Cycles of Obsession

Been putting up a lot of words, already started Part 2 of my Driving Texas piece, but decided to throw some pictures on to break up the text-fest.

Since that is what I actually do.


This ran black and white in the paper, but still looked cool

I expressed my fondness for the newsroom previously and those feelings are the same for the Journalism vein of photography. I love it. But I love plain ol' photography at its most base level. I started in Art photo classes and that is where my eye grew and matured into the always searching, narrowed-by-the-sun Clint Eastwood-style blue hawk that it has become.



On a recent assignment I photographed some local artists who got together for a sidewalk demonstration/sale. It made me think about something I imagine every so often, having a show/sale of my work.

Obviously can't sell my newspaper work, but I could have it on display with work that I can sell. It would be fun. But expensive and that is usually where I stop thinking about it. But now that I'm near a huge city, I'm wondering if I could find a gallery or something that would sell/show my stuff at little cost to me.

Starting to look into it, but then I start to really go over what I have and doubt if anyone would actually want to buy stuff I've shot. At the paper people buy my photos but they never buy the cool ones, just stupid shots of their dumb kids. Haha


Intense


Some of the best ones I've shot people don't buy. It baffles my mind. If this were my kid I'd buy a freaking poster of this...and then find the photographer and give him a thousand dollars just out of gratitude. *fingers crossed*

But I've been thinking of making more of an effort to expand my artistic portfolio on my off time. Do a dual-time bike ride/art hunt around town or maybe in Houston every so often. But then I also try to look for actual work to do on the side, so there is a time issue.



The Texas AP awards came back and I got nothing. Which sucks. I was only working in Texas a few months of 2010, but still. Award time is always stressful and then fulfilling for me. But if I don't win anything it just leaves the first stressful part that sucks.

I don't know about Michigan contests yet. I was dumb and didn't enter anything in the Michigan Press Photographers contest, for some stupid reason I can't figure out. So I've got to rely on the hope that other people submitted my stuff in the two other MI newspaper contests. Which is tough for me. Relying on others, that is. I have done okay in the past and my two photo stories should do well, based on the quality of stories I've entered in the past. If everything got done right...again *fingers crossed*



Been working, thinking, working, thinking. It really keeps me from getting other stuff done. Like my taxes. Barely moved a bit on those and I really should, because I moved and all that. So I'm sure I've got a lot more to do. I HATE them. Even though I get money back. Filling out all these little boxes on the stupid forms makes my fucking head pound. But I'm stubborn and don't want to pay someone to do them. Then two weeks away I freak out. I'm done talking about it because it's stressing me out right now. Stupid little boxes!


This was fun. A quilt show...seriously. Lots of pretty colors, but it was to run in black & white, so I found a B&W quilt to focus on.

That's all I have for now. Actually, it's not. But I am going to stop here anyway.

I probably have another few driving related blogs in me, because it's something I've been fixated on lately.

I've been going in weird cycles of obsession. Cars, games, writing, exercise, games, writing, fish, beer, cars (not one right after the other though), and so on.

Driving Texas : Part 1 : Other Drivers

Okay. Let's try this again. I had a long, ranting piece almost done and went to delete one word and accidentally deleted the whole post and then it autosaved. >:( But after a few hours mentally bitching, I'm back.

I have noticed some things in my brief time driving here in the Lone Star State. Some I would like to complain about (and will) and some I think are awesome.

My original first post was about a complaining topic, but I thought I should start on a more pro-Texan topic, since I'm new here. Don't want to piss all these crazy, gun toting fools off. Whoops. Haha. Don't shoot me.

More of a reason is I had the other post just like I wanted the first time, and it hurts a little that it is all gone. How about an "Undo" feature there Blogger? Might be a good idea.

Anyway, on to the topic at hand: Other Drivers

Almost anywhere I go other drivers are a huge pain in the ass. Doesn't matter what state, their age, type of car or anything else, it seems like 75% of the people on the road are bad drivers. Most seem too busy to be bothered with properly operating their several tons of vehicle cruising down the road at a mile a minute, but even before cell phones there were a bunch of morons on the road. I've commented on this before. But I'm going to concentrate on a different subject, slow people.

