Jake Ford Daniels

GONE BABY GONE

2010-03-11T20:51:00.002-05:00

Not exactly gone, I guess.

Just Moved.

http://jakeforddaniels.wordpress.com -- Just enjoying the format a little better, is all.

Beauty Queen!

2010-01-14T22:14:00.002-05:00

There's a song that keeps coming into my head, but I can't remember the words ... something about "beauty queen ... prettiest girl I've ever seen" ... or maybe I'm misremembering ... actually, that's probably it ...

I ain't lyin'!

2010-01-13T17:54:00.003-05:00

Just so I don't prove myself a liar, here's some older stuff from December. The first is of Ms. Jones, showing off her tattoo (it translates to "love conquers all," a happy ideal for all of us hopeless romantics out there), and the second is off Mike Groves, a tattoo artist who works at Pain and Wonder in Athens, Ga. Good people, both of them.

This was mainly just to show that, yes, I am really going to be updating with foto shtuff. I ain't lyin' ... this time ...

I Need a Stretch

2010-01-10T12:21:00.002-05:00

So, seeing that I'm out of school (graduated and all that good stuff), and am once again shooting for a paper (and once again in the less-than-enviable-but-better-than-nothing position of "Photo Intern"), I should start posting again.

And I will, I swear. At the moment, however, I'm having issues because I can't get the 'net at my new abode, but I'll starting doing a mobile update from wherever I can get signal. Soon. Truly. Promise.

Speaking of "my new abode," I've moved up to Chattanooga, Tn., for the time being, and am interning at the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, which was voted the best newspaper in Tennessee, according to the big trucks outside. I basically live an hour away from my parents, a fact which they have yet to abuse (thanks, guys), and about two hours away from anybody who would seem to want to talk to me.

Phhbbbbbtttt.

But the staff is great, my roommate's cool, and I do enjoy the city. Things are decent/good enough.

Enough babble, I'll post when I've got something to show you. Till then, cheers, ziveli, etc, for a new city and a new job. Maybe if we run fast enough, we'll outpace the bad stuff.

Tattoo

2009-11-01T15:26:00.003-05:00

Ms. Rachel this time.

Long weekend, tired and worn out.

2009-10-26T04:18:00.001-04:00

Some weekends

2009-10-25T19:43:00.003-04:00

Some weekends, you get things done on a personal level.

Other weekends, you get things done on a professional level.

This was not that second kind of weekend.

I met up with Erica downtown on Friday night. I met her through her band, Incendiaries, and had noticed the ink on her arms, and remembered thinking that they were, in a charming way, childish. It turns out that the tattoos on her arms are things she drew when she was younger. The prominent one in the pictures was a sketch she drew when she was a teenager.

Hate it when everybody leaves ...

2009-10-18T00:25:00.003-04:00

Because it leaves me with no immediate back ups.

But for the time being, this was a guy I met while on a story in north Alabama, Craig Allen. Craig had been driving trucks for a little more than two decades, including spending the cotton harvesting season ferrying huge bundles of fluffiness from the fields to the refineries.

If my original subject comes back, I'll put some of her up, too.

Nice fish, dude

2009-10-08T20:39:00.004-04:00

Actually, a lot of cool things going on with this guy, but I only had time for the fish. He says he goes to Marietta every now and then to get them worked on, and has been doing so for about two years.

Hope I run into him again ...

Jeez ...

2009-10-02T22:44:00.003-04:00

So I shot my next doc photo after having the first one fall through, and then I got home and set up my computer, thinking to myself that, okay, this'll be a little late, but not *that* late. And now, almost six hours later, after downloading three programs before one of them would process RAW (necessary because my GD-ed computer's Digital Photo Professional for some reason stopped working on RAW files), I'm finally getting around to actually posting it.

... sigh ...

I was considering doing a kind of wrap-around thing, since it goes all the way around his wrist, but his time ran short and I didn't want to keep him too long. Sic Semper Tyrannis --"thus always to tyrants." I think it might be more apt wrapped around one's middle finger, but that's just me ...

Whoops

2009-09-20T13:29:00.002-04:00

This is a lot later than it should be, and I have no excuse worthy of mentioning, aside from just life being what is.

Zach moved to Athens be close to old friends. Right after he moved into a town home on the east side of town, he went cruising around downtown with a buddy to look for jobs and submit applications. Instead, they came across a tattoo parlor and decided it would be a better use of the day to get a tattoo. That's impulse for you.

He's a geek after my own heart.

All the world

2009-09-11T16:02:00.003-04:00

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." -- As You Like It.

Sorry, little pressed for time, story later!

Ciao, y'all ...

Blasted cow ...

2009-09-07T20:49:00.003-04:00

Hey ... cow ... would you ... dammit, cow, stop biting my subject!

Silly cow ... calf, whatever ...

Ms. G

2009-09-04T16:28:00.006-04:00

I realize that something I haven't really been considering with these tattoo pictures is the story behind the tattoo. I'll starting adding a short interview about them, make the stories more relevant to the photo.

Shot this one of Ms. G and her phoenix on the second floor of the Holmes-Hunter building this morning. I wasn't sure whether or not to stick with the monotone of the "dry run" with Colin, or to do color, so I put up one of each. Isn't the nearly infinite storage capacity of the 'net a nifty thing?

As always, there are some things I'd do different (maybe *will* do differently) if I could shoot it again. Hindsight, 20/20, blah blah blah.

Tired, but recharged

2009-08-30T14:08:00.005-04:00

Long weekend, but my soul's batteries are definitely recharged. Got to shoot a little bit of my roommate's tattoo, so I figured I'd post it up as a dry run. I'm not too hot on any of the three, and I stuck to monotone because the light was kind of blah. Also, it's a pretty simple tattoo, itself monotone, so I thought it wouldn't detract from it. If I get the chance and time, I'm going to see if he'd be willing to do it again because I had more ideas afterward.

Hindsight's 20/20, right?

Any who, I'll be posting a "real" photo later in the week. This was just an attack of opportunity, if you'll pardon the geek-reference.

Ciao, y'all.

Body Art

2009-08-28T18:39:00.002-04:00

Though I have no photos right now -- tonight, I may change that -- I'm going to be doing a documentary photo project on body art for my advanced photojournalism class. I'll be posting the photos on this blog and tagging each with the "DocPhoto" line, as well as anything else that may occur to me.

As usual, it might work, it might flop, it'll probably some combination of the two, but that's life, no?

Workworkwork

2009-08-26T20:49:00.007-04:00

Since I've been back in Athens, I've taken up the mantle of Photography Editor at the Red and Black, which is pretty cool, but takes up most of my time with the actual managerial stuff that I've always detested. I've been taking to the concept that my photographers are my main concern, and I should do anything and everything to make their jobs easier. Because That's How It's Supposed to Go, right?

Anyway. I've always been trying to let them shoot the stuff that'll run bigger, and I've tried to take up the slack wherever I can. Including shooting some really boring question-and-answer sessions with the provost candidates.

I'm terribly excited that she came off the podium. I hate it when people feel like they have to stick behind a wooden desk ... hmm ... but it also makes the photo a little better, methinks.

AAAAaaand, a last minute tennis portrait. These guys are both from San Antonio, the guy in the back is a few years younger and claimed the guy in front was his childhood hero. Had to run out for it after the photographer had something come up. Three minutes to spare, too.

Oooh, and my roommate Colin had a plant that bloomed. Not particularly interesting until you hear that the plant only flowers once a year, at night, for only a few hours before it dies. Pretty cool, and, no, I have no recollection of it's name, scientific or otherwise.

But I do have photos.

I'm sure there'll be something else after a while.

An Alaskan Wedding

2009-08-12T18:16:00.016-04:00

My first wedding. Well, not mine, but the first I've shot. But I'm sure you knew that. 'Cause I've been married, like, a half dozen times now, yeah?

Anyway ...

Think I should do this stuff for money? Like, cash with which I could actually pay for things?

An Alaskan Engagement

2009-08-12T17:00:00.007-04:00

When I was up in yonder blue-skied wilderness of Alaska, I got asked to assist on some engagement photos for the local medic. Come to find out that the engagement photos were shot only 3 days ahead of the actual wedding, so I ended up shooting the wedding as well. Wedding pictures later, engagement pictures now ...

And the ring, of course ...

Fun Alaskan Fact: A person has the ability to marry together two other people in Alaska, regardless of occupation or education. But only once per person. Cool, huh?

