The Heart Mind and Eye

Ugly Kid Joe Run

2011-05-01T10:36:00.001-05:00

Other than having Ugly Kid Joe stuck in my head for 6.6 miles, this was an awesome run.

<a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/33110690">A run mapped on 05/01/2011</a> and more runs in Gainesville, FL on MapMyRUN. <a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com">Find run</a>

Easter morning run

2011-04-24T11:32:00.001-05:00

A 3D flyover view of my run this morning. If you're not from Gainesville or have never been here, the only thing you'd recognize would probably be the football stadium. (Right side of screen around mile three)

You'll need the latest google earth plug-in to view the video.

<a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/32521062">A run mapped on 04/24/2011</a> and more runs in Gainesville, FL on MapMyRUN. <a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com">Find run</a>

Easter morning run

2011-04-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

Also, you need the latest google earth plug-in to view the video.

<a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/32521062">A run mapped on 04/24/2011</a> and more runs in Gainesville, FL on MapMyRUN. <a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com">Find run</a>

Easter morning run

2011-04-24T11:13:00.003-05:00

You'll need the latest google earth plug-in to view the video.

<a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/32521062">A run mapped on 04/24/2011</a> and more runs in Gainesville, FL on MapMyRUN. <a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com">Find run</a>

Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

2011-02-04T21:20:00.008-06:00

-I'm 37. I'm not old.
-Well I can't just call you "man".
-Well you could say "Dennis".
-I didn't know you were called Dennis.

I'm ashamed I didn't bust out that quote while shooting the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire in Gainesville last weekend. Would have been great to use while getting a name or something. But yeah, plenty of Python quotes were tossed around... in my head at least. I even purchased a marshmallow catapult. It's awesome. Launches those suckers across the room.

-We are now the Knights who say... "Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG. Zoom-Boing. Z'nourrwringmm.

And here are some others from the past week including a wrestling tournament, soccer playoffs, a 3D movie screening, flipped truck and the first UF baseball practice

Enjoyeth thy images.

-If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood.
-And therefore...
-A WITCH!

Rain

2011-01-25T17:41:00.003-06:00

The Gainesville Sun loves them some weather features. And with strong thunderstorms and lots of rain in the area, I was sent out to find some "it's raining photos." I camped out under different overhangs in downtown Gainesville and made some images of people in the rain.

Kicks and Fumbles

2010-10-17T00:18:00.005-05:00

I'm not an expert at the game of football, but two things you can't do if you want to win a game is miss kicks and fumble in the redzone. Florida did both on Saturday. Here are a few of my favorites from the game that Mississippi State won 10-7. (in no particular order)

The Florida kicker missed two field goals in the game, including one in the final seconds that would have tied the game. But a few minutes before that, Florida fumbled the ball inside the 20. Oops.

KC/DC

2010-06-14T19:28:00.009-05:00

Alrighty... I'm going to post something ASAP because if I don't, these images will forever be lost in the depths of my computer, then archives. And this was too cool of a trip to let that happen.

Laura and I just got back from our KC/DC trip. We flew to Kansas City where I ran half-marathon with Ben and Dad. We spent the weekend there with family... including a Royals game, then headed to Manhattan for a few days... where we spent a good chunk of the time buying me a car. Not quite the best way to spend vacation time, but it was a good deal and gives mom an excuse to come visit me. How else is the car going to get to Houma?

-Ben and I after the race

-The shirt I made and wore during the race

-The K

-The New Ride (a 2007 Nissan Murano)

After looking through my Kansas Photos, I realized a majority of them were of Nephew Alec. What can I say, the kid takes god photos. A TON more photos from the Kansas section of the trip can be seen here.

-Alec at the City Band Concert

-Laura at the Tuttle Creek Tubes

-Bob breaking into his own house

-Alec at a train station/burger joint in KC.

-Grandma, Alec and Ben on a lazy Sunday morning after Bagels and a long walk.

We left Manhattan on Wednesday and flew to Washington DC where we stayed with Laura's Aunt and Uncle just outside of the city. We played tourists most of the time. Trips to the majority of the monuments, Arlington National Cemetery, the Newseum and Holocaust Museum to name a few.

-Washington Monument at night

-Green door in Georgetown

-Photographer as part of a plaque at the WWII memorial

- Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

-Bird at Arlington National Cemetery

But the DC portion was highlighted (in my opinion) by two afternoons. The first was a personal tour of the Pentagon by Laura's Uncle Pete... he works there. It was pretty darn neat to be walking the halls inside the Pentagon. It's a small city inside that thing, including a gift shop where I picked up a t-shirt. And can you believe they don't have a pentagon shaped coffee mug? That just seems too easy.

The next highlight was an afternoon with one of my mom's best friends Janet. She met us at the Eastern Market and treated us to a crabcake lunch. It was great catching up and having a local tour guide through the capitol, supreme court and Library of Congress. Janet showed us the way to Georgetown and dropped us off there. (where we enjoyed a self-guided tour of the university and an awesome oven baked pizza).

Again, a BUNCH more photos from the DC section of the trip can be seen here.

Big thanks go out to Mom (for driving my new car down to Louisiana) and to Aunt Mary, Uncle Pete and the three cousins Jacob, Matthew and Abby for being such great hosts and letting us take over the basement.

Now it's back to sauna-like heat and oil coverage.

They Just Don't Mix

2010-05-26T21:51:00.007-05:00

Training for a half-marathon and covering an oil spill just don't mix.

I've been training to run a half-marathon on June 5. The last half-marathon I ran, nothing else was on my mind the weeks leading up to the race. Even my photography took a back seat to my running.

Now, the race is a little more than a week away, and running is kind of an afterthought. I'm still getting my runs in, but mentally, I'm just not ready to run a half-marathon. Hopefully that will change once I get my bib number and wake up the morning of the race.

However, the running has really helped me escape from all this oil. Even just a quick run gets my mind off work and into that "zone." Then I can get back to work.

So maybe those two mix better than I thought. Oil and water on the other hand...

Anyway, lets look at some photos. One of the big concerns right now is the lack of protection (boom) for Terrebonne Parish. Especially since oil has been found just a few miles south of Pointe-aux-Chenes. I went out with some local fishermen to see the oil coating the marsh grass. It's scary because the marshes are so important for this area and the oil looks as if it's coming from underwater. You can't see it on the surface, but it's showing up on the marsh grass.

