Commissioners in 3-D

Before last Thursday’s State of the County address at Washougal High School, I asked Columbian photographer Zach Kaufman if he could try, in addition to taking a photo of Commissioner Marc Boldt delivering the address, to get a photograph of all three county commissioners together.

On our website, to get a story in the top “carousel” it needs a photograph, so we rely on file photos. The commissioners sit too far apart to get a decent group shot at their meetings. Actually, we rarely assign photographers to go to meetings because it’s difficult to get eye-catching art.

So the only file photo I had of the commissioners together is this, taken at a BPA meeting where people were complaining about power lines:

Not the most flattering, wouldn’t you agree? On my computer I have it saved as “grumpycommishes.”

Here’s one of the photos Zach took at the State of the County. (And to be fair to Zach, who is an excellent photographer, the lighting in the auditorium was terrible and there’s not much a photographer can do when people are just standing and talking.)

A few of us weren’t sure what to make of it. An editor said it looked like it should be in 3-D. I said I felt as though I’d entered a House of Mirrors full of commissioners. A page designer said the light on Commissioner Tom Mielke’s face made him look scary. And why is Commissioner Steve Stuart smiling (smirking?) when the other two look serious? All in all, it looked like three separate photos that had been edited to look like one.

We went with another photo.

If you see the grumpy commishes photo in the carousel, you’ll know why.