Interior Alaska -- minorly boring

2009-07-21T04:05:00.006-04:00

I mean, I'm enjoying all of this, but Interior Alaska is kind of boring unless you like to hike and such. Which is fine with me because I love to hike and such.

Anyway, more landscape shots of places I done seen, y'all.

I do love me some hiking.

How you like them mountains?

2009-07-13T03:52:00.007-04:00

Went hiking up one of the Delta River tributaries, the Darling Creek.

I do so enjoy this place. The solitude, the quiet, the grandiosity of the place.

Ahhhhh ....

Long time, no post

2009-07-12T01:17:00.005-04:00

Since I was writing pretty much all of last semester, I didn't really feel that I had much of anything to post here. Now that the summer has reached its peak, and I have been shooting some stuff, I feel mildly compelled to go ahead and start posting again. My connection might be a little iffy at times, mostly because I'm up in the great wilderness of Alasaka, but I'll do what I can.

Just a short thing for now, more to come, promise.

Donnelly Dome, the 4000-foot geologic intrusion near Fort Greely, the military where I'm staying. I've made the minor determination to climb it at least twice a week. So far, so good.

Chana came up with me for the first week of the trip before she started work. As you can see, my little sister seemed to get along with her pretty well ... this was at a local hang out called The Bluff about 12 miles outside of Delta Junction, the local town.

More later, ciao till then!

Boo

2009-03-19T12:01:00.009-04:00

Surpised? I'm still here. Promise.

I'm going to skip the banter and get to the photos, mostly because I'm weirdly tired today. Didn't sleep last night, and it's showing.

I shot the SGA debate on Tuesday night. Couple highlights here ...

Jump over to my other blog (it's somewhere in a side panel) to check out my other blog for a couple stitches I've been working on, including one of the debates.

Ciao for now.

Yeah, I'm still kicking

2009-02-02T11:08:00.006-05:00

... though some of you may wish otherwise.

Been a tad busy getting back into Athens, trying to submerge myself back into the student culture and mindset. First couple weeks were a massive pain in the butt: I kept getting worried about not having a paycheck, got too bored a couple times, got too apathetic a couple times, debauched a few times too many that first week, felt a little neurotic about things for a while, and such other minor hiccups.

But I have been shooting some. And here's the evidence.

I have shot something other than just "cute" photos, but those are on a different hard drive. I'll get back to posting more news-like photos soon enough, I hope, though I'll warn anybody looking for visuals that I'm going to be focusing on my writing this semester. I need to that into a better shape than it currently holds.

Till later, y'all.

Blondes on his mind

2008-12-21T22:34:00.009-05:00

This is an old story -- heck, I shot it back in November -- but I've been a little rushed on things lately, as ...

a) I'm moving back to Georgia on Wednesday.
b) Wednesday also happens to be my last day at the internship.
c) It's friggin' Christmas.

... so I'm going to post this and then That'll Be It For A While. As in, I probably won't be post for a week or two (or three) as I make the move back to Athens, college, and actually having a social life. Looking forward to all three of those. And not so much the same about leaving Birmingham.

... on second thought, I'll be posting something kinda a reminisce-y about the internship and Birmingham on the whole. Maybe not a whole heck of a lot, but just something pretentiously nostalgic and maudlin.

So, the story: there's a group that makes bikes for kids with disabilities. It's a cool idea, since what little kid doesn't love the idea of finally getting mobile? I think the excitement of a bike for a four-year-old is motivated by the same feelings a sixteen-year-old has for his first car. Anyway. It's a cool story, and the writer, Rakhia Nance, found a pretty cool angle to suit it.

This little guy has an unidentified mitochondrial disease that affects all the muscles in his body. He has practically no muscle control, none at all. He can't hold himself up, he can't lift his arms and legs, he can't even swallow on his own volition. I'm in awe of his parents. And these guys decided to build him a bike. It turned out more like a tricycle, but it'll allow him to sit up in the bike and be helped along by someone behind him.

Biggest thing I remember about this assignment: the kid was unabashedly attracted to blondes. A couple of the girls helping out at the foundation where they presented him with the bike were young attractive blondes, and every time one would walk by, he'd loll his head to the side to watch them, then give them this little grin. Mitochondrial disease or not, guy knows what he likes.

With grandma.

Just hangin' out, waitin' for my bike ...

Blonde alert.

With his mom.

The trike needed some adjustment when they first got him into it, but it wasn't bad for a first time.

I hope things work out with the little guy.

Okay, more later.

Rain on mine -- it'll make it interesting

2008-12-16T16:08:00.009-05:00

Parade, that is. Tis the season for town parades, obviously.

Bunch of photos here, so be wary of viewer fatigue. Make sure to rest often, stretch when necessary, and take a buddy.

Catholics confuse me.
There are no book depositories or true grassy knolls in Homewood -- had there been, I would not have wanted to be this guy.

Then, of course, there are night parades.

Fun fun.

When things that are supposed to happen don't.

2008-12-16T15:47:00.004-05:00

Akin to "when pets attack," and along the same lines of panic. For example, the Friday after Thanksgiving is supposed to be a busy travel day, right? I mean, folks are coming back from Grandma's house with cheeks that ache from being pinched, or catching a plane to escape one's father-in-law repeatedly trying to get you to pull his finger, or something familially obnoxious like that, so everything should be comfortably packed.

But nooooo, the day that I need traffic jams and jam-packed airport terminals is the day when people seem to cooperate and get along with one another. It'd be heartwarming any other day, but that Friday, it was just annoying.

So I hung around until I could get a good blur going on, sneaked onto the top of a parking garage on the north side of 20/59, and got some sunset photos. With blurry cars. 'Cause that way there's ... eh, never mind ...

I might kinda like the darker one a little better, but I couldn't completely decide, so I figured I'd post both.

More soon.

Trebuchets and nativity scenes

2008-12-14T20:49:00.007-05:00

How, you might ask, would two such things go together?

Well, my sister made a ten-foot trebuchet for a physics class that never really worked right, and I always wanted to go back and fix the somewhat impressive device (that is now up on cinderblocks in my parents' front yard -- we are that kind of redneck, apparently) so I could hurl masses of water balloons at live nativity scenes come Christmas time.

I am so going to Hell.

What brought up that memory was an assignment from a few weeks ago: one of the Mormon churches was putting up a display of more than 500 nativities from all around the world. "Hey, cool," I thought, even though I don't really understand the attraction of erecting small barns that in reality might or might not have been carpeted with afterbirth and hay; "I'll get to meet some Mormons." Because, truth be told, I've run into a couple before, but they were brief encounters of the "here's your frapuccino" variety, and I felt like I've never met a Mormon being, well, Mormon-ly.

To sum up, I'll say this: they were some of the most absurdly nice and polite folks I've met, second only to the Sikh couple I met a month ago.

And they had nativities! Lots of 'em ...

Until someone makes some kind of Harley Davidson-themed nativity scene, the above, a cast-iron piece from one of the local furnaces, Sloss, is perhaps the most badass nativity out there. Even if baby Jesus in his cradle sorta resembles a mortar and pestle.

Anyway, more later.

Bum-de-bum-bum-Buuuum

2008-12-13T17:21:00.004-05:00

... which is what I've been about posting in the past week or so. Posting is, as always, backlogged, but here's something from the UAB commencement this afternoon.And I know this is fuzzy, but isn't this just the most badass symbol of knowledge a school could have? I mean, it's a mace, for crying out loud!Okay, off to Tuscaloosa for a basketball game this evening.

Ciao, y'all.

A Day Early

2008-12-06T14:13:00.005-05:00

I'll post these a day early, in case I forget to do it tomorrow. On Monday and Friday evenings, the Catholic church across the street starts ringing in this really kinda enchanting fashion ... Mondays and Fridays are their practice nights.

Ahhhh ... got nothing more to say, really.

Oh, congratulations, Samantha, on getting into UAB. Not that I had any doubt.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T16:50:00.005-05:00

My assignment from Thanksgiving was to shoot the New Pilgrim Baptist Church serving to "the least, the last, and the lost" for a few hours. There was a motorcycle club who showed up to help, too.

They had a bus up and running (driven by a guy from Atlanta, actually) to pick up and drop off the folks who couldn't, for one reason or another, cross town to get to the dinner. Didn't have too many folks when I went, but they were pretty open about everything.

Black Friday shopping

2008-12-04T16:34:00.004-05:00

Needs no explanation, which is good because I'm doped up to the eyeballs on Dayquil and such right now, so I can't feel my fingertips, can't type too precisely, and can't think too straight. So, here's what Black Friday looked like to me, in a nutshell. You know, I hate malls. I hate crowds. And I really hate crowded malls.