Gilbert, Gayle and Russell make their way along the marsh looking at the oil-covered grass. They took a few samples back to show the other residents the oil that's just a few miles from their homes. Where they are in this photo isn't just some water near their house... it's where they make their living. The catch their shrimp there. They catch their oysters there. Their income is in this water. I can't begin to put my self in their shoes.

The majority of the residents in Pointe-aux-Chenes are native American and have been born and raised there. The live off the water, it's their way of life. So having it invaded by oil could force them to leave. They also have tribal burial grounds they want to protect. The grounds have already been invaded by salt water killing the trees, but oil just doesn't seem fair.

Today, 24,000 feet of boom arrived in Pointe-aux-Chenes. Much like the fisherman from a few weeks ago, these guys will deploy a fleet of boats to protect their land and water. Why hasn't it been boomed off before now? Good question. According to the the coast guard captain in charge "I guess I'm just slow and dumb." (By the way, he's been replaced. And the new guy says it has nothing to do with the comment.)

So cross your fingers, knock on wood.... whatever... that the oil stays out. Well, doesn't get any closer.

$1 target sunflower

2010-05-16T13:50:00.001-05:00

Oil

2010-05-14T12:07:00.006-05:00

The past couple weeks have been pretty crazy covering the BP oil spill in the Gulf. And because I haven't posted anything to this blog since late Dec. I figured it was time to get something up here.

The morning after a full day at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, I photographed some officials arriving in Houma to meet and see what was up with the oil.

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry, center, talks with U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao, left, and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu Friday, April 30, 2010. (Looks like a little more than "talks with" though)

On Saturday, Shrimp boats from Terrebonne parish were getting ready to head out and help clean up the oil. I was lucky enough to be able to get on board one of the boats (The Mariah Jade) and cover the crew as they helped save their coastline and careers.

Kim Chauvin kisses her sons, Dusty and David before the head out.

Dusty Chauvin steers the Mariah Jade down the Intracoastal as his brother David works out in the wheel house.

Shrimp Boots.

Funny story behind this photo... We got on the boat around 8 a.m. Sunday morning. I didn't know the route we were taking, I just knew we were going to the spill in the Gulf. Four hours into the day, I thought we were making good progress and must be getting close to the Gulf. (I was inside the cabin) John, the reporter, comes in and says "We're passing through downtown Houma if you want to get a photo." WHAT!?!? Four hours in and were in Houma? We went across the coast before going south. Oops.

After two days of travel, and one day of searching, we finally found some oil. It was in the form of red globs that forms when oil dispersant gets in contact with the oil. But not before making a cool sunset picture... and a photo of a crazy glow in the wake of the boat. The guys said it's from a chemical released by jellyfish and that it's usually green. I'd never seen anything like it.

And here's Todd looking over the water as they finally find oil late Tuesday night. They spent all day searching (because they took orders from BP) and finally found a little oil. You'd think they had just caught the biggest shrimp ever they were so excited.

The next day, the cleanup process began. It was messy. They deployed the orange booms to help corral the oil, then put out white oil-absorbent pad things to soak it up.

On Monday, I flew with Sen. David Vitter and Gov. Bobby Jindal to look at what Grand Island is doing to help stop the oil from coming ashore. 30 percent of the nation's oil come through Port Fourchon, so it's pretty darn important to keep this area protected.

I'm sure I'll be covering a lot more with this oil spill in the coming weeks/months... years? But I just wanted to show what I've been doing the past two weeks.

POY 2009

2009-12-23T17:34:00.004-06:00

So I tried to come up with a nifty term to sum up my 2009 like "The year of the _____" But there's been so much go on with me this year that one word wouldn't be enough.

I'll just list some of highlights.

-I met my nephew Alec.
-And on that note, I became an uncle.
-I competed in an Adventure Race (Run, Bike, Canoe, trivia... etc)
-I trained for and ran a half-marathon
-I lost about 45 lbs
-Unless something crazy happens, I'll finish in the top 10 of the Region 8 NPPA monthly clip contest (I'm currently in 4th with three months still to be judged)
-I've had a couple photos published on the front page of espn.com
-I had the lead image on a USA Today Sports page.

And those are pretty much all I can come up with. Feel free to add any you think I might have missed.

I also gathered up a few of my favorite photos from 2009. These aren't necessarily my best pics, just some of my favorite from the past year.

Big Hit

2009-11-29T14:37:00.002-06:00

I considered it a "warm up" to the big Monday night showdown in the Dome between the Saints and Patriots. But last night's LSU game against Arkansas turned out to be pretty exciting. The Tigers pulled out an amazing 33-30 win in overtime.

I made a couple images I liked.

The kicker, who made the field goal to send it into overtime and win it in overtime...

A face mask...

A hurdle...

And a big hit...

KSU band

2009-11-07T22:34:00.000-06:00

Marching to the stadium before the KU game. Oh, we won 17-10.

Geddy walk

2009-11-05T11:57:00.000-06:00

Taking my dog Geddy for a walk today. Had a little suprise a few
blocks into the walk.

Point Cats!

2009-11-04T20:22:00.001-06:00

Game three of the volleyball game against A&M.

Dad and I saw two A&M players at the coffee shop this morning. We
thought about putting "can't dig or kill" drugs in their mocha, but
didn't have any to put in there.

Who Dat Flippin

2009-11-03T00:37:00.003-06:00

Pierre Flipping into the end zone for a touchdown during Monday Night Football. WHO DAT!

Trifecta Weekend

2009-10-18T21:48:00.004-05:00

The first Trifecta of the year. I'm not sure if I'll have another one or not, but this one was pretty darn awesome.

High School Football on Friday. (Terrebonne at Central)
College football on Saturday. (Texas State at Nicholls State)
Pro Football on Sunday. (Giants at Saints)

Oh, and to make this weekend better, check out this other list of victories (or non-victories)

-Got a cool pic of Terrebonne touchdown... and Terrebonne won so we could use that pic in the paper.
-Manhattan High won to remain undefeated
-Kansas State destroyed Texas A&M
-KU lost (haha!)
-Nebraska Lost
-The Saints blew out the Giants
-Chiefs win first game of season
-and my fantasy team won even though Drew Brees was on my bench.

And to top it all off... I had photos on the front page of espn.com, usatoday.com and cbssports.com during the Saints game on Sunday.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the three games I shot this weekend.

This dude prayed, then pointed to the sky after the National Anthem... and add a cool sunset as a nice bonus.

This is the Terrebonne Touchdown I was all excted about because they ended up winning. It ran lead on the sports section on Saturday.

