FROM THE DESK OF: He’s What’s Good About the Newspaper Business.

BY: Taft Matney

Gwinn Davis takes pictures. He takes really good pictures. His pictures tell stories that would take pages of words to otherwise tell. His pictures evoke emotions and capture events for perpetuity. His pictures chronicle the life and times of the community where he grew up.

For nearly 35 years, Gwinn has been there capturing it all. From high school sporting events to parades to rec league baseball to ribbon-cuttings and everything in between, Gwinn has been the constant. Try to go to an area swim meet without seeing a handwritten sign in the best parking space reserving it for Gwinn Davis. Forget politicians. Gwinn has always been the dignitary at these events.

Turning 40 this year and having lived in the same place almost all of my life, I don’t remember a time when Gwinn wasn’t there. Honestly, I’d bet that if I went through all of the photos he took over the years, I could make a scrapbook of my own life. A lot of other people could say the same thing.

The TRIBUNE-TIMES was our weekly community paper that covered the cities of Mauldin-Simpsonville-Fountain Inn – also known as South Carolina’s “Golden Strip.”

“The Trib,” as we called it, was a family-owned paper dedicated to what was going on around us, what was happening at XYZ church, how Susie got on the honor roll at school, how Johnny scored three goals in soccer, and how Shannon enlisted the Navy and was heading to boot camp. It reported what our neighbors were doing and how their efforts deserved public recognition.

Gwinn was an integral part of that, and when Gannett bought The Trib, the company’s higher-ups were smart enough at the time to make sure they kept Gwinn in the fold because not only has he served as the de facto photographic historian for an entire half of Greenville County, he was and is an amazing photojournalist who can tell any story anywhere with a just shutter click.

I found out last week that Gwinn Davis is about to place the cap on his lens – at least as far as his career with Gannett is concerned.

When I first heard the news, it hit me hard. He and his camera watched us grow up and always caught us at our best – with smiles on our faces and joy at whatever it was that we just accomplished.

He’s what’s good about the newspaper business.

Daily newspapers and their corporate bosses could take a note from the Gwinns of the world. Gwinn and people like him are invested in their communities. They want to tell the local story…not turn page 2A in to a rehash of USA TODAY.

Thank you Gwinn Davis and every journalist (photo or otherwise) like you who still understands the importance of “hometown” reporting. You are why we still read newspapers.