But right now, I just don't care. Wheeee for drugs that make you apathetic. It's so much easier than having to not care on your own.

Surgeons on call, and another Infocus teaser

2008-12-03T11:06:00.008-05:00

These photos went along with an article about communication in the VA hospital at UAB. Tom Gordon, the writer, and I spent the morning [ed's note: this was actually a couple weeks ago; I've been lazy with the posting] in the staging area of the surgery ward. I was totally willing to get scrubbed up and head back, but it apparently wasn't an option.

_____

And here's a little teaser of my Infocus for this month. Which I guess would be my final Infocus with the Birmingham News. For any who don't know, I'll actually be heading back to Georgia come Christmas Eve, permanently [ed's note: well, as permanently as anything is these days, which is to say, for the time being]. I might do some kind of retrospective-thing-a-ma-job post later, but don't hold your breath. I only get truly nostalgic when I drink.

Anywho ...

Five points to anyone who can guess what it is.

Ciao!

PS: I hate Joey L because he's 18, and goddamned good.

Other portraits

2008-11-30T23:17:00.011-05:00

The article ran a week ago, and I've been busy and out of town, so I'm just now posting the rest of the portraits. These aren't the ones that ran, by the way, but the ones I took, cropped even tighter, monotoned, and did some little tweaks.

The article was about various religions that have been moving in the Birmingham area. The article (which is unfortunately not online) ran A1 and jumped inside which is where the photos ran. None of these were revolutionary, but there are a few that I really like.

Because I'll be gone

2008-11-21T16:41:00.003-05:00

Going against my normal protocol and posting something a little early here, mostly in apologies that I'll be away from my computer (and work) until this Thursday. Yep, I gotta work on Turkey Day -- sucks, huh? Anyway, as it was observed this morning by the Ed and another Editor, I don't whine. Ever. Maybe I should.

Anyway, against protocol, I'm posting this little tidbit from the series of portraits that'll be running on Sunday. When I won't be here. Sigh. I'll get someone else to hold me a copy of the paper, make sure there's one waiting when I get back.

I changed this to B&W before I got on my little kick, by the way.

So there'll be more later, but for now, I'm gonna head on home to see the much-loved family, euthanize some trees, and maybe eat some guilt-tainted turkey. 'Cause I know I'm gonna catch hell for having to work until Christmas Eve.

Oddly enough, I took some portraits of one Mister Scrooge this morning -- we got along quite easily.

Ciao, y'all.

Kind of want to buy some shoes

2008-11-20T15:59:00.015-05:00

Very specific shoes, actually -- like the ones you might use to scale boulders and such. Why? Because I shot these guys the other day. And now I've had a hankering to start climbing. Some times there's only one way to get down. Okay, well, there are always different ways to get down, but some are quicker than others. Now like I can't do some climbing without the shoes, obviously. There you go, those are the shoes. Fashionable, no?

This stuff sets me from "Stun" to "Kill"

2008-11-19T17:43:00.003-05:00

Came across SchmuckAlert via one of my RSS feeds this afternoon. Very little will instantly piss me off, but this kind of stuff sets me on edge automatically. For those who don't know: journalists can shoot whatever's going on so long as they stay on public property.

Cops and rent-a-cops who act like they have the right to boot anybody off public property are the ones who really piss me off.

... I wanna go pick a fight now. Dang.

Sigh

2008-11-18T23:02:00.002-05:00

If you're gonna post something neither constructive nor grammatically pleasing, at least have the balls to leave your name. That's one of the things that I don't like about the Internet -- the death of civility due to anonymity.

Oh, the places you'll go ...

2008-11-18T09:46:00.002-05:00

... and the completely random things you'll see.I've been on a black and white bent lately. No clue as to why.

An auto show, briefly

2008-11-17T13:21:00.006-05:00

The Alabama International Auto Show: look it up. If you'd like more details, I might edit some more in later, but I'm about to get outta here to search for a feature. For which, by the way, y'all should wish me luck. Putting on his racin' face with Grandpa in the passenger's seat about to make an exit. Smart move, Grandpa.

Knee-Highs at McWane

2008-11-17T13:12:00.006-05:00

The Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity Head Start Early-Head Start kids ... whew, lemme catch my breath ... took a short trip to the McWane Center to check out some of the science exhibits. I found out about it halfway through the gig, and arrived as they were wrapping up the painfully short second half of their stay. It was dark, it was rushed, and there were lizards loosening their bowels, but they were 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, and I'm just an older dog around young pups, so I had fun. Yes, the turtle was a big deal.
Where's that damned fish? Otherwise, the caption has to read: "Kid looks at tank."
Bam, outta nowhere, there's a kid in my 14mm.

Actually it did kind of surprise me.

From pretty colors to b&w in one post

2008-11-17T13:03:00.007-05:00

We did a spread on fall colors last week, so I took some photos on my way back from watching the ATF blow stuff up about which I still occasionally giggle joyfully. These were taken along some of the more scenic routes of Northern Alabama, including a winding mountain road up to Nat, Alabama, which I may have simply imagined. _____

And the following were from October 30th at the Delta Sigma Theta headquarters here in Birmingham. They're slated to run in January, but there were a couple that won't make it in, so here they be. Are. Whatever.
I had a helluva time with color correction on the photos I sent to the editors, but I figured I'd brush by the whole thing here with some black and white. In other words, I was lazy about this, shame on me. But come on, wasn't there enough color in the first two?

Walmart doesn't do layaway?

2008-11-17T12:52:00.005-05:00

Seems a bit ... wrong, I guess, but Walmart doesn't do layaway anymore. One of the last strongholds of layaway items is Kmart, so I got to go rummage around in the back for a while, looking at all the Christmas toys.There's something about blatant and massive materialism that makes me squirm in a guilty, depressed fashion. I mean, I just felt my heart sink when I was in there, looking at all the toys, thinking about all the little kids who think they really, really, really want Tonka's new Plastic POS Dump Truck. Sigh, just thinking about it right now kind of gets me down. I know -- I'm a terrible American.Since they're one of the last places to do layaway (by the by: it's getting harder and harder to pronounce that word in my head), they do a pretty brisk business. All the department heads get into it. They've got a full upstairs storage facility behind the office filled to the brim, and were having to reorganize their storage loft (first picture) when I got there.
Joy Smith was Christmas shopping for her little girls. And apparently, that game, prominently displayed in her hands, is going to be the "big gift" for her eldest daughter. And that picture, in which Joy and aforementioned game are the focal point, ran on the cover of the Money section last week. And I just ruined a Christmas surprise for a little girl.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch ...

Artists, Veterans' Day, and my new favorite magazine

2008-11-15T13:29:00.009-05:00

These are both from a while back, but I'm having to shuffle out some backlogged stuff (as per my usual updating methods). This first set is of artist Paul Cordes Wilm setting up shop early at a local arts festival. There wasn't much else going on that morning on the grounds, but I liked the guy's stuff. Also, he seemed like one of those types with whom I'd enjoy sharing a couple drinks and talking bull. _____

Veteran's day at West Jefferson Elementary was pretty neat. I mean, it was nice and quite respectful and very touching at times, but I still got the feel that it was just another assembly to the knee-highs in attendance. It was mainly presentations and performances by the kids, with a couple slideshows tossed into the mix. I had to leave for an assignment cross town before it was over, unfortunately.

_____

Finally, I discovered my new favorite magazine, mental_floss. Being of that special caste of geek, the Quiz Bowl Clan, it had come into my periphery a couple years ago, but with one thing or another it got passed over a couple times. Then I had to shoot a group photo of their main staff one morning, and they gave me one of the latest issues with their names underlined so they wouldn't have to write them down ... sure ... anyway, I eventually got around to reading it one night as I did my laundry. Friggin' awesome. Did you know that Bob Barker (of "The Price is Right" fame) has a black belt in Karate and used to train with Chuck Norris? Or that there's a chef in Chicago who can make you a cheeseburger that tastes like spaghetti and meatballs? Or that Rin Tin Tin was one of two German Shepard pups brought home by an American soldier during WWII and was, for a time, the highest paid actor in Hollywood? I LOVE THIS STUFF.

More later -- ciao!

Over a century old and still voting

2008-11-15T13:24:00.005-05:00

106 and still voting: the power of democracy. Miss Pauline Franklin voted for Obama on November 4th.