On Saturday, I went to Thibodaux to shoot Nicholls State vs Texas State. Nicholls was supposed to get blown out, but they ended up losing by 6. (and missed two field goals). I shot the first half from the top of the press box. And got lucky when the Nicholls QB high jumped into the end zone. I didn't get much else from this game... just standard football pics. but I kind of liked this one.

And finally, I shot the Saints game. This first picture ended up on the front page espn.com and cbssports.com.

here's the screen grabs...

and I nailed a pretty sweet shot from a touchdown in the first half. Drew Brees to Robert Mecham.

And to stick with the theme of pointing at things... here's Shockey after a big play pointing at Marques Colston for some reason.

And there you go... three days, three levels of football. (Topped off with a KSU win)

15mph

2009-09-29T15:06:00.000-05:00

Quite a Hoot

2009-09-23T11:36:00.002-05:00

This morning I went to South Terrebonne High at 6:30 a.m. to meet with State Police. They were handing out free music coupons to students who arrived wearing their seat belts... and tickets to those who arrived not wearing their seat belts.

Near the end of the kids arriving, this girl turns the corner into the parking lot and we see a wing sticking out from the front of her car.

She had hit an owl last night and was too scared to take it off the front of her car. The School Resource Officer took it off for her.

Poor Owl.

HOT ROUTE... HOT ROUTE

2009-08-28T21:55:00.002-05:00

Let the games begin... tonight was the first real high school football game of the season. Well, close enough. It was a scrimmage, but the teams played like it was real. The only thing missing tonight... the bands. So the atmosphere wasn't quite the same, but still. It was high school football.

I shot the Terrebonne Parish Football Jamboree tonight. The four public schools in the parish all come to one stadium and play a shortened game.

Here's a few shots. I'm still a little rusty with football, but at least I was able to shoot with sweet light. A few weeks from now, it'll be dark before kickoff.

Ice cream social

2009-08-08T20:13:00.000-05:00

Johns ice cream social and outdoor movie night.

Uncle ben and matt

2009-08-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

Playing with Alec.

Finished

2009-08-08T10:51:00.001-05:00

The real reason to run races... T-shirts and numbers.

Alec and Me

2009-08-07T19:56:00.000-05:00

Ba ba ba ba

2009-08-07T19:52:00.000-05:00

More Tumba

2009-08-06T17:48:00.000-05:00

I swear I'm doing more on this vacation than play with Tumba.

At the game!

2009-08-05T18:55:00.000-05:00

In Kansas

2009-08-05T14:36:00.000-05:00

Stupid rain

2009-07-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

(this is also a test to see if I can post videos to my blog from my
phone. So if you don't see anything, just imagine a video of me
talking about how the rain is keeping me from running right now.)

Unprofessional

2009-07-20T18:06:00.003-05:00

I just have to get this off my chest before I explode.

I had a run-in with a New Orleans TV Camera guy today that rubbed me the wrong way. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but as a professional photojournalist, he's a complete jackass. (In my opinion)

Here's the situation. There was a murder in Houma on Sunday night. We usually go out to the neighborhood of the murder the next day for a follow up story. We talk to the victims family and friends. Maybe talk to the suspects family and friends. We do this to get more of the story than the police report says. Personal information about the victim like hobbies and things like that.

So reporter Robert Zullo and I headed out to the neighborhood where the victim lived and was killed. We saw ABC 26 out there too. Usually not a big deal. We do our work, they do theirs.

Zullo and I were talking to the sister and a group of cousins of the murder victim outside the home where he was found dead. They were telling us good information about the victim. The sister of the victim says she has a photo of her brother on her cell phone, as she's telling us about the photo, the ABC 26 cameraman walks up and interrupts her and tells her to let him see the photo. This is as she's showing it to me and Zullo. He then has her hold it in front of his camera so he can get a shot. Then, and this is when I had to roll my eyes and walk away, asks her to stand there an look down at the phone so he can get a shot. Are you kidding me? And you call yourself a journalist?

He then asks her to walk with him to the corner of the house where the body was found. Sooooo... I guess Zullo and I were done with our interview and photos?

And to top it all off... the TV cameraman was wearing jean shorts. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of dress codes, but I do believe you need to dress and act professional while on assignment.

I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too much about this, or maybe it's too soon after for me to logically think, but I just got really ticked at this guy today. I have to add that the reporter for the TV station was in a nice shirt and tie. He did his job very well.

There's been articles in national photojournalist's magazines about TV camera people and how they dress and act. The lead photo to go with the article showed a TV cameraman in jean shorts and a t-shirt at a soldiers funeral. There was a TV guy in Topeka who wore jean shorts every day of the year... no matter the temperature. So I know I'm not the only person to come this situation.

Anyway, that's my rant, I feel better now.

Now I'm off to an assignment where I'll be professional, I'll look professional and I'll follow the journalist ethical standards set fourth by the New York Times, National Press Photographers Asso. and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Road Trip

2009-07-19T15:35:00.000-05:00

Took a tour of the bayou this afternoon. I played around with a new
iPhone App I got a few days ago. It's called Camera Bag and you can
process any photo to look like it's been shot from a variety of cameras.

It's Hot

2009-06-23T13:19:00.002-05:00

It's been just stupid hot outside the past couple weeks. So I busted out the fish tank and went to a summer day camp where kids were swimming in the pool to get some underwater pictures.

Swampland Time Lapse

2009-06-12T01:08:00.003-05:00

I tried my hand at another time lapse tonight. Little more difficult tonight because the light changed a lot during the duration of the time lapse. I also gathered some audio during the game. I just hung out in the dugout for a few innings.

I set my camera to take a picture every 15 seconds. I think it was up there for about 3 hours. It's played back at 15 frames per second and it's 42 seconds long. So you can do the math.

amphibian fatality

2009-06-11T14:05:00.004-05:00

I never wish for anybody to get into a wreck. And I never wish for someone to get hurt in a wreck. But, as a photojournalist who covers many car wrecks, sometimes I hope for a wreck between two vehicles that'll make interesting pictures. Maybe a truck hauling seltzer crashes into a van full of clowns. Or something silly and ironic like that.

Well, no clowns were involved in a wreck today, but I still got something pretty funny from a minor accident this afternoon.

A truck traveling south crashed into a car trying to turn left off a bridge. Everybody involved suffered minor injuries... except for the frogs the guy in the truck had just caught.

RIP Frogs.

Orange caps

2009-06-07T18:28:00.000-05:00

There was a sale on Gatorade and vitamin water at Rouses today.

I went a little nuts...

