Sun 2 Me 0 after two (stories)

  

Here I go into week number two determined to do this story a little better than the last. I know the content will not compete with the auctioneer license story. But I’m trying to do better with shot selection and editing in place of content for a week.

So let me get the mistakes out of the way…this one was similar to the mistake I made last week in the fact that it involves sunlight. That means the sun is up two nil on me after two stories. I should have used the ND filter when shooting in the bright afternoon sun. You will notice in the package a few shots were “whited out” because too much light was being allowed into the iris. I did adjust the f-stop, I used a higher number to reduce the light, but that was not enough. The shots don’t look too bad..but in my world of striving for perfection (knowing I’ll inevitably fall just shy of that goal) I could have done better. The Neutral Density filter would have allowed even less light through the iris and gave a cleaner and better shot- especially the stuff from the Ford dealer as you will see in the piece. Lesson number two involving light leaned- learn to love the ND filter right about noon on a sunny day.

This story has been done, but not this way. Instead of focusing on gas prices, I wanted to see if SUV sales were being affected by the gas prices. I found out more about SUV’s losing trade-in value and some car  dealers are reluctant to take SUVs.  I wanted to find out if the trend has hurt small used car dealers that sell these SUVs. It turns out is does hurt, but the wise car dealers take in more small, compact cars, and they stay away from SUVs.

I pitched this story two weeks ago, the same day I pitched the auctioneer/eBay story..and decided to go for it this week after discussing it with the NBC news team at the Monday morning meeting. On Sunday, in the Sun Times, the cover story was about how $5.00 gas prices could be the death of the SUV. So I guess I’m a little disappointed because it now seems like I borrowed the Sun Times story for my piece. I know that is not true and I will take solace in the fact that my news judgment is good and forward-thinking.

As the market shifts, these small used car lots must be careful. Do they consider taking a chance by getting a great deal on an SUV? Or do they supply what the public demands- more fuel efficient cars? It seems the answer is to buy up smaller cars. It might seem like a steal to purchase a large SUV at a 30-40% decline in cost compared to a year or two ago. But if one cannot afford the fuel needed for the Sport Utility Vehicle, it sadly becomes nothing more than a Stationary Utility Vehicle.