She was so much fun. The writer was already done by the time I got to Ms. Franklin's granddaughter's home on election day. I walked in and she immediately assumed I was the writer's husband.

"No," she said. "He does look like my husband, though."

"Oh, I thought you said he was," Ms. Franklin said. "Maybe you just want him to be."

... so maybe it was a tad awkward, but she got a good laugh out of it, and I gotta admit, I thought it was pretty funny, too. Ahhh, good moments in history.

Hmm.

2008-11-14T17:51:00.003-05:00

I wonder if the "Heeeey, shiny!" part of my brain is overlapping with the "Mmm, this'll look cool in black and white" part. Every time I shoot something shiny and reflective, I immediate start thinking about flipping it into Channels, taggin' it into monotone and hittin' the sliders.

...

I'm not feeling too hot, unfortunately, so I'm gonna go home, relax, and maybe hit the sack early tonight. Ciao, y'all.

Another adventure in the mountains

2008-11-12T00:13:00.010-05:00

It's not an adventure until someone's hurt, I always say.

Much shorter hike this time, and I didn't count mileage, but by my guess it was approximately seven miles. The trail was actually something along the lines of 9.8 miles there-and-back, but I did only a little because I wanted to do a little bit of climbing. Everything's going quite nicely -- trail is quiet, sun comes out every and then, temperature's in the fifties but I'm still breaking a sweat under my jacket, making good time -- and I hit the cliffs I saw and wanted to climb. Meander down through some fun little crags and slopes, hit the bottom, and take a look.

Sure, no problem, it's not even really climbing. It's easy-peasy. And even during the climb, it was easy going, no issue, all good and fun; shoot, I was kind of hoping someone would call all of a sudden so I could hang there by one hand and say something overly dramatic and exaggerated like, "Sorry, little busy -- can I call you back? Oh, nothing, just climbing to the top of a mountain. Yep, yep, ciao."

But then I get to the top, take a seat to catch my breath, and my left wrist starts to complain. Not broken, just nice sharp pains when I'm not careful with it. I think I twisted it a little harder than I thought I could have, or put too much weight on it in the wrong direction, or something. Anyway, I'm not very much favoring the right hand. It was a bit of a pain driving home (I drive a manual, FYI), and I find that writing anything with a stylus is rather uncomfortable.

I'd rather it my left than my right, though. The right is sort of important to the operation of a camera. Anyway, how about some photos?

The falls at the trailhead.

This was about the point that my wrist up and started in with the whinin'.

From the scenic overlooks on the way back home.

This was all in the Talladega State Park, by the way.

And I'm pretty sure the wrist'll be okay soon enough. Nothing extreme planned tomorrow, so there should be time for recovery.

ERaarg.

2008-11-09T14:24:00.005-05:00

My car is being a pain. Something about the clutch. Not making my day pleasant. At least I have a few days to work on it, though.

Anyway, finished up the round of portraits today with a Vietnamese family. We met at their church, upended a table, plugged in a light, and started out. The writer talked to the mother and father, but the little girl (dear God, so adorable) wanted so badly to be in the photos that I said we could do a few family portraits, too. Honestly, I'll put one in, but I don't think it'll run.

Here's a close-up of the little one. Her mom said she's seven -- "and a half!" little'un pointed out.

You know, every now and then I see a small family with some adorable little one and ... eh, never mind.

Day Off One

2008-11-08T23:07:00.007-05:00

Got lost in the woods. Six-mile hike turned into a 16-mile hike, no exaggeration. Wheeee.

Nice place, though -- Oak Mountain State Park. I think. I'm a little tired.

Oooooi, I'm sore. And going to bed.

Holy leaping high schooler, Batman!

2008-11-08T22:47:00.006-05:00

College football players aren't the only ones who can jump, you know.
From an older football game, Shelby County versus Chelsea.

Oh, by the by ...

2008-11-07T17:39:00.002-05:00

If anybody knows of something really cool to do and/or see in Alabama or thereabouts, lemme know. I've got a ridiculous amount of downtime this weekend and will most likely be itching to do something, anything, just as long as it's relatively active.

Just shout.

Even the acronyms aren't safe anymore

2008-11-07T16:32:00.009-05:00

Apparently, el Bush decided to rename the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, so while the assignment was "cover the ATF groundbreaking at Redstone Arsenal," it should have been "cover the ATF(E) blowing stuff up." 'Cause that's why I was really there. First, though, there were guys in ties or, as I like to think of it, dudes in duds.He looks like a comedian named Patton Oswalt, but he's not. Just saying.I don't know why, but the people who organize these things think that flagpoles in the background make for good pictures, but all it does is give you something that sticks out of somebody's head. By the way, the fella with the pole in his noggin is Michael Sullivan, acting director the ATF(E), which would explain all the serious faces and dark glasses manning the perimeter.

Okay, so we got the pole outta the Acting Director's head, but now Senator Shelby has something very colorful and happy capping his top. Blargh. I angled these because, a) I was bored, b) I had already had the dudes in duds photos we needed, and c) any of this is going to run secondary to THINGS BLOWING UP.

Ahhh, it was a good morning. Everything was a half mile away, so I *should* have brought a 300mm lense, but I didn't know what time I would be getting back to Birmingham and I figured some of the other photographers would need long glass for sports. Still cool, though.

Also, we did what amounts to a slideshow from the stills. I'm an idiot (and I save my money like Uncle Scrooge) and *still* haven't bought new batteries for my recorder ... shame on me ... so there's no audio. The explosions were less noise, more feeling, though. My pants legs kept rippling in the shockwaves.

More later. Ciao ...

Election day

2008-11-05T15:36:00.006-05:00

Out and about by six, home by 11 -- it was a long day, but the whole day had the feel of a festival. People were singing, dancing, celebrating before/during/after the point ... just nice. It was good fun. Little aside from the voting/polling place photos: cruising by another polling place, and I spotted a fella across the street, headed towards the sheriff's department with a sign in hand. Thinking he was a protester, I pulled in, got out, and we talked for a few. Turns out he's not protesting anything or campaigning or doing anything, in fact, about politics. He just wanted to announce to people passing by the joint that on July 4, 2009, he would strip naked in front of the building at the behest of God, who told him to do as such. Go for it, Charlie; I might actually come back just to see what happens. Not that seeing this guy naked is particularly high on my "do before dying" list, but it might be a hell of a photo.

I'll have more later, I'm fairly certain.

What'd the dad tomato say to the lagging son tomato?

2008-11-05T11:56:00.011-05:00

Catch-up ... which is how I'm going to waste the next minute or so of your life. Some backlogged shtuffs that ran recently or ran a while ago, but I haven't posted about. So, onward ...

There's a gym a little south of town that does some "bare bones" fitness -- ie, no machines, just weights and physics -- that the health guys wanted photos on. The workout is a pretty intense thing, and, given the time and money, I might have looked into it.

That was the level of exhaustion after 15 minutes.

There's this really nice little nature preserve about 30 minutes north of town called Turkey Creek. I've been there a couple times, but not in the last month or two, so when I got down there last Saturday morning and saw all the colors, I realized that I really had no desire to go anywhere else for the rest of the day. I had a portrait to shoot midday, but I spent the rest of the afternoon there, quite happily, afterward. Oh, sorry, right -- I was there that morning to watch a group of students from Birmingham-Southern College work on the "ecoscape" and clean up around the creek.Gorp.

Lovely place out there, and probably a little better off now that BSC has taken up stewardship of the joint. I might head out there this weekend when I've got the time.

Been a long coupl'a'days

2008-11-05T11:24:00.010-05:00

Monday felt kind of like election-prep day, interspersed with normal assignments and spot news. I had a morning assignment that was kind of blah, so I'll just skip over it. I also ran by and got a couple portraits of the staff of Mental Floss, which may be my new favorite magazine. It's all trivia and just little weird/interesting things ... flip through it if you get the chance. Then I took a photographer from NPR, David Gilkey, around to the polling places I found around Legion Field. Nice guy, won an Emmy for a piece he did while at the Detroit Free Press; hope to run into him again. Anyway, dropped him at his hotel, and dashed off for an apartment fire. Which, of my four assignments on Monday, did run, so how about some pictures?This is the one that ran. Not an incredibly great photo, but I thought the light was nice.
It was a little on the hazy side.
The guy climbing up had just dropped an axe. Hey, I don't blame him -- I imagine all that equipment is bleedin' heavy.
And this was just sort of there.

