Fifth annual "take a photog to lunch week"

Time once again to offer our annual thanks to those creative souls who provide us with such wonderful pictures, sound and editing; the humble photog.

Call them lensmules, digital sherpas, electronic pack animals, but call them great. Without them, we'd be radio. (And not be able to make Alec Baldwin blow a gasket.)

This week the Foundation of Cuisine for Undue Servitude (better known as FOCUS) asks that reporters and anchors throughout the industry pick up the lunch check at least once this week to honor the hardest working people in the news department.

FOCUS founder I.M. Hungry said that the annual holiday is a reminder not to take photogs for granted. "All we ask is that you hold photographers in the high esteem they deserve. They work hard in the elements and always go the extra mile for the talent. Treating them to lunch may seem like a little thing, but it means so much to people who have to regularly clean ketchup off the steering wheel."

The annual event has gotten rave reviews the past four years from both photogs and reporters. "I took my favorite shooter out to Red Lobster last year," said reporter Mike Level. "My video that week was off the charts. He even let me turn off the Grateful Dead music in the news car, and bit his tongue all the way back to the station when I tuned in John Tesh."

Photographer  V.U. Finder said he appreciated the gesture last year when an Italian reporter introduced him to tiramisu at an upscale restaurant. "I didn't even know what it was, so it was great that she shared a little bit of her culture. We had so much fun she even taught me a bunch of angry Sicilian hand gestures. Now I don't have to swear any more."

Of course there are always naysayers who find the annual event a distraction. "I have no one to order around for an entire week," said one producer. "This is really playing havoc with my alter-ego as a dictator. Thankfully I found a productive use for my time and updated my Facebook page."

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