Troy Catchings has won at least one award each of the 19 years he has been a photographer for The Clarksdale Press Register.
Catchings has seen many changes in photography and the newspaper business throughout his tenure and has touched many lives reaching all areas of the community. As he prepares for his retirement party from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday at the Press Register office, Catchings took the opportunity to reflect on the nearly two decades of service to his hometown newspaper.
After working for Coahoma Opportunities Inc. - a local community action agency, which operates four Head Starts in the county – and eventually becoming executive director, Catchings, who had been taking pictures much of his life, learned about an opening at the Press Register.
Catchings interviewed with then-managing editor Larry Liddell, who is currently the senior writer, and was hired as a photographer succeeding Kenneth Bush. Steve Stewart was the publisher at the time of the hiring.
“At that time, camera photography was not as popular then among people because of the type of cameras that were being used,” Catchings said. “You didn’t have that many people shooting like they are now.”
Now, Catchings said, 4-year-olds are seen with cameras.
Liddell graduated from Clarksdale High School and Catchings graduated from the former Higgins High School. Both were 1960 graduates, but the two never knew each other until Liddell hired Catchings. They quickly developed a friendship that has lasted to this day.
“He showed me some of his work and he talked to me like he knew photography,” Liddell said. “I told about the deadline problem and all that – we need a picture, we need a picture now. We can’t wait until tomorrow. He said, ‘I can do that.’ So I hired him. There weren’t that many other candidates for the job, so I hired him. For two weeks, I kept up with him, and I found him to be a very quiet, honorable person. When he said he was going to do something, he did it. You didn’t have to keep on him. You didn’t have to remind him. Pictures were excellent, just excellent.”
There have been many changes at the Press Register through the years, including moving to a smaller building, going from a daily to a weekly newspaper and the downsizing of staff.
Liddell said the most gratifying part of hiring Catchings was his work was so exceptional to the point where, through it all, he remained the Press Register photographer.
One of Catchings’ biggest accomplishments was the creation of the Smile Page, now seen at the back of the newspaper every week, where random pictures of people throughout the community smiling are placed on the page.
“I had no idea it was going to become what it is now,” Catchings said. “That was not planned.”
Catchings said, when he started at the Press Register, there was a dark room for photographers. He had built a similar darkroom at his home in Clarksdale.
While Catchings won an award every year, some photos stood out in his mind more than others.
One came in the Oct. 5, 2002, issue of the Press Register when he took a photo of a child in the chair at Toney’s Barbershop crying with two little teeth and tears coming down. The photo won second place in the Mississippi Press Association contest.
“They cheated me,” Catchings said. “I think it should have been a first place.
“It’s the image itself. The child is looking in tears, mouth wide open.”
Another photo came in the Sept. 14, 2008, issue where an individual was running from the police in a cornfield in Lyon. That photo won honorable mention with the Mississippi Press Association, but Catchings said he was told if he submitted the photo of the officer actually making the arrest, he would have won first place.
A first-place photo came in the June 19, 2005, issue when then-sheriff Andrew Thompson was being baptized at Moon Lake Baptist Church.
A sports photo that stood out in Catchings’ mind was a photo of the late Darren Williams, who went on to play for Mississippi State University, holding up the 2001 football state championship trophy for Clarksdale High School. He also captured the emotion of former Coahoma County High School girls basketball player, now assistant coach, Jonetta Robinson after losing the state championship in 2005.
Catchings also had a Smile Page picture of a preacher who was preaching from the pulpit.
James “Super Chikan” Johnson at one time presented Catchings an award honoring him for his work. He was also Press Register employee of the year in 2003.
Catchings’ work went well beyond the Press Register.
Locally, he took photos at several weddings. He specifically mentioned taking pictures at Press Register business manager Sandy Hite’s daughter’s wedding.
He also had photos in the book “24 Hours”.
“I remember they had this big old coffee table book where they were getting something from every state and I took some pictures for that book,” Catchings said.
Catchings had a photo of the Ruleville mayor in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and of Perian Conerly, widow of former NFL player Charlie Conerly, in The Times in London. Perian was standing by pictures of Charlie’s memorabilia when he was the Marlboro Man and Catchings was paid $450 for the photo. He was paid another $450 for a second photo The Times used. He also had a photo published in the New York Times.
There have been many changes in the media through the years, but Catchings still sees a future in the newspaper business.
“There’s always a place for newspapers, but it’s just on a much, much smaller scale because you get news instantly now,” he said. “You’re walking down the street and say, ‘OK, let me open up my iPad’ and you have the latest news.”
Catchings said Stewart was one of the best publishers he worked under during his tenure. He also feels the Press Register is in good hands as current publisher Michael Banks is also one of the better leaders of the newspaper with high expectations.
Catchings’ role at the Press Register expanded from being a photographer to writing columns, articles for special magazines, an occasional story for the regular paper and proofing pages.
“It’s a big part of being a photographer,” he said. “I’ve never had a problem with English, maybe with certain word use, but I’ve always felt like I could write decently – subject, verb, all that.”
Liddell said he was always impressed by Catchings’ attire at community events.
“He dresses to the occasion,” Liddell said.
For Catchings, being well-dressed was second nature.
“If I’m going to a funeral or I’m going to a wedding or I’m going to a certain event, even when I go to graduations, I just feel like there’s a certain way to dress when you go to a function,” Catchings said. “I don’t like to see photographers coming and they look too shabby because it’s a place to look at as a special event.”
Catchings always maintained a strong relationship with both the white and black communities, but he never did anything out of the ordinary.
“I just went along with my business,” he said.
Catchings was so well respected through the years that many called on him to run for mayor of Clarksdale, even with comments on the Press Register website.
“I guess there’s something about me and I can’t explain it,” Catchings said. “Several people wanted to ask me about it, even in recent years.”
Catchings’ photography career began in high school
Catchings was taking pictures for yearbook at Higgins High School when one of his classmates gave him a “Brownie Hawkeye” camera.
His brother, stationed in Germany in the military, later sent him a 35-mm camera. He currently uses a Canon.
“Even to this day, I always say it was a hobby that pays for itself,” Catchings said.
Mostly a self-taught photographer, Catchings has taken pictures at social functions, weddings, daycare centers and proms.
Catchings graduated from Jackson State University in 1964 with a degree in math. He worked for an insurance company in Chicago where he has uncles after college.
Then former COI executive director Bennie Gooden offered him a job.
“I said, ‘Give me 24 hours.’ I didn’t hesitate, so I came back,” Catchings said.
That helped begin the longstanding relationship Catchings has with his hometown – both as a man and photographer – to this very day.
“I liked the familiarity of the area,” he said. “I liked the people in it. It’s a small town.”
Catchings lives life of service
Catchings, one of Troy Sr. and Ester Mae Catchings’ seven children, said his parents set the example for him to live by that he still follows today.
Catchings was a church superintendent until a few years ago. He started off at Bell Grove Baptist Church and currently attends New Jerusalem Baptist Church. He and his father have both been church deacons.
Catchings is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and was a Joint Action Community Service volunteer with the Job Corps.
He has a wife, Shirley, a daughter, Alisa Carson, and a granddaughter, Alexandira Simone Carson, who is a Mississippi State University graduate and works for the state of North Carolina helping the elderly. Catchings said she has worked with the elderly since she was small.
As Catchings heads into retirement, he will not take as many pictures as he once did, but being a photographer will never leave him.
“If you’re a photographer and you’re worth your salt, people still remember you,” he said. “They still want you to take pictures here or there. There’s something within. You can’t just put the camera down because there’s always something.”