Close Call

2009-06-01T09:50:00.002-05:00

Ok, so on Saturday I had to go down the bayou to get a photo that showed the vanishing coast line. I knew a couple spots that had some dead trees and water and maybe a fisherman or two. (Just to have a human figure in the frame.) I also wanted a nice sunset in the picture.

I drove down to the spot I had in mind around 5 p.m. to see if anybody was there and maybe make a few frames before the sun started to go down. Nobody was there yet and I just happened to have my fishing pole in my trunk. So I decided to try my luck.

I walked to the edge of the water and stood behind a clump of grass.

After my first cast, I heard a splash right below me in front of the grass. I figured it was a fish jump and was excited that they were active. A couple casts later, I look below me and see this Gator in the water. That splash wasn't quite a fish.

From my best guesses, he was less than his body length away from me when I first walked up to the grass. I'm glad it decided to jump towards the water and not towards me on shore.

phew!

So I took some shots with my wide angle, then ran and grabbed my 400 and got some closer frames. The gator just floated around in the water for a while. Then tried to eat a dead crab that was up against the marsh grass.

The only thing I caught that day was some pictures of a gator and a vanishing coastline photo for Sunday's front page.

Quick change of subject... I finally got around to dumping the photos off my point and shoot camera this morning. Here are some random shots from the past couple weeks.

The attack of the bugs at the New Orleans Zephyrs Game. They didn't bite, they were just all over the place. Good thing it was miniature bat giveaway night. (I've got video I'll post sooner or later)

Shot this while driving to Sulphur for the State Softball Tournament

Shot this at an outdoor music festival in New Orleans.

Name that Skyline! (from my flight back to Louisiana from Kansas in April)

Mardi Gras Indians

2009-05-23T18:43:00.000-05:00

Every Thirty Seconds

2009-05-22T15:37:00.002-05:00

This is what made shooting graduations a little more fun this year. So all in all I shot a photo gallery, video and time lapse from each graduation I covered this year. Made for a long week, but it was a fun challenge. And I'm finished climbing up to the rafters of the civic center for a while now.

500

2009-05-10T21:37:00.002-05:00

I'll start off by saying that today might have been the most frustrating day I've had in quite a while. But I ended it with an awesome run, so everything's fine now.

On Friday, I was assigned to photograph the community band in Thibodaux on Sunday. Normally not a bad assignment, but I really didn't want to have to work on a Sunday, and have to do a video. On Saturday, I was given another Sunday assignment to make a picture of Houma because we were voted "Cleanest City in the State." Then, during the middle of shooting that on Sunday, I get a call to go down the Bayou to shoot fishermen getting ready for Shrimp season, which starts on Monday.

So my day off turned into a full day of work with three assignments.

Oh, and to top it all off, a couple of items in my kitchen cubbard were thrown away because my roommate is super... SUPER clean and has to have everything in order. So I'm out a bag of perfectly fine Wildcat Blend Coffee and Buffalo Chip snack things. (Both of which were Christmas presents from my parents).

One more thing... I missed a BBQ hosted by Emily, the other photograher. She invited the newsroom to her place for some grilled meat.

I didn't break anything or lose my voice yelling... I just rewared myself by going on a run with the new shoes tonight.

After uploading my run to Nike, I saw that I'm only 52 miles away from reaching 500 total miles ran since starting Nike+. So I created a goal to run 52 miles in 8 weeks. Should be pretty simple. Here's my total miles from the past 4 months.

Jan - 21
Feb - 47
Mar - 26
April - 34

(The options on the goal only let me select 4, 8, 12 or 16 months. And I figured 52 miles in a month is a litte much right now. So I went with two months)

So, 25ish miles a month for two months will put me at 500 total miles. Here's the goal I set up.

Now, here are some photos I took this weekend. One from the State Police Open House and the others from the 5k Run for Excellence. (Which I'm dissapointed that I couldn't run this year)

Final thought... I think the judges for the Cleanest City Contest were ether bribed, or didn't get a good view of Houma. I saw the route they took for their judging... never touched the East side of town. I wonder if any of the judges ever asked "Hey, what's on the other side of those two giant bridges? Can we go see?"

13.1 on 10/31

2009-05-06T20:57:00.002-05:00

Ouch

2009-05-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

Over thrown ball stopped by my shin in the sixth inning.

Water

2009-04-19T17:03:00.000-05:00

Post game in downtown Houston.

Sundays game.

2009-04-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

Perfect weather. And the roof is open. We're on the first row of the
upper deck.

It'll take a hell of a foul ball to get up here but it can happen.
And... If it does, I'll make an amazing catch leaning over the railing
and then make sportscenter.

Ha!

2009-04-18T12:58:00.000-05:00

Our view.

2009-04-17T19:47:00.000-05:00

Road trip

2009-04-17T08:16:00.001-05:00

On our way to Arlington.

Post race trash can

2009-04-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

The race was amazing. 20,000 plus runners.

Best part was the brass band at mile three playing the theme to Rocky.

Just awesome.

Gator

2009-04-05T15:50:00.000-05:00

Swamp tour in kramer Louisiana.

Created quite a buzz

2009-03-31T14:28:00.000-05:00

Look who decided to move into 612 Crescent Blvd.

Wasn't quite Canada, but still...

2009-03-30T16:17:00.002-05:00

One summer in High School I went to Canada with the Boy Scouts on a 10-day canoe and camping trip. Probably one of the top 5 highlights of my childhood... and probably life. Just put in the water somewhere, canoe for a while, set up camp, and do it all again the next day. I loved it, and have wanted to do it ever since.

I kind of got my chance this past weekend with the Paddle Bayou Lafourche event. It's hosted by BTNEP. (I know what it stands for but have zero clue how to spell it... google it if you want to).

On Thursday, reporter Robert Zullo and I put our canoe in the water in Donaldsonville and spent four days paddling down the bayou to Lockport. Each night we camped at a different location. First night was a Plantation home, next night was Nicholls State University and the final night was on the lawn of the Chief of the United Houma Nation Indian Tribe.

It wasn't true camping however, since we had our cars with us, and had to drive back to the office each night to get the paper our stories and photos. But it was close enough for me.

In fact, when I packed, I packed thinking "how can I keep all this stuff with me? Pack light and pack water safe since it'll all be in a canoe."

Well stupid me didn't' realize that I'd have my car each day at the finish spot. So I could keep the tent, clothes, sleeping bag... etc in the car. I'm used to packing for camping trips where I have to keep everything with me.

