I don’t take picture alone anymore. I always have two buddies with me. All the time. No, it’s not because I want some protection because of what happen Friday. I just have two guardian angels that I am the only one to hear.

I have 2 photo editors behind my shoulder that tells me thing all the time. Behind my right shoulder, there is Frank O’Connor, teacher and program coordinator at Loyalist. He told us that he would be there. He was right.

When I look at something that I have to take a picture of, I hear his calm and reassuring voice. “How can I get a picture of that?” That’s what he says. And I swear to god, I hear him loud and clear in my head.

When I lose focus on what is asked of me, I sometime hear him tell me “Don’t you think this picture is more about [what is in the picture] than about [what I have to shoot]?”

And when I’m running out of time, I clearly hear him says “Get the best picture in the time allowed.”

Some time, it’s behind my left shoulder that the voice is heard. But it’s Tom Braid’s (Edmonton Sun photo Editor) voice that I hear then. The voice is less calm. The voice is there to shake me when I’m not going in the right direction.

“This is a boring picture. You need impact!” I often ear when I shoot or when I edit my picture after an assignment. It’s often followed by “too much dead space here. Tight and bright, Francis! Tight and bright!”

It’s reassuring to have those 2 persons talking to me and helping me to get better pictures when I work.