After I shot this stuff, I jumped back to the office to put 'em into the system, then bounced out to Vestavia Hills to shoot another set of portraits for the religion writer. A nice, older Sikh couple this time, who insisted we stay for tea and some homemade Indian snacks. Usually, I try to avoid taking anything from people I have to photograph, but I made an exception because, a) one of my good friends, a Sikh, always reiterates how important it is to treat a guest well whenever I visit her (she says they have a saying: "When you invite a guest into your house, you invite God in with them") so I figured these folks felt the same; b) more of a chance for the religion writer to interview and talk; c) I hadn't eaten in six or seven hours; and d) dear God in Heaven, it was free homemade Indian food. I do some really silly things and say some tremendously stupid stuff sometimes, but I ain't no fool about Indian food.

That portrait series will run on the 16th, apparently, so I'll be able to post some photos from it in about two weeks or so.

Odds-n-Ends

2008-11-03T09:09:00.004-05:00

Just a few odds and ends hanging around on my computer.
From a high school football game ...
... from a different high school game ... actually, I may have posted this earlier ...
Hey everybody, it's Greg the religion writer! Nice guy.

Okay, gotta brush my teeth, put on a good shirt, and get to work. Ciao.

High school volleyball

2008-11-01T15:04:00.008-04:00

Never shot volleyball before, so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was kind of fun after a while. When I shoot football, it feels a little tedious, but volleyball just seemed to be a constant go-go-go, so it was more exciting. My issues: how do I get faces when I'm having to shoot through a net; jeez, it's so bleeding dark; and hooo-boy, those are some skimpy shorts and these girls are too young ... well, most of them were ...

It was fun, but I feel like I got the same photo over and over with different people. If I had a three or four hundred and a monopod, I would have sat/stood in the stands and shot above the net, just for something different.

Politicking is elementary

2008-10-30T17:51:00.010-04:00

One of the local elementary schools, Princeton Alternative, decided to throw its own national political convention. The fifth graders had apparently organized the whole thing, facilitated by one of their social studies teachers. They went through the whole shebang: voter registration, campaigning, casting ballots and then ended up with the political convention.

Yep, John McCain is actually a 10-year-old African-American kid from Birmingham. Weird how things work out, huh?Obama takes a wave while his commercial plays.
Does the other Nancy Pelosi use a stepstool? Nah, she's not cool enough. Or short enough.
Pretty intense stuff. I've seen adults with less enthusiasm for their democratic rights.

Cans! And more portraits!

2008-10-30T17:14:00.010-04:00

One of the local high schools does a can drive every year during homecoming week -- it used to be a big competition between them and their rivals, but now it's downgraded to just a competition between homerooms and school clubs. They overshot their initial goal of 30,000 cans, and managed to hit somewhere in the range of 37,000, so the three charity groups that got to split the collection of canned goodness were quite happy. Dat's a lotta cans.

_____

Okay, I won't claim to know how to evaluate art. I'm curious about the subject, I'd like to learn and what not, but it's just not happening at the moment. It especially catches my ear when the words "controversial" or "possibly blasphemous" come into play. So when I got told to head out and shoot the artist of a "controversial" religious artist who specializes in surrealism, I thought, "cool." Honestly, though, it wasn't that bad. Maybe my sense of controversial is a little more extreme, or maybe the folks at the gallery at a little ... thinner skinned ...? Anyway, the artists showed up after a while, reminded me a lot of one of my old roommates, and things went pretty quickly and comfortably.

The last one was just playing around with a very white bench they had in the gallery. I really wanted a honeycomb or snoot or something on my flash to narrow the light, but I've yet to cannibalize any of the collected cardboard junk at my apartment into something sufficient. Soon, however -- soon. And all my problems will be solved.

Ha, okay ...

EDIT: Oh, and points to the person who can identify the roommate this guy reminded me of -- you'd have to have known me for a good while.

Jeeeez

2008-10-29T23:02:00.006-04:00

Been a while, I know. Things have been decently busy, and I just haven't found the time to update this blog in the past week or so. The following portraits ran this morning, and I remembered that I wanted to post a couple since I kind of liked them. Little short on words at the moment because I'm a tad tired, and not looking forward to being up and mobile at five tomorrow. Between last Saturday night (if you have to ask, you don't need to know) and tonight, "miscommunication" has proven itself to be a massive, painful, ubiquitous issue that may well be the root of all evil and all the stress and unhappiness that fills the world. But, right now, "miscommunication" just means that I have to be up and across town at Lipscomb City Hall at 6 AM. Fun.

Anyway, portraits of the outgoing mayor of Vestavia Hills, a very nice and learned gentleman named Charles McCallum ...

For those crazy monkeys (no, the plural of monkey has no -ies; yes, I had to check) who may be interested, the first was shot on a pleasantly rainy/nastily foggy Friday morning, and the second and third shot within seconds of each other on a rather nice Monday afternoon. Though I personally love the rain, and would love to spendy such days splashing through puddles and running around like a madman with no umbrella, most people find it rather depressing, and I got the feeling that depressing was not the emotion we wanted to evoke with this here fella, especially after meeting and talking with him. Thus the reschedule.

I added the third to the set ... because I like things to come in threes? Well, I guess it was because I didn't know which I liked better, though the differences are all pretty subtle. Subtle to the point where I can't remember which of the two they ran. Anyway.

Tired, gotta go get some suppa, snag a showa, and catch some zzz-s.

Racing gurneys, a kayaker, and erotic still life

2008-10-21T22:29:00.012-04:00

To begin: UAB has a traditional Gurney Derby during their homecoming week wherein teams of students from all the different schools run with gurneys down a track and compete for best time. It's all done in costume with a mannequin or some kind of set up as a "patient." Pretty fun, or at least it appeared so. Also, funny note: the team that won was the group from the business school. _____

Walking into work last Tuesday, I was almost immediately called over to the Ed's desk and reassigned to chase Ardie Olson down the Coosa River. The Alabama Scenic River Trail opened up last month (someone should fact check that because I can't rightly remember at the moment), and Ardie is trying to run it in two weeks. That's 631 miles of river, by the way, in a 20 foot kayak. He's actually from Cumming, GA, and does stuff like participate in the world's longest mountain bike race. Kudos and whatnot. Nice guy.

He works as an office manager for his wife, who is a lawyer. Apparently, he gets quite a bit of time off. The geeky coolness factor of his trip was that anyone who wanted to could track his progress via something called "Spot" online. His life jacket was equipped with a GPS tracking unit that sent out updates every ten minutes or so. Pretty nifty.

Pretty soon, parents will be able to subdermally implant these on their kids while they sleep. And we all thought we had it bad.
_____

And erotic still life. Okay, it's not really erotic, it's actually medical. Back in the day, and by "day" I mean the Ming Dynasty, Chinese physicians weren't allowed to touch or even see upper class female patients, so these dolls were made to help the doc make a prognosis. He would take the doll, pass it through to the woman, she'd mark the place of pain/injury, and pass it back. Based on this, the pulse he was allowed to take from an outstretched wrist, and, I'm guessing, pure dumb luck, he was supposed to make his diagnosis.

You know, I was all set up to have someone pose for me in the same, ahem, attire, but this is still as close as I've gotten. Ah, well, sigh ...

Ciao.

Urban Farm Interning

2008-10-21T18:30:00.007-04:00

From my last Infocus bit -- not as "there" as the ballerina one. I'm hoping to find (in the next couple days) a church with a youth pastor or younger preacher types for the next one.

The Old Firehouse Shelter

2008-10-19T10:50:00.014-04:00

This was the bit on the homeless shelters running at or above capacity over the past couple months. It didn't work out visually as some of the other people at the paper thought it would, but they still ran three photos.

They ran this on the front because, apparently, the editors do not want to run a photo of a homeless man on the front page.

Guests visit the clothes closet for new clothes.

Louis and Francisco prepare for a meal.

Lunch time at the shelter.

Another one they ran in the paper -- I think they just didn't want any faces.

Francisco settles back for a cup of soup after serving the other guests.

A guest makes his bed on a mattress on the floor of the Old Firehouse Shelter. Though they have beds for 50 guests, the shelter has spare mattresses for nights when they run over capacity.

The kitchen crew were really nice guys, very welcoming, and everyone else was pretty tolerant. Some of them didn't want their photo taken, and would duck or turn away or cover their faces. Most of them didn't care too much, though.

Ciao, y'all.

Whilst we wait ...