Anyway, it was still awesome, and gave me my fix for paddling a canoe and sleeping in a tent. Hadn't done that since high school. We missed out on each evenings activities because we had to go work, but next year I've promised to only paddle and not work.

We also did a little experiment by posting short updates on what was going on to our website, and having people follow us as we went on our journey. So every so often, I'd pull out my phone and update my Twitter account which would automatically post to a page on our webstie. Check out the page here.

By the end of the trip, we were known as "the courier guys" and we got lots of positive feedback from the paddlers about the stories and photos.

So if anybody wants to come down next year and paddle, I've got a tent, and know a guy who has a canoe. Come on down.

You can see my favorite photos from the trip here.

Shoot!

2009-03-24T14:20:00.000-05:00

Popeye

2009-03-23T18:52:00.004-05:00

Where I'm at

2009-03-09T15:32:00.001-05:00

I'm taking a quick break from my drive home inside that blue circle.

I'm still pretty exhausted after yesterdays race... And sore too. I've
been moving at one speed, slow. Even after sleeping for 12 hours last
night. 8:30-8:30. It felt great.

One of these days I'll make it to Clerence (seen on lower left of
map) when that BBQ place is open. They're closed on Mondays. And were
closed for the holidays the last time I passed through.

Shoes

2009-03-09T11:25:00.000-05:00

What shoes look like after an adventure race.

They were soaking wet after getting into and out of the lake during
the boating portion of the race.

My trophy

2009-03-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

We didn't place high enough in the race to get a prize.

So I awarded my self with some taco bell and Mt. Dew.

Mmmmmmm

Hitting the road.

2009-03-05T10:20:00.000-06:00

Got the bike loaded and I'm taking off.

A great adventure

2009-03-04T21:33:00.002-06:00

Why I like going to fancy country clubs...

2009-03-04T11:53:00.000-06:00

Because I get to break up the line of fancy cars in the parking lot
with my Alero.

What you don't see is the Lexus and three more SUV's on the other side.

Drum circle on Frenchman

2009-02-24T17:35:00.000-06:00

Royal and Toulouse

2009-02-24T15:09:00.000-06:00

Rex parade in NOLA

2009-02-24T11:31:00.000-06:00

Shot on the "quadcam" in my phone.

Double Nickle

2009-02-22T00:20:00.002-06:00

I've been with out Internet at home for the last two days. (Stupid Comcast) I've had plenty of time to post photos, just haven't been able too.

So I'm fighting back sleep to post this stuff.

First, a couple photos from a car wreck earlier this week. A pregnant teenager ran a stop sign and hit a car full of teenagers after school. The second car then drove into the front porch of an old lady. Nobody was hurt, and the pregnant teen was just shooken up and scared a little. (thank goodness, this could have been a lot worse)

Anyway, my favorite pics from the scene weren't of the scene at all. But rather of a couple of onlookers in nearby houses.

I just thought those were kind of fun.

Now then... On Thursday, I had some free time and decided to cash in my change jar and buy a bike. Not a bad way to spend some free time uh? So I've taken it out a couple times around town. I also found some trails behind a neighborhood that has some dips and hills and ramps and things so I can do some "off road" stuff too.

Friday night, the Vandebilt Catholic girls soccer team played for the state championship in Houma. They won it last year and always seem to be in the finals, so it was nothing new. But it's always fun to cover a state championship. Here are a few shots.

Now, this next shot isn't anything great, just a bunch of high school kids being high school kids. But there's a little story behind them. They all stood on the other side of the stadium (where I was) to watch the game. A few minutes into the game they start chanting "Camera Guy! Camera Guy!"

So I turn around and they all erupt louder than when their team scored a goal. So I wave and point at them and continue to shoot the game. A few minutes later, they start chanting again... "Camera Guy, Camera Guy!"

This time, I go over and stand right in front of them and take a self portrait with all of them in the back ground. They go nuts. And I go back to shooting.

A few minutes after that, they all start yelling "The Camera guy is the MAN!!" So I turn around and bow like just finished a Broadway play. Again, they go nuts. Ahhhh... high school.

here are the dudes. (The self portrait photo is at work... forgot to send it home. My bad)

Today, I had nothing to do until the Mardi Gras parade in the evening, so I decided to see if I could double up with a bike ride and a run. So I went 11 miles on my bike (thanks to this little gadget hooked up to my wheels that tells me speed and distance) and then ran 4.5 miles right after. I aboutcollapsed after the run, but it felt great.

The east side parade rolled tonight in Houma. The Krewe of Mardi Gras. It's the only parade on the east side. It was the fist parade I've shot for work. I was a little rusty but had a good time. How can you not have a good time at a mardi gras parade right?

Each time I shoot a parade, I always think that what I'm shooting is really awesome because it's so unique. There are only a handfull of places in the world that celebrate Mardi Gras like South Louisiana. But when I get back and look at my photos, I'm never impressed for some reason.

Are they good photos because they're strong images? Or are the good photos because not many people have seen Mardi Gras parades? Or are they just not good images in the first place? I don't know.

When contest time rolls around each year, my Marid Gras stuff always gets the boot because they all start to look the same after a while. A kid screaming, a masked-guy throwing, beads flying, large crowds... etc. But if someone in Utah judged the photos, would they stand out because they probably had never seen a Mardi Gras? Who knows. Anyway, here are a few from tonight.

(yea, a float knocked down a traffic light)

That's all for tonight. Between my bike ride, my run and a Mardi Gras parade today, I'm pooped.

Care to take a guess.

2009-02-19T12:48:00.001-06:00

I'm heading to cash it in right now.

Here's a clue.... There were quite a few bills hidden in the change
this time. (one 20)

58,175

2009-02-19T00:09:00.002-06:00

I've run 21.2 miles so far this month.

And in the Nike+ world, that ranks me 58,175th amongst all men who use Nike+

Ed_ornelas is first this month with 705.02 miles. That's just stupid. I bet he just doesn't stop running.

here are some other stats and where I rank in the Nike+ world.

I've run for 3:17'09" this month. That ranks me 63,865th. (first place has 442 hours.)

I've run 361.54 total miles using Nike+ and that ranks me 23,463rd. (first place has 12979.09 total miles)

They've got a bunch more break downs by age group, and location in the world and stuff like that. But I'm tired and don't feel like transcribing it all right now.

But if you ever what to know how my fastest 5k time ranks among women ages 45-49 from Australia, I can figure that out.

Actually, never mind. I just tried. It knows my age and all that stuff and only compares me to the categories I fall under. Bummer uh? I want to see how I stack up against Those ladies from down under.

