Remembering Wayne: Colleagues, friends share tales of late Post photographer
Published 12:06 am Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Hinshaw covered countless news events over the years. Here, Elizabeth Dole casts her ballot for the 2008 election at the Rowan Public Library. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, Salisbury Post
Hinshaw had a dedication for all types of sports, from basketball, football and baseball, to track, volleyball, swimming and wrestling. Here, East’s Isaac Cawley wins the mens 100-yard freestyle in 2022. photo by Wayne Hinshaw; for the Salisbury Post
Hinshaw enjoyed photographing stories for food pages. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, the Magazine Salisbury
West’s Tori Hester goes up high during a match. Hinshaw photographed a range of sports. photo by Wayne Hinshaw. for the Salisbury Post
Former Post photographer Wayne Hinshaw talks about his photographs during his gallery showing at the Center for Faith and the Arts in 2009. Hinshaw, who shot photos for the Salisbury Post for more than 50 years, died on Sunday.. Photo by Andy Mooney, Salisbury Post.
cA Union Fire Department firefighter prepares to put water into the burning attic of this 724 Tanglewood Dr. home on Saturday afternoon. The residence of David and Liliana Portilles was destroyed. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, Salisbury Post
Catawba's, Zy Brown 24 breaks up a pass in the end zone.., photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
This male Ruby-throated hummingbird flies pass a hummingbird feeder while keeping her wings beating at 75-80 beats per second . photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
By Susan Shinn Turner
For the Salisbury Post
Wayne Hinshaw, a meticulous, reliable and dedicated photojournalist who spent his long career with the Salisbury Post documenting every corner of Rowan County and beyond, died Sunday morning at Trinity Oaks Health & Rehab after a period of declining health.
As the news broke, hundreds of former colleagues, athletes and regular folks who were the subjects of his award-winning photos took to social media, texts and phone calls to express their thanks for his tireless efforts to ensure that each shot was perfect.
“I’ve got a smile on my face just remembering him and Junior back in the darkroom,” Elizabeth Cook, former Post editor, recalled Sunday afternoon. She was with the Post from 1978 to 2018.
At one time, Hinshaw led a five-man staff — and it was all men — that included Joey Benton, Jon Lakey, the late James Barringer, and the late Raymond “Junior” Austin.
Having been stricken with polio as a child, Austin was confined to a wheelchair. He did a lot of technical work that made the Post’s photos shine.
The zings between him and Hinshaw belied a deep friendship, Jason Lesley said Sunday evening.
“Wayne loved Junior so much,” said Lesley, who was with at the Post from 1971 to 2000, working his way from cub reporter to executive editor. “Wayne was the last of the generation in which you had to be a technician in developing a photo. He was a technician and an artist.”
Lesley said that together he and Hinshaw developed bigger photos and layouts.
“We pushed for bigger pictures, and they were great pictures,” Lesley said.
Lesley remembered the day that a steam locomotive came to town, crossing under the Innes Street bridge.
“James came back and his face was covered in soot except for his eyes,” Lesley said. “Wayne got a kick out of stuff like that.”
On the other hand, Lesley said, “Wayne made the Post one of the best newspapers in the state. And eventually, it was named one of the best newspapers in the state.”
Deidre Parker Smith, former longtime Post copydesk chief and assistant editor for continuous news, is now working on a project for Rowan Public Library, digitizing the Post files by scanning newspaper clippings.
“I have seen Wayne’s photos over and over again, from every era,” she said Sunday evening.
Many of those photos are included in former Post reporter, columnist and Salisbury the Magazine’s founding editor, Mark Wineka’s, soon-to-be published book, “A Drive Across Town.”
Looking through the clip files, Parker Smith noted that Hinshaw was at every event — major crimes, sports, news, high school graduation — the list goes on and on.
When she was lifestyles editor, she and Hinshaw collaborated on the Wednesday food pages.
