that?’
"I couldn’t answer it at the time. I honestly
had difficulty picking up the camera. I told myself the paper
couldn’t or wouldn’t use the image anyway.
"On the last day as participants in the trial were
called into court for the sentencing phase, Jacqueline came
out of a door down the hall with her father waiting just outside.
"Amadeo immediately jumped to her side and alertly
checked her appearance. As he fixed her collar, he whispered
something to her that only a father could tell his beautiful
daughter:
" ‘It’s going to be okay.’"
Rudy Gonzalez was raised in San Antonio. He studied journalism,
mass communications and photojournalism at San Antonio Community
College, while also working for the student newspaper.
He was a photographer for the Shreveport Times, San Antonio
Light, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Providence Journal before
joining the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.
There he was one of the photographers sharing the 2000 Pulitzer
Prize for breaking news photography for coverage of the shootings
at Columbine High School.
He joined the American-Statesman in October 2000.
© 2002 Cox Newspapers, Inc.
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