Oh well.

I took some fun pictures at a car wreck today but I'm too lazy to post them right now. I'll get around to it soon. It's kind of a fun story actually.

Here's my 4.75 mile run tonight. It looks all jumpy when the chart is compressed this small, but when seen full sized, I actually kept a pretty steady pace throughout the run. Which I've been trying to do lately. At the very least, you can see my over all pace and time and the numbers. But the chart just looks like I sped up, slowed down, sped up, slowed down. Which I really didn't.

2009-02-15T23:31:00.002-06:00

My bad on not posting in a while. But I thought I'd write a little something before hitting the sack tonight.

Well, Mardi Gras is upon us. We just wrapped up the first weekend of parades. It rained Friday and Saturday. But Sunday was just perfect. Overcast, little breeze, 60-ish. I caught the two parades in Thibodaux on Sunday. I'd never seen a Thibodaux parade so I figured why not.

They were pretty cool. Not has heavy-throwing as the Houma parades. But there's lots of floats and lots of room on the streets. It's just an all around good time. And before, between and after the parades, everybody hangs out on the streets downtown. So it's like an all-day block party with two parades in the middle.

So here are some random shots from today. I wasn't working, I just had my camera with me. (what's new right?) I didn't take any pictures on Friday because it was raining and... to be honest... I just didn't feel like taking pictures.

And on another note... I accomplished a first on Friday night. I had a few hours between work and the Hercules parade so I went for a run. I ended up running 6.3 miles. The longest I've ever run. Including Cross Country in high school. I'm pretty sure we never went more than 5 or 6 miles during practice. But I could be wrong. And if we did, I'm pretty sure I didn't run the entire way.

anyway, here's my chart for that run.

And after I got back from Thibodaux today, I went for another run. I told myself to take it kind of light, but I ended up running 5 miles, including up and down the twin spans twice. Oops. Here's the chart for that run.

How to take out frustration.

2009-02-05T21:50:00.002-06:00

We lost... again. But at least we didn't get shut out.

The Obituaries were down 11-0 when the final buzzer sounded. Meaning a sudden death "overtime." It's not really overtime because obviously we'd lost the match. But to finish out the game, the remaining players line up along the back and start a new game. First person out, that team loses.

And Laura Bernheim, a new arrival for the Obits and online content producer for the Courier, hit a girl on the ankle to give us the win. Meaning we lost 11-1.

I know Dodgeball is supposed to be fun and just a good way to get together and play a game... but gosh darn it, I want to win. Just once. Don't get me wrong, I have a great time playing. I break a sweat, run around and throw kick balls at people. What could be more fun than that? But it still sucks to lose. I think it's just the competitor in me or something. I remember feeling like this my first year of high school wrestling when I went 0-10. Then started my second year of wrestling 0-8 before finally getting a win.

So, besides the plastic trash can that found my fist after I got out during loss #11, I decided to take my frustration out through my camera. (No, not on my camera, through my camera)

I went right from Dodgeball to a girls playoff soccer match between undefeated Terrebonne High and New Iberia.

And I proceeded to shoot the hell out of that game and get a couple awesome shots that I'm really happy with.

In the long run, that's better than any Dodgeball game. (but I still want to win)

Hey Coach

2009-02-03T21:08:00.002-06:00

I know I've said this before, but it seems that every basketball game I shoot down here, I see something crazy, or something weird happens.

Well, tonight didn't disappoint. I thought it was just going to be another blowout and I even thought to myself "self, I bet nothing happens that's unique or memorable."

wrong.

During the third quarter, the Ellender coach started talking to the referee. And what caught my eye was that they were both pointing in the same direction. I put my camera up to my eye to take a picture and I guess the coach saw me and he just gave me the death stare and started ignoring the ref.

So I took his picture and gave him a big thumbs up.

Scott is a crazy coach to begin with... good, but kind of crazy. And always makes good pictures. I'm 99% sure he was just joking around, his team was up by 30 at this point. But I've seen Scott get tossed from a game before so I know he can get upset.

I might have to email him this picture.

One more

2009-01-29T13:17:00.001-06:00

After I took that last picture, I saw this and thought it was better.

Quiznos by the windows

2009-01-29T13:03:00.000-06:00

Cheer Up My Brother

2009-01-28T10:27:00.000-06:00

Some people just don't get it.

2009-01-24T14:46:00.002-06:00

As I left my house this morning to go to my assignment, my roommate asked what I was going to shoot.

"I'm heading to shoot a Cub Scout Pack's pinewood derby," I said.

"Oh, that sucks," he replied.

He just doesn't get it. Not only did I compete in my fair share of pinewood derby's as a Cub Scout, but I also saw the potential for awesome pictures. Sure, it's not the most sexy event to cover but who cares?! Just because it's not a high profile game doesn't make the pictures any less interesting to look at. It's this hometown journalism that makes this job so much fun.

I put together a little slide show from the event.

Now you tell me... does it look like this event sucked for these kids?

A couple of firsts

2009-01-22T13:27:00.002-06:00

First of all... I've got a quick work out tip. If your plan is to run to the gym, work out, then run back... DO NOT sit in the sauna for 15 minutes before running back. You will be worthless and you legs will feel like noodles.

Now then, I've got a couple of firsts I'd like to share.

I got a new camera on Monday. Well, new to me at least. And I've always been kind of superstitious when it comes to new cameras. I want my first picture with the new camera to be somewhat meaningful or good. So when I finally got the camera up and running, I took a picture of my wall.

My plan was to also share the picture from my first assignment with the new camera. But that assignment sucked. So plan B is sharing the first picture taken with the new camera that I like. The state police flew a helicopter to Southdown Elementary school today to show the kids. So I parked myself in front of the kids as the chopper flew over before landing.

44

2009-01-20T23:36:00.002-06:00

Growing up through the Boy Scouts I learned a lot about the U.S. flag. We learned how to properly salute it, post it before a ceremony, fold it correctly and many other aspects of what the flag means. In school, they taught us about what the stars mean, what the stripes mean and how the flag has changed throughout the years.

In short, I learned one way to honor my country was to treat the American Flag with respect.

And I carried out that respect into my adult life. I stand at attention and look at the flag during the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance. I remove my hat anytime the Colors pass by me. I make mention every time I see the flag being displayed incorrectly. (Such as not having a light on it while flying at night).

I've given the flag respect throughout my life because I feel it's been my duty as an American do to so. But in the past few years, I've lost my sense of pride towards my country. I never stopped treating Old Glory the way it should be treated. I just felt like I was doing it only to continue tradition.