2008-10-17T17:03:00.008-04:00

Waiting for the ever laggy server to load my gallery pages, so I thought I might go ahead and post some more backlogged shtuffs. I got a call from a gentleman last week and ended up at a chess tournament the following Saturday ... soo ... here's some photos ... Chess may be a game of intense concentration and intellect, but sometimes even the intellectual and focused get the desire to draw faces on inanimate objects.

Cheers till later!

Running through this

2008-10-15T17:48:00.006-04:00

Almost time for me to bust out, but here's some stuff from the Great American Cross Country Festival that happened last Saturday in Hoover.

Outta here, post more later, take it easy.

And ciao ...

One thing to another

2008-10-15T17:27:00.007-04:00

Friday morning was interesting. Started off with some portraits on the south side of town, nothing too special, and I won't publish 'em here because I don't think the story's run yet. But then I got called to a drug bust ... heard it was big, okay, I'm headed over, Boss, no problem ... howdy mister policemen, how you guys doing today, what's going on ... yeah, late last night, undercover agents ... 1 million dollars in marijuana ... wait, what? Apparently, that's what $65,000 worth of drying pot looks like. How it smelled was something *completely* different.
The Mother Plant.Couldn't get my white balance to work out right, for some reason. But look at all the pot.

Really intricate hydroponics system, too, and a computerized daytime/nighttime set-up to boot. Apparently, they've been cranking out $1 million worth of pot each year for the past three years or so. I'm strategically staying away from the discussion of, "but is pot really all that dangerous" because I'm not for arguments right now. Just chill out, man. I'd giggle, but you wouldn't hear it ...
___
And then I bounced straight from the potted plant (harhar) to an elementary school, Phillips Academy, in Birmingham that, despite the fact it only opened a year ago, scored in the top fourth in testing.
Young 'uns in math class.
Oh, so that's why they did well. They're actually interested in this stuff. Young 'uns in reading and language arts class.
Back in the land of numbers and figures ... they aren't too fond of me there, by the way.

I do enjoy working around kids. It's like the whole thing with older dogs and puppies, I think, where they all make me feel a little younger, a little more jovial, and a little more energetic.

Ha, this one little girl whispered at me, "excuse me, are you a professional photographer?" and I shrugged, grinned and said, "well, I try to be." Yeah, anecdotal stuff, but it makes the world a good place to live.

First of a couple updates

2008-10-15T17:07:00.005-04:00

Poor little blog ... I haven't been posting to you like I should ... won't you forgive me? Here -- here's a couple updates. See, we're still friends?
___
I was standing in my apartment, getting ready for a shower after a long-ish day, and suddenly sirens go by. No big deal, this side of town usually has a siren or two going; it'd be odd if there were no sirens. And then another goes by, same direction. Coincidence, I say, keep heading for a shower. Two minutes later, I'm standing in boxers and socks, listening to the eighth or ninth siren go up the hill, so I sigh and jump back into my clothes, jump into my car with my camera on the passenger seat, and slam up the hill toward the reds and blues.

A driver had gone off the side of the hill below Vulcan, but above the residential neighborhoods. His Nissan got caught in the kudzu on the hill, and he came out of it "alert and talkative," which seems to be standard cop talk for "okay." No drugs or alcohol involved, by the way -- he apparently got ill, tried to pull over in the parking lot at the top of the hill, and just lost control.

Firefighters from station 2 rappel down the kudzu-covered slope to the driver.

Two firefighters from station 2 ready the driver for retrieval.

Two firefighters from station 2 get an assist from a winch as they move the driver up the slope.

More in a few minutes, gotta take care of something.

Dudes making left turns ...

2008-10-13T13:24:00.001-04:00

... also known as "NASCAR," is quite possibly the most boring sport I've ever had to shoot. Well, besides the Flanderson County Intercollegiate Staring Contest. But that's a different story. But I'm always open to the idea that something previously boring may becoming interesting if I can reach the correct mindset through enough exposure to the correct environment.

But this was not the case in Talladega. Regre-- actually, not regrettably. I don't think I'm missing out on much.

And, since it was so boring, we'll just skip to the highlights of the race (READ: the wrecks). But first, a feature:
NASCAR fans in the infield hold up a US flag during the national anthem at the Talladega Superspeedway.

So I said, "Hey, I've never had to shoot a NASCAR event before. Any pointers?" And they said, "Well, they normally make left turns. So if they take a right turn, take a picture." Thus, the above.

Even the fans agree: you watch cars go round and round for hours, and the best parts are when things go wrong.

I might find this stuff interesting someday, from the right perspective.

Say, behind a steering wheel. Or ... well, that's about the only way.

Whoof

2008-10-08T22:12:00.003-04:00

Well, day started out slow-ish -- came into work with a 1'o'clock assignment, and some people to call and computing things to keep me busy till then. Then, about noon, the Ed tells me that there's another story coming my way, and to work around the current assignment. My 1'o'clock was easy enough -- couple portraits of a vision doctor, and some photos of the young lady putting on a benefit concert -- but then came the other one.

I've never really covered homeless shelters. I've been to them, but never with the intent to photograph. So I really was at a bit of a loss. I've seen the dozens upon dozens of other peoples' work on the homeless, but I've never considered how I would shoot the story. I'm not saying that I shot a story on Birmingham's homeless today -- it was more like sticking my little toe in -- but I still got up close and personal with the idea, and I'm not sure where I sit with it.

I'll think on it more and see if I can't find the root issue. Let y'all know, because I'm sure you're tantalized by the thought of my personal introspection.

Anyway, shot the stuff this afternoon, finished my shift, took a break, and then went back for a few more shots as they were setting up beds for the night. As I was leaving -- and I love this, because somebody, somewhere, at pretty much any moment a camera is visible, will say this -- somebody said, "hey, cameraman, take my picture."

Thus, I give you Sherman Love ...

Minor note from Election Day

2008-10-07T22:07:00.006-04:00

Runoff elections were today -- standard stuff, "go and find some election day photos, if they tell you can't shoot inside, shoot parking, et al, et al" and then some candidates. And the candidate stuff was okay, though it was a lot more waiting around than usual. But I digress.

I drove north through Tarrant and then Pinson, knowing that both cities were having minor elections. In Tarrant, I pulled into the city hall parking lot, waved at the couple of older fellas out in the parking lot, went inside and did my thing. The folks inside, as I'm taking photos and talking, mention, "hey, if you want to talk to the candidates they're outside."

Turns out the older guys hanging out in the parking lot, waving at folks and chatting idly, were the candidates for the city council position. Friends for ages and ages, hardworking folk, nice guys. One thing that caught my eye was that one was missing fingers on both hands. And I mean all his fingers. I asked (cautiously and carefully, of course) and apparently he had to get them amputated not two months ago, but is learning quite well how to adapt without them.

So this might turn into a story later, but for now here's some photos of the fellas.

I love cool old people. One day, I might be one.

Aaaaand ...

2008-10-07T13:09:00.003-04:00

... a teaser from the next Infocus. Though I don't think I got as many good photos out of this one than I did the last. Anyway.Oh, and here's a portrait of Trey Black, a tailback for Flint Hill Christian School who has been seeing quite a bit of the field this year.

As I said, tired for some reason today. So I'm a little out of it. And I'm blasted hungry, too.

Kermit the Elementary School

2008-10-07T12:57:00.004-04:00

From last week or so -- Kermit Johnson Elementary School has an outdoor learning center, where kids get to learn about farming, gardening and nutrition. A good couple of my recent assignments seem to revolve around kids and nutrition ... strange ...
Feeling really tired as of late, though I've no good explanation. Considering how my feet feel, I'm inclined to guess that it has something to do with shooting Talladega this past weekend (photos to come, once I can borrow the computer with them).

An evening of Steve Irwin

2008-10-02T18:26:00.007-04:00

From the snake hunting adventure a couple weeks ago -- it ran this past weekend, I think. So, photos:
The urge to make Elmer Fudd jokes was overwhelming, let me tell ya ...Hey, hey, hey, he's got one!
Yeah, that there's a snake ... something interesting about non-venomous water snakes: their saliva contains an anticoagulant agent, so though they bite and the wound bleeds, it's really not harmful at all. Not that I'm suggesting you invite water snakes to come around and bite your silly butt ...

Safe snakes: under the water; dangerous snakes: on top of the water. Good thing to know.
Many thanks to Mark Bolding (photos: 3 right); Bob Baker, DVM, (photos: 1 left, 3 left, 4); Dr. Mike Loop (photos: 1 right, 2, 6); and Jack Wimbish (photos: 3 center) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham for letting me tag along.

