Tuck

Tuck makes housecalls all summer

By Tess Bresley
Alumni News Staff

In the past, housecalls were made by a doctor on horseback, carrying a little black bag.

Last summer in Nebraska, housecalls were made by a photography professor in a Jeep, toting about 200 pounds of equipment.

The housecalls were called Wander-Workshops. The doctor was George Tuck, photography and graphics professor at UNL. The equipment included a computer, a slide projector, an overhead projector, handouts, Mace — and a shovel.

Tuck put on 21 custom workshops at newspapers across Nebraska. His list of topics included basic camera operation, photo composition and creating a page on the World Wide Web — and almost any related subject anyone cared to bring up. He did workshops for more than 200 people from 40 different newspapers.

“It was very inspiring for most of my people,” Bev Puhalla, owner and editor of the Pawnee Republican in Paw-nee City, said. “We get a little stale, and we need the fresh ideas of a new person.”

Bringing the workshops into the staff’s normal environment helped to increase the comfort level and the number of questions they asked, Puhalla said.

Convenience was the main advantage for a group of newspapers meeting for a workshop in Wauneta, Russ Pankonin, co-publisher of the Wauneta Breeze, said. Being able to choose the day and not having to consider travel time allowed the newspapers to avoid scheduling the workshop during heavy deadline times.

At Wauneta, Tuck presented information on the basics of photography and demonstrated digital photo techniques for a group of about 30 staffers, Pankonin said.

“It was all based on what the paper wanted,” Tuck said.

He asked only that his room, board and mileage be paid by the participating newspapers.

“I think they got exactly what they paid for,” Tuck said with a laugh.

The WanderWorkshops lasted from a few hours to two full days at different sites and covered any or all of 17 different suggested topics in photography and design.

“I wanted to give something back to the state press and refresh myself in the process,” Tuck said. “Newspaper people around Nebraska are enthusiastic. I can’t imagine a better group of people to work with.”

Tuck shares that enthusiastic attitude. It was his enthusiasm, love of his field and love of teaching that convinced Puhalla to make some layout changes at the Pawnee Republican, including printing more dominant photos on the front page and the sports pages, she said.

“When it comes to serving community newspapers, I don’t think there’s anyone better in the country than Tuck,” Pankonin said. “The attitude of cooperation is wonderful. All of our newspapers could benefit from George Tuck.”

Tuck said he benefited, too, from the WanderWorkshops.

“One of the things that was a surprise to me was how many people were converting to scanning negatives, digital photography and the Internet. I learned a lot more about scanning negatives and using Photoshop.”

The give-and-take of knowledge and enthusiasm seemed to follow Tuck across the state and proved especially useful in Seward where Tuck had to deal with a bat loose in the newsroom.

“I was trying to go through a door at the same time as the bat. We had a little argument over who was going to go first, and the bat won.”

At that point, Tuck could have whipped out his Mace or his shovel to do battle with the bat.

Instead, he said, he used the Mace to ward off hostile workshop participants and kept the shovel handy in case it got too deep during his presentations.

Although the workshops were physically draining, Tuck said he was able to prepare himself for each new presentation by taking time for himself at each site to watch a sunrise or sunset, read a book or enjoy an especially good meal.

Tuck said he hoped to be able to do WanderWorkshops again in coming summers. Tuck’s ministrations may be just what the doctor ordered.