“He was so meticulous over the food pages,” she said. “He was meticulous at everything.”
Editors always appreciated the fact that Hinshaw marked his top three photos BEST, BETTER, GOOD when he filed an assignment. That was actually wife Sammie’s idea, she said Monday morning.
When he was on assignment, Hinshaw used the sign-off signal for the radio system connecting his car with the newsroom. Nobody else used it but Wayne did. Every. Single. Time. The six-digit code is now lost to the mists of time — I’m sure Wayne would remember — but if you were in the newsroom, you could count on it at the end of Wayne’s dispatches. Wayne did things the right way and that was but one example.
Lakey, who was at the Post from Friday, Feb. 13, 1998 (he remembered the exact date), to 2020, chuckled Sunday that Hinshaw had a penchant for the pinto beans at the former Carousel Cafe on Fisher Street. Because of this, the staff kept a can of cinnamon scented “Christmas spray” at the ready.
Hinshaw was a person who loved to poke fun at others, and didn’t mind — well, too much — when the tables were turned on him.
“My favorite assignment was when Wayne and I drove to Washington, D.C., to spend the day with Elizabeth Dole,” Cook said. “At the time, she was President Reagan’s liaison for public affairs. For once, we were running with the big dogs, taking pictures of the president and hanging out in the White House press room.”
Hinshaw led the Post photo department through myriad changes — from black and white to color photos and from film cameras to digital cameras. The new equipment wasn’t cheap.
“That was painful, frankly going through that,” Cook said of the transition. “Wayne agonized over that.”
Even as recently as summer 2023, Hinshaw was still shooting football games, Cook said. “He was doing rigorous work, but it was his life.”
Wineka spent many a road trip with Hinshaw. He was with the paper from 1980 to 2019.
“We spent a week in Washington, D.C., when Bill Hefner was a congressman,” Wineka said Sunday afternoon.
“When the Piedmont Phillies (now the Cannon Ballers) were just putting their team together, we drove to Clearwater, Florida, to spring training. We met the new manager and some of who the players might be.
“When you go on a trip with Wayne, you appreciate his professionalism, but he was a talker! I joked with him when we got home that my left ear was tired after that trip.”
Hinshaw was involved for years with the North Carolina Press Photographers Association.
“His took his photography job very seriously,” Wineka said. “In the newsroom, he always fought for the photographer. He was always looking out for his guys.”
But, he said, “It was always fun to go back in the darkroom because there was this constant banter, especially between him and Junior. There were always hijinks going on back there.
“His pictures were impeccable. He worked so hard, especially with sports assignments. His standards were so high.”
Mike London, longtime Post sports writer, agrees.
“Obviously, he was a great photographer who got the great action shots for sports for many years,” London said Monday morning. “But the most impressive thing I witnessed was the dedication that he had at the county championship events — track, cross county, wrestling, swimming. He understood that those athletes and parents usually would have only that one day per season when they were going to be the main story in the Post sports, and he put in an incredible effort trying to get photos of as many as athletes as possible and trying to get all the names right.
“Even after he was no longer on the Post’s official payroll and was an underpaid free-lancer, he put in the same level of effort that he did as a regular Post employee.”
You couldn’t dispute that Hinshaw didn’t have a tremendous work ethic, even at 77 when he covered sports the first of November.
The joke around the paper was there were two saints on this earth — the late Eddie Post (husband to the late Rose Post, who worked there for 56 years and could match Hinshaw story for story), and Sammie, Hinshaw’s wife of 55 years.
If we had unlimited newsprint space, we still couldn’t tell all the humorous Wayne Hinshaw stories and adventures. And he would relish hearing every one.
It’s a shame we won’t have any more.
Funeral arrangements for Hinshaw are currently pending with Summersett Funeral Home.
Freelance writer Susan Shinn Turner lives in Raleigh. She was fortunate to work with Hinshaw during her full-time and freelance years at the Post.