Driving on a two lane road everyone has been behind another motorist who, for whatever reason, isn't going as fast as you are. Sometimes it is because they are old or too busy talking on their phone (at least they slowed down, which is what I do if I take a call on the road). But more often in my case it is because they are going the speed limit.

Whatever the reason it can be a frustrating experience if you have some place to be at a specific time.

Sometimes, actually today, there are the times that no matter what you try you can't get around them. Maybe there are too many other cars in between or a ton of oncoming traffic.

But in the great state of Texas (see...you shouldn't shoot me!) I experienced a phenomenon that I have never seen anywhere else in all of my travels.

I was driving on a regular two lane county highway out to a small town to shoot some volleyball practice. It was my first month living here and I was still learning the roads and the road I was on, Farm-to-Market 2004, had another 8 miles or so in store for me. I was moving pretty good, going marginally over the speed limit, when I came upon a work truck poking along. I wasn't upset, because he wasn't going that much slower and I was taking in the area.

But after a short time he pulled off on to shoulder of the road, which allowed me to pass a little earlier then I would have chanced it, because of a bend in the road.

I figured he was turning at the intersection we were a little ways from and he was just sparring me his deceleration from slow to crawl. BUT NO!

The big truck, with it's welding tanks and tool boxes, swung back into the lane and continued on for quite a long while until I could no longer make out it's shape in my rearview mirror.

He got out of my way! I was amazed. I kind of wanted to stop and give him a hug, because it was such a beautiful moment in my driving life. I've never had anyone get over on the shoulder just to let me pass.

It's happened several times since I've been down here and now that I know this amazingly beautiful thing can happen I am prepared to give a very sincere wave of thanks to these Mother Theresas of motoring as soon as their tires touch the fog line.

These have to be like a pay it forward situations or something. Sure, they aren't giving me anything but a few moments of sheer automotive bliss, but that's enough some days. It just turns the day's dial to "sweet" and I downshift the Rabbit to blast past them on my way to paradise.


There are the other people that never get out of the way and take forever to turn when they finally do leave the road I'm on, but they are everywhere.

There do seem to be a lot of left lane drivers here. That also happens everywhere, but I see it all the time here.

On expressways or four lane highways the left-most lane of the two lanes going your direction is for passing. If you aren't passing you are supposed to stay in the right lane. In Houston or other giant cities with a billion lanes it doesn't matter as much, because you can always get around somehow.

But on regular roads there is always some moron just driving in the left lane and they end up pacing along side a semi truck for 20 miles and I nearly have a stroke from the stress of their stupidity. I can just feel it pouring out of their car.

And I don't know if it's a pride thing or what, but I've never had so many people speed up so I don't pass them as I have had here. What the hell?

I really don't get it. If you are going slow, fine. Occasionally I'm not sure about the speed limit, so when someone passes me I realize I'm poking along I speed back up but I steadily control the speed of my automo-car. Not this speed-up, slow-down mess that is an easy giveaway for someone who isn't firing on all cylinders, mentally.

But I never race people who are trying to pass me. If you want to go faster than me, awesome. Saves me from being out front if a cop is running a speed trap.

But when I'm passing someone and I see the douchey idgit in his truck or "fast" looking car with a fart-can exhaust (those seem to be the two groups that do this the most) keep looking over at me like I'm offending his manhood by passing him in my small car, sometimes I can't help my response.

Which is to downshift and hammer past like he's just standing there. Makes me feel good and hopefully helps him realize he is a moron. But most likely he's too stupid to realize that he is stupid.

Today is a slow day

Today is a slow day.

I usually come into work at 2pm, shoot 2 to 4 assignments on average and get out around 11. Some days are more jam packed.

Like my two day adventure in Austin. I didn't post a lot, because honestly the work wasn't super exciting, but being there was. But I racked up over 12 hours each day, just in the grind of covering different things.

