The contrast presented itself at my first weekly planning meeting as The Trib's director of photography.

Having previously worked at four newspapers — which tended to handle their photo departments more as quick-serve operations, with resulting pictures simply breaking up large bodies of gray type, often falling short of adding content to the story — I learned things worked differently at The Tribune.

All departments stood shoulder to shoulder in their effort to bring readers the best of their collective efforts. The professionals here — whether armed with cameras or notepads, pica poles or purse strings — had a sense of ownership about their craft and a sense of partnership with their colleagues.

In my first week on the job, one of our photo interns, Jennah Ward, captured pictures in southeastern New Mexico oil fields to accompany a story by Ollie Reed Jr. The photo department felt it would be appropriate, for a number of reasons, to present the pictures in black and white — in an era when color dominates.

Ward's photos were striking, full of a gritty, steel-and-dirt quality that put the viewer into this stark environment. Why not run with that quality, rather than complicate it with color?

My pitch was hesitant, but I'll never forget Managing Editor Kelly Brewer reminding me: "You're the photo editor."

As if to explain to the rookie that this decision wasn't something that required much negotiating or hand wringing.

As if to explain that I was trusted to do the right thing.

I pursed my lips and nodded my thanks. Inside, I felt like I had just been handed the keys to a really fine sports car.

So why wasn't I doing handsprings? Why, instead, did I have a knot in my stomach? I was struck by the gravity of my responsibility to uphold the tradition of excellence at The Tribune — a small newspaper with a huge national reputation for its use of photography.

If it was that easy to take those keys, start up the engine and ease that baby out onto the road, it would be just as easy to wrap it around a tree.

I couldn't let that happen — not on my watch.

The Trib's emphasis on photography is not just lip service. The newspaper has produced people who have worked for National Geographic; won Pulitzer Prizes at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver; directed the White House photo office; won countless journalism awards from coast to coast.

That success is the result of a choice — a mandate, really — by the newspaper's management over the years. The directive: Photography shares the responsibility in reporting to the readers. It's a massive change from the news-conference-and-portrait style of photography that dominated U.S. journalism for decades.

Our approach to telling stories has remained fairly constant over the years. It's a documentary approach that calls for honest images of real people, artfully portrayed living their lives, reveling in their joys or coping with their misfortunes.

We've tried to hold up a mirror to the community and not spin what we find in one direction or another.

The Trib's approach allowed it to regularly appear with some of the big dogs in the business in competitions that rate newspapers' use of photography. In the past 20 years, it's been common for The Trib to place among newspapers such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News and Hartford Courant.

In my nearly seven years at The Trib, the photography staff members have been my friends, colleagues, teammates. In some cases they've been like my own kids. In others, my mentors. It's been indescribably satisfying to be able to step out of their way and watch so much good work happen — just like punching the gas pedal on that sports car.

I've asked some staffers, past and present, to share thoughts, photos and remembrances about their time at The Tribune. Some are nostalgic; some relate stories of watershed photojournalistic moments that might have stopped them in their tracks and made them realize they weren't in Kansas anymore.

All of them, and many others, have helped make this the exciting ride it's been.

Now, sadly, it's time to turn the engine off and throw a cover on this baby. But we'll always remember the trip.

Holm has been The Trib's director of photography since 2001.