Airbrushing for God, and a brush fire

2008-09-26T16:51:00.008-04:00

Erika Bryant airbrushes designs given to her by God. She's like Joan D'Arc for people who use pressure sprayers to paint tee-shirts. And a very cool lady besides. And there was, of course, a brush fire. Which destroyed my sense of smell, I'm pretty sure. It was either that, or the car that caught on fire this morning. Either way, everything smells like smoke for some reason. Firefighters from station 16, mostly. Apparently, they've got a thing against talking to the press, other than to say, "Man, what're you doing walking around through this stuff?" Nice guys, though, all of them. And, as one of my bosses pointed out, it's a tough job.

Jeez ... the one time I wear khakis ...

2008-09-25T18:00:00.004-04:00

Why the dirty pants, you ask? Because I was wading through this for an hour:There was a brush fire in Wylam but by the time I got there, it was smoldering and contained. So I went walking around with a couple of the firefighters.

The last time I tried to bake cookies -- and I do mean the *last* time; I'll leave the baking up to others more suited to the task from here on out -- I remember the acrid, but mildly sweet smell. And this is exactly what I was thinking about when I went walking through the soot-covered, torso-high sticks that remained. So now I'm trying to think of somewhere I can buy some chocolate chip cookies.

Nobody was hurt, by the way, so cheers! Here's to cookies. Even the burnt ones. I'll post more photos later.

Surgeon General down on yonder farm

2008-09-24T12:51:00.007-04:00

So, discovered something cool about Birmingham on this assignment: there's a farm right next to Highway 280. It's the Jones Valley Urban Farm, where people can get small plots of land to plant gardens, or vegetables, or whatever strikes their green-thumbed fancy. Pretty cool. Also, they do a Seed-to-Plate program with the local YMCA, leading kids through farming to harvesting to cooking the veggies and such that come from the garden.

Never wanted broccoli so much in my life. Don't ask me why.

Oh, and the Surgeon General showed up to give out an award to the Jefferson County Childhood Obesity Taskforce, which is also cool.

Sarah Ellison pulls out old tomato plants at the end of the season on Monday, Sept. 22.

Bree Garrett, left, leads Surgeon General Dr. Steven Galson, center, around the Jones Valley Urban Farm on Monday, Sept. 22.

Bree Garrett, in green, and Surgeon General Dr. Steven Galson walk past the JVUF hoop house on a tour of the farm on Monday.

Also, it was the first official day of Fall, so here's the the closest thing I got to a seasonal photo from the trip. I just thought the colors might be a little reminiscent of fall ... sure, it's not the kids playing in a pile of leaves, or jack'o'lanterns lined up on a doorstep, but come on, it's early yet ...

Later, y'all.

Quick upload

2008-09-20T12:51:00.009-04:00

The capture of an escaped prisoner, a portrait of a financial advisor, hummingbirds, and a parachute team. In that order.

Not my best "pictures" week, but it certainly was interesting. And I'm learning stuff. Need to work more on strobe, obviously.

Question of trust

2008-09-18T23:27:00.004-04:00

When a guy wearing a black tee with an alligator on the front and the words "Trust Me" written above the aforementioned reptile takes you snake hunting and leads you -- the photographer with no flash light; my father would be ashamed -- half a mile down a creek, in snake-infested knee-deep waters, should you be nervous?

Or just go with it, joke about not having a machete (again, my father would be ashamed), and leave the writer standing on a rock in the dark somewhere halfway down the creek?

... trick question. I'm never nervous. [Ego, ego, ego ...]

More later.

Another "at last" post

2008-09-17T18:34:00.002-04:00

At last I can post a slew of ballet photos, since the Infocus ballerina photo ran on Sunday. They also showed me how to get stuff up and on the Web site, too, so check it out if you'd like. No names with this one as they're all young and what not.

I wanted to put in the 5th photo down for the assignment but I realized that there's somebody in the left side of the frame who shouldn't be there. In the next photo down, I'm a little more hidden but her leg's no longer extended, but I figured what the heck, let's go with it. The dangle of her fingers was almost perfectly in line with my body. Combined with the chair, the only thing you can really see is my bag.

Tomorrow's gigs: hummingbirds invading a lady's yard, some sort of grilling at the zoo (which seems kinda wrong for some reason ...), and then snake hunting. Yes, snake hunting.

Then Friday is going to be all skydiving.

... and some people ask me why I like this job ...

Quick note here ...

2008-09-15T22:09:00.002-04:00

Started up another blog for stuff like the map below and other "artistic" things: Arty Endeavors.

Geekdom

2008-09-15T00:07:00.003-04:00

On a deviation from my normal kinds of posts, I present clear, solid evidence of how geeky I've gotten in my voluntary exile to Alabama (mostly kidding here): I've taken to map-making in my spare time. Cartography -- just when you thought he couldn't be a bigger geek!

Some issues with the map, but, hey, it's my first ...

And first times are ... uhm ... never mind ...

Neon signs and swearing off stuff

2008-09-14T19:59:00.004-04:00

Firstly, signage: the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four little girls were killed in a 1963 bombing, has been in the process of restoration and stabilization. To further reach the goal of restoring the building, the congregation has erected a new neon sign that is a replica of the one that used to be attached to the building. Should've looked up "how to shoot neon signs" on Google or something before I went, but I got something ...

Secondly, the swearing off of Facebook: I'm dropping off Facebook for a week, maybe longer if I like it. Cold turkey, too. Today's been a little rough, and I imagine it won't get any easier, but I just ... well, let's just say some things might get easier without it.

Till later ...

You ... Gee ... Ell ... Why?

2008-09-13T21:24:00.011-04:00

These are some uuuugly photos from the Pepper Place Criterium. But, I'll defend myself by saying that a) it wasn't actually an assignment and b) that I did actually get some okay photos, at least some things can run. This was what happened when I tried something a little different. And here's the kicker -- I actually kinda like some of these. Don't ask me to explain, I can't. I just kinda like some of 'em. Like one might love the ugliest runt of the litter or something.

Like I said, uuugly.

Experiments gone wrong, actually. Like Frankenstein. Except he just needed to be loved.

Uhm, I need to go eat now.

BTW

2008-09-13T15:12:00.002-04:00

For some reason, posts made from this computer are a little wonky. That all looked fine in the composition tab. Anyway, I'll try to fix it later, but I'll not worry about it now, since it's a minor annoyance. Just wanted to let y'all know I'm not a complete design boob.

CI Therapy, finally

2008-09-13T14:47:00.013-04:00

Since this finally ran, I'll go ahead and post a good number of photos from the CI Therapy story. Scroll down a little bit to the last "video" entry -- that's the video I shot of a pair of different CI patients. It's also a decent explanation of the whole thing, though I feel like I left out a lot ... but we won't go into my deficiencies as a video producer just yet.

Anyway, the subject here is the little boy (still withholding names of young 'uns) who started CI therapy with the help of occupational therapist Katherine Goldman of Children's Hospital here in Birmingham. I'll toss in any tidbits I feel are pertinent as captions ...

Also, at the bottom, I'll post how it ran in the paper. Or I'll try to.

A lot of the children's therapy involves puzzles and games.

Something about this kid tells me he's gonna be a big flirt one day. For which he gets my wholehearted approval.
More games.
With mom.

That's just some of them, from two separate sessions. Now, let's see about the actual spread ...

Front page to the left, after the jump on the right. Pretty cool, huh?

So, yep, there you have it. The editors, for one reason or another, decided to hold the story for a good couple weeks or so, so I've been sitting on these photos for a while. ... which gets a little uncomfortable, you know?

Ciao, y'all ...

Too lazy for B&W

2008-09-12T16:24:00.005-04:00

... aside from one photo.

Anyway, I'm just going to give up on the whole "solely black and white" concept. Don't ask why, and I'll still be putting up b&w stuff, but only when I'm looking at something in b&w.

The social worker of the year, Vic-Jaye Watson, poses for some portraits at the DHR building in Birmingham, AL.

And Trigger the police horse poses for a picture in Linn Park. Good horse.

Going up with Golden Knights next Friday -- should be a good time, and good pictures. 12,500 feet at 5.30-6.30 in September? Cool ... actually, it's more like cold ... 40 degrees lower cold ...

Color, wonderful color ... and HDR? Maybe?