But now, after Jan. 20, 2009, my pride in the USA has been restored. I'll look at the Stars and Stripes now with honor and say that I am proud to be an American.

Today was just an awesome day. Like nothing could go wrong. It's going to be on of those "where were you when...?" days. My only regret is that the answer to that question for me isn't going to be Washington DC. That's alright though. I can at least say that I voted for him. And took a picture of my TV screen. (see above) That's the best I could do.

One more piece of history... my favorite number since I was in grade school as been 44. Yea, you can put two and two together. (no math pun intended there ether)

Now lets get to work!

CP3 shooting 2

2009-01-19T15:06:00.000-06:00

At the hornets game today vs the Pacers.

Lots of big 12 players. TJ Ford. Brandon Rush. Jamaal Tinsley. And Ju-
Ju wright.

77 Years

2009-01-15T21:15:00.002-06:00

I met an amazing man today... Fernand Cavalier is 98 years old and his wife of 77 years died Wednesday evening.

They were the longest known married couple in Louisiana. I met them two years ago when we did a story on their 75th anniversary. Fernand can't hear very well, so we'd have to ask his daughter a question, then she'd ask him in French, and he'd answer in English. He kept saying "Hard work never killed anybody."

Anyway, I made some pictures of him today as family members came from out of town for the funeral. Everybody shared stories and had no problem with a photographer being in the living room. It's the first time I've been in a situation like this and not felt uncomfortable.

So here's some pictures of Fernand as he talked about his wife, Emily. At first he started to break down and cry a lot... but once the stories started rolling, he was fine. The woman in the first picture is his daughter-in-law saying hello after arriving from Shreveport.

It was really great to spend time with someone like this. He just lost half of his life, but was still very open and welcoming. He must have asked if I wanted coffee 5 times. It's assignments like these that remind me why I love my job.

That's right... it's a purple tie!

2009-01-14T22:19:00.001-06:00

I'm sure he's just as bummed about the KSU loss on Tuesday as I was.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Free...Why?

2009-01-13T14:38:00.003-06:00

Cool story...

Today the Courier had their quarterly office birthday party. Nothing really special, just some birthday wishes and they recognize the employee of the quarter announcements.

But this party was a little different. The door prizes were actually worth going to this party for. I have this afternoon off so I didn't plan on going to the party.

They handed out those little blue tickets with numbers for the door prizes. I asked four people if they wanted to trade tickets. And nobody bit. Everybody thought I was crazy for wanting to trade tickets. They'd say "Well, what if you win with my ticket?" and I'd say "Well, what if you win with mine?"

And sure enough, the first number picked... Mine. I turned around to all the people I asked to trade numbers with and just smiled.

So now my next year's membership at the YMCA is free.

Other prizes included 25lbs of shrimp, a bath robe, some gift cards to flower shops and a coffee mug.

I just joined the Y last month, but they just take money out of my bank each month.... so now I've got a letter that'll put a stop to that.

Now I'm taking off the rest of the day... I'll probably go work out.

CP3

2009-01-09T19:24:00.000-06:00

At the hornets game.

Snow in Houma.

2009-01-09T09:38:00.000-06:00

Since we missed out on the real snow last month... We make our own.

It's about 65 out right now.

I could be a big loser

2009-01-07T22:30:00.003-06:00

Wish it were a dime.

2009-01-07T14:35:00.000-06:00

I would have won a bean burrito!

A penny gets me a funny look from the girl at the register when I
threw my hands in the air to celebrate this awesome accomplishment.

Flying over Terrebonne

2009-01-05T15:38:00.000-06:00

New year

2009-01-01T00:06:00.000-06:00

Buddy and Bill

2008-12-30T22:39:00.003-06:00

I met one of the coolest guys ever today.

I had a couple hours of light left and decided to drive out to the Saline Lake just west of Winnfield. I made a few pictures of the lake and bumped into a family out skeet shooting. I hung out with them for a bit then decided to hit up another section of the lake for the final few minutes of light.

I turned off the highway and saw something hanging from a tree. Curiosity got the best of me so I pulled over and walked up to the tree.

As I photographed what hung from the tree, the owner of the land drove up behind me, rolled down his window and gave me a "who the hell are you?" kind of look. I told him that I photographing the tree and he just busted out laughing.

He went on to tell me that he was responsible for the tree so I asked if I could take his picture. He said no problem.

We got to chatting about whatever and he started playing with his dog.

So meet Bill and his 1-year-old puppy Buddy.

He told me his wife passed away a year ago and a neighbor told him he needed a buddy around and gave him a puppy from a litter. It was obvious they were best friends. Buddy kept trying to get come up to the window and Bill would say "Go ahead, get back to your room." and Buddy would jump to the back seat of the truck.

Oh, and what hung from the tree that got me to stop? Catfish Heads. Bill's a fisherman and caught them all in the Red River. They were all caught with in the past few months.

Saline lake

2008-12-30T15:47:00.000-06:00

Danger

2008-12-29T15:33:00.000-06:00

Pretzel with Cheese

2008-12-29T14:01:00.000-06:00

I've been updating facebook more than this blog during the trip. Sorry
about that.

Anyway...

The Shreveport portion of the road trip is about done. The bowl game
was a lot of fun. I didn't make many good images, but still had a good
time.

I slept in this morning... Past checkout. Then came across the Red
River to Bossier city. I just finished up a pretzel with cheese and am
about to hit the road back to Winfield.

I really don't have any plans... Except to take back roads and take
pictures.

Hitting the road

2008-12-26T12:05:00.000-06:00

I'm all set for my trip north.

Go away or I shall taunt you a second time

2008-12-25T21:30:00.000-06:00

I had to try it.

Wow

2008-12-17T15:30:00.002-06:00

I don't really know what to say

Never Enough Time

2008-12-16T22:57:00.003-06:00

Well, most of the people who read this thing probably already know... but I have a photo in the MSNBC 2008 Year in Pictures slide show. It's the second time I've had a photo end up this collection of images. The last time was in 2006 with my photo of a ladybug crawling across a fence.

Anyway, feel free to go vote for your favorite picture. And like I told my KSU photo folks... my picture really can't stand up to some of the major history that happened this year like Obama, Michael Phelps, the war.. but it's cool to be included next to some historic moments.

I'll leave you with something kind of funny I over heard tonight at a soccer game. I almost said something, but then thought I better not.

The Terrebonne soccer team was bringing the ball down the field and were close to the goal. They were passing back and fourth trying to set up a shot to score. And the Ref blew the whistle and signaled that it was halftime.

