Stupid rain

(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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I went a little nuts...

Close Call

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

Every Thirty Seconds

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.