2008-09-11T23:43:00.005-04:00

So take a look at the first photo and then the second. How much of a difference do you see? The first is the "correct exposure" for the view from the middle of my living room into the dining room. The second is an HDR composite photo of about seven or eight (sorry, can't recall) frames. Whaddya think? I don't think this is the best situation for it, but is the difference noticeable?

I'll experiment some more ...

Brains ...

2008-09-11T11:42:00.003-04:00

Well, brain therapy. A video I did to supplement the print story -- not the best thing out there, but it accomplished what it could. I would change a couple things, of course, but hindsight is hindsight.

Here ye are ...

'Nother update

2008-09-11T10:35:00.003-04:00

Hum de hum.

First assignment got cancelled, unfortunately, so I have a bad feeling that I'll be out feature hunting again this morning. So far, my only other assignment is a portrait at 2.00. I really need to go ahead and find some kind of story to start work on, something interesting and pertinent. And I'm coming up blank, blast it.

I'll have a five-day weekend at the end of the month, by the way, so I'll be most of a free agent at the time. I'm not sure what I want to do -- probably go back and visit my folks for a day or something. I'm in the mood for solitude at the moment, though things may change.

And here's a food picture from yesterday. I should start shooting more food.

Tomato basil soup and butternut squash and wild mushroom lasagna, made from ingredients fresh out of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and served at the Garden's cafe.

Ciao, y'all.

Quick update

2008-09-10T18:50:00.007-04:00

Just not feeling up to writing at the moment ... maybe I'll update this with text later ...

So, work first and then some extra stuff from the weekend.

And why can't I stop thinking about that blasted werewolf?

Update since I prolly won't be here tomorrow

2008-09-05T21:50:00.007-04:00

Actually I still might, but here's some photos from today that I'm posting a little earlier than usual. First, from the pro-life rally today at UAB: For some reason, I see this photo and instantly think: "Cracker, what?!"

Minor humorous anecdote: As I was kneeling to take the above photo (and this is in the midst of the protest, not off to the side or anything) someone was speaking out, vehemently, against the various sins involved with abortion. She mentioned "premarital sex" and I began to choke up with the urge to giggle very, very loudly. It thankfully looked like a sneeze, because I'm not sure how they would have reacted if I had started outright laughing.

Yeah, I'm headed straight for hell.

Anyway, did a little portraiture this morning of the county's top lawyer (and by that, I mean the DA):

This was the only one when he really smiled; the rest were just set jaws and hard looks.

And tonight, I took some photos of the neonatal infants being flown back to New Orleans, but those are still being processed, sooo ...

You're stuck with the following, who just called in hopes I was somewhere close so she could try and make up for never calling me, though that's a highly unlikely possibility ... ever ...

Hovering Ballerinas

2008-09-05T10:31:00.005-04:00

They've learned the ancient art of treading air and, like the mystical Adam Bellezza, can indeed defy gravity ...

Still waiting ... now she's on another call ... I have grand patience. This is why I am ranked on Facebook as one of the "Best (potential) fathers" ...

Hurry up and wait ...

2008-09-05T09:44:00.006-04:00

Waiting for a call back from the DA's office so I can go get a "centerpiece portrait" of the gentleman. I really need to work on my portraits, I do, I do. Not to mention that I have a feeling it'll be in an office of some kind with small or no windows, a bunch of books on a shelf behind the desk, and a desk that makes the USS Enterprise look like a dinghy.

... which is a moderately funny word ...

Anyway, more photos from another football game, Wenonah High vs. Woodlawn High ...

And here, have a slice of Icebox Lemon Pie ...

Might be working a little earlier tomorrow, which means I might get off a little earlier, which means I might be elsewhere for a three-day weekend earlier. Which would be nice, seeing as there are things that need to be discussed, people who need to be visited, and pictures that need to be taken ...

Sore jaws, Tuscaloosa knights, and custard faces

2008-09-03T21:26:00.007-04:00

So I worked on Labor Day, no biggie aside from being a little rushed in my assignments because there was a last minute addition to the middle of the day. And all morning, my jaw was starting to ache. No reason, and this is the second time in as many months. I'm going to attribute it to stress and just leave it at that. But it's stuck around since Monday, it's now Wednesday, and I'm thoroughly annoyed. I got Tuesday as holiday and I'm off work today. Anyway ...

At the Labor Day Festival thrown by the Our Lady of Lourdes (hey, I've been there; Lourdes, France, I mean; sorry, just occured to me) Catholic Church there were battling knights, horseback rides and custard-y men:

This fighter was actually a guest knight from Tuscaloosa ... thus the post's title ...

You cannot imagine the goofy goopiness of that last photo ...

And the knights are actually members of the local Iron Mountain Barony of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and I attended their meeting last night, asked about the fighting, so I'll hopefully be a regular stickjock soon enough. (Just FYI: "stickjock" is a term used to refer, sometimes in a derogatory manner, to a member of the SCA who is solely there for the fighting ... which would be me in a nutshell...) Go out, dress up in armor, beat the crap outta each other with sticks -- sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon to me.

Okay, jaw hurting, gonna go and get some food that's really bad for me and go to bed. I've found that too much free time + hurting jaw + deep thoughts = bad mood.

For everything there is a season

2008-08-31T21:55:00.009-04:00

And it's now football season. Pardon my blasphemy but football is not my favorite sport, nor is it my favorite subject to shoot. But it's there to be shot and it must be shot because here in yon South, we loves us some pigskin. So, here's some football from the first high school game of the season (for me, at least), Spain Park versus Homewood, and some photos from the Miles-Stillman game. SPvH was on Friday, and the M-S was today.

... and some from the Miles-Stillman game ...
I shot the UAB-Tulsa game yesterday, but all those photos are on another computer.

Ciao till later ...

Teaser

2008-08-28T20:36:00.004-04:00

Here's a teaser photo for a bigger set of photos for later, all from an Infocus I'm doing. You have three guesses to figure it out; two of those guesses don't count.

If I like the way this looks, I might start running all my photos on the "large" setting rather than the "medium" setting. Well, personal preference and public opinion. Comment if you care!

Election night in Homewood

2008-08-28T16:05:00.009-04:00

Followed the mayoral campaign in Homewood on Saturday morning and then shot the candidates on Tuesday, election night.

Newly-elected Mayor Scott McBrayer moves through a crowd of supporters at New York Pizza in Homewood. [They actually used this one, in color, for print. FYI.]

Scott McBrayer gets a message from a campaign aide during the celebration party at New York Pizza in Homewood.

Scott McBrayer speaks with a supporter during a celebratory party at New York Pizza in Homewood.

Incumbent Barry McCulley sees supporters to the door after a party at Nabeel's Imported Foods, about half a mile from McBrayer's party, in Homewood.

Former mayor Barry McCulley sees his supporters to the door of Nabeel's Imported Foods after losing to challenger Scott McBrayer in the 2008 Homewood, Alabama, mayoral race.

Nice guys, both of them.

Little bit of egotism

2008-08-27T00:58:00.007-04:00

Okay, I admit it -- a lot of egotism. But I keep that hidden, or at least try to veil it somehow. Anyway, I've been meaning to take up the mantle of UGA Photojournalism Students Who Are Interning Somewhere by using the studio to take a self-portrait. Thusly are the simplistic results ...I call this the Morrell Look.

Probably my favorite of the [very small] set. Aside from the fact that I look so bleeding serious.
The incredulous lean-and-angle.
Me ... and the SUN!

Okay, so silliness done. Dialing, start.

The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth

2008-08-27T00:47:00.007-04:00

Fred Shuttlesworth came to town to screen a short documentary called "It Started at Bethel" at the Civil Rights Institute. Which I still need to actually visit. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow ... anyway, here's a couple photos ...

Pardon the lack of captions -- I'm a tad tired and ready to head out. Also, got a phone call to make. Another quick post to follow, completely silly and pointless.

"No hay banda ..."

2008-08-21T21:57:00.006-04:00

A tad tired, so using a very obscure movie reference as a title seems funny at the moment. Anyway, I shot the Homewood High School marching band, one of the top-ranked marching bands in the nation, performing a show for friends, family and the President of the Tournament of Roses. (That last one's important, apparently.) I wasn't happy with the overall shoot, but here are a couple frames that wouldn't run but I kinda liked.

A tuba player gets ready to lift his instrument into position.

"Dude, where are you shoes? Dude, what? Put your shoes on, man!"

The drumline warming up at centerfield.

Concert practice positions, waiting around for orders.

Hey, two posts in a single evening! That's headway for ya ...