A lady in the stands started yelling "We were about to shoot the ball! How can you call halftime when we're about to shoot?"

At first I thought she was just trying to be silly. But she kept yelling at the ref as he walked off the field. "OH Come on sir! What were you thinking?" She yelled a few other phrases, then started complaining to the people around her about how stupid it was for the ref to stop the game.

Really? Welcome to sports lady.

I looked at some fans from the other team and gave them one of those "can you believe that psycho?" look.

So here's a shot from the game tonight. A really nice fog came through and made for some fun pictures. I was really hoping some nice action would happen right in front of me, but no luck. So you get a ref just standing there in his yellow shirt.

Bon fire.

2008-12-13T22:26:00.000-06:00

Tonights menu...

2008-12-11T18:41:00.000-06:00

Chicken and sausage Jambalya, green beans and chicken wings from KFC.

And they have some cookies too.

Nice

Dinner domain and range

2008-12-10T19:22:00.000-06:00

I came to the basketball game an hour early tonight knowing there'd be
a hospitality room. It's HLB's early season tournament.

So I'm enjoying some spaghetti made by the cooking class in the
algebra room before the HLB game.

And I'm shooting this tourney every night this week. And that's not by
chance ether.

Remote

2008-12-08T22:50:00.002-06:00

Tonight was the first of two games between Terrebonne and Ellender high. This match is usually a huge, standing room only type game. So I wanted to do it up big and set up a remote camera somewhere.

I wanted to put one on the backboard, but there's still some things I need to figure out before I can do that.

So I put one against the wall pointing into a section of the crowd that usually gets pretty crazy. So I was able to stand on the floor and shoot the game... and have a button in my pocket that fired the camera on the wall.

But for whatever reason, this game was a bummer when it comes to crowd size. And the group of dudes that usually get out of control, just sat there all game.

see....

Now imagine how awesome this could have been if they stood up, threw their hands in the air and yelled and jumped and hugged and high-fived. But nope, they just sat there.

But I was happy that the remote worked and the camera battery lasted the entire game. So in my mind, this experiment was a success.

And you know I had to take some shots of me. I think that's a requirement for setting up remote cameras... you have to take a picture of yourself just for fun.

Enjoy what could have been! (and none of those nacho trays you see are mine... I only had two bucks and their Nachos were $2.50)

Stupid Ducks

2008-12-07T22:42:00.003-06:00

The main reason for this post is to get my mind off that KSU loss to Oregon. I was able to watch it and got so frustrated I needed to do something to get my mind away from basketball.

So I looked through my photos from the Saints game today. In no particular order here are a few of my favorites from the Saints' 29-25 win over Atlanta this afternoon at the Dome.

Welcome to Basketball Season

2008-12-04T20:38:00.002-06:00

I just thought this was cool. I'm sure I got some weird looks standing in the lane to get this angle on the rack of balls.... but hey, they didn't have any half-time entertainment so somebody had to do something right?

Crazy Two Days

2008-12-02T22:22:00.003-06:00

Before I get into this post... let me start off by saying that this isn't a complaint or anything. It's just Monday and Tuesday have been really busy. The other two photographers have been on vacation, leaving me to be the only shooter between the two papers. And I've done quite a bit in these 48 hours.

Lets Start on Monday... And keep in mind that these are just the assignments. I've also been archiving like crazy and other odds and ends around the office.

9:45 am: I get a call saying U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon will be at the Senior Citizens hang out in Thibodaux at 10:30.

10:30 am: Arrive at Senior Citizens hang out and get an easy picture of the Congressman chatting.

12:30 pm: During a lunch of Shells and Cheese, I get a call saying the Gustav and Ike book arrived... so I spend first part of afternoon burning DVD's and looking at the AWESOME book.

4:00 pm: Go to the YMCA and shoot the employees cleaning up... they plan to open on Monday. They've been closed since the storms.

6:30 pm: Drive to H.L. Bourgeois High School and catch the second half of a lousy girls basketball game. I don't shoot it, I just set up my lights and eat a thing of nachos.

7:15: pm: The boys game starts. It's a great game. Huge dunks, fast breaks, it was a back and fourth game. HLB ended up losing by 5. And just FYI... when my parents came to a game a few years back, they sat right under that giant green S on the left side of the frame.

8:15 pm: Get called from the game to go shoot a wreck on Bayou Blue road. Turns out nothing happened. And I miss an amazing finish to the game. Oh well.

11:00 pm: Finally get home after working up all my photos. I have a bowl of Lucky Charms (Ok, I have two bowls) And I hit the sack.

3:30 am: Please see previous post

Ok... Now lets do Tuesday.

10:30 am: Drive to Schriever to photograph a family and their dog for a story we're doing on the Louisiana State Dog... The Catahoula. This is Zeke, a very hyper puppy.

12:00 pm: Drive to Dulac to hang out at Grand Caillou Elementary School. They opened up for the first time since Gustav this week. The kids are finally back at their own school. Here they're standing in line to get a snack during recess. After this I told the reporter that I think adults should have recess too.

2:00 pm: Drive through a neighborhood on the way back up the bayou to find someone working to raise a house for a flood map story. This guy was working on a wheel chair ramp outside a house he raised. Close enough.

3:00 pm: Go home for a Lunchables lunch and do a little work on my website (and, again, see previous blog post)

4:15 pm: Drive to Thibodaux to shoot girls soccer. Terrebonne beat E.D. White 6-0. Or, I should probably say... #4 beat E.D. White 6-0. Yep, this chick scored all 6 goals. That's just stupid.

6:30 pm: Drive to Gray to shoot another family who owns a Louisiana State Dog. This is Spike. I think I've decided that this will by my next dog. They were awesome dogs. Very smart. They're a little big for where I'm living now though.

7:30 pm: Drive back to Thibodaux and hang out with the Thibodaux Volunteer Fire Co. #1 at Bubba's 2 Bar and Grill. The fire company celebrated 150 years in service. They had some really good gumbo to eat... I had two bowls.

Here's a quick rundown.

2-Days of work
9-assignments
20.5-hours worked
200+ - Miles driven
about 600 - Pictures taken (give or take a few because I deleted some after downloading)

Now it's about 11:00 pm and I'm exhausted. But I've made some pretty awesome photos... even though I wasn't able to spend near as much time as I wanted with each assignment. But such is the life of a small daily newspaper photographer.

This Sounds Awesome!

2008-12-02T16:31:00.002-06:00