Today is a slow day. Didn't come in until 3, because I worked over a bit yesterday and there is nothing for me to shoot until 6pm.

I could go home and clean a little. But I just feel like hanging out in the newsroom.

The Facts newsroom is cool. Little islands of desks with people working and interacting (sporadically sometimes, on both counts).

Our reporters desks are lined up, one behind the other, facing the front door of the building. Like torpedoes waiting to be fired out the tube at the first hint of news on the wind.

Our editor's office is across the room with a large window looking out over the crew. Kristina's desk is outside of it, I wouldn't call her a secretary (because she's kind of tough) but she helps keep things going.

There are a couple empty desks in between, of course, because this is a newspaper in the 21st century.

Sports guys are on the opposite side of the room as the reporters, with their desks facing the wall in a line, like they have done something wrong. But I think it might be a tact to keep them from watching sports on TV, like they are doing right now. MARCH MADNESS!!!

Then there is a cluster of six desks in the center of the room with four stations for layout and the two spots for photo.

The two photo desks face the front door, so we get to observe everyone in the newsroom. Which is probably a sharp idea, because we visually observe people for a living, so a little in-house training is a good idea.

Behind us is an open space that was where the darkroom was until just before I started. Now it is a space for a photo studio. There isn't a lot of room, or light control, so it can be a challenge, but it's not too bad.

All the desks in the building are just desks pushed together, no cubicles. Stand anywhere and you can look around and see anyone, besides the higher-ups that have offices.

To my right there is a large glass wall that parts the large, open room in two. Ads, classifieds and the rest of the departments that make up the company are over there. Most of their desks are full with several people who seem like they have been here for awhile. Family photos and the like, sprinkled on their desks to make them a little home.

I don't have a ton of interaction with people on that side. Every so often I need to ask something or one of them comes across the divide to get some info. I know some of their names, but not a lot. I'll get there.

Michael, our assistant editor, sits right in front of "my" desk (we share, because we only have one "good" mac). He has a automated egg candy dispenser thing that shoots candy into your hand when you wave under a partially hidden spout. But right now it would just make the whiney noise and maybe throw a few shattered M&M shells onto your palm because it is pathetic and empty.

There is a little bowl of emergency candy next to it, for such occasions. A Jolly Ranger orange smoothie flavored delight kept me going for a little while today.

Somedays I barely eat during the day because I have stuff to do and my memory is terrible. Wolfing down some cheap fast food in my car on the way from something to something else. Which is fun, trying to eat in a smallish car with a manual transmission. :D

Other days I go to the glorious candy egg for prayer several times before eventually I leave the building in a happy little sugar drunk.

I think this is why journalists of old usually had a bottle of some brown liquor in their desks. Because sometimes you have to do something and if there is no news happening and you are in the newsroom you either talk to people, eat or drink. Sometimes all three.

Today is a slow day. We don't even have any obit photos. That's how slow it is, no one is even planning a funeral.


One of the bad things about the last newsroom I worked in, on a fairly lengthy list to be sure, was it was so closed off. All of the desks were cubicles that people could hide in or sneak away from. I'm not saying cubicles are the cause of the laziness that plagued the paper, but if you are working and you know your boss can't see you...come on. Some people would work and some people wouldn't.

It was also very depressing there, because they were all prefab cubicle constructions. So when a position was down-sized, liquidated or whatever other fancy lingo is used to say "you're ass is outta here!" there was still the ghostly remnants of their job haunting up the joint. A sad, broken chair in front of a horrendously outdated monitor in a cubicle with stuff still tacked to the fuzzy walls.

Here at least they re-arranged some of the desks to and try to give some feng shui to the current decline of the American newspaper office. And it works. We see the empty desks, sure, but there isn't a row of unused space giving off the vibe of a ghetto in the middle of the room. Newsroom Redevelopment!

Little less than an hour before my only assignment today. That's just enough time for a plane to crash into a bus full of blind nuns at the same time a fire erupts in an orphanage on the opposite side of the county.

The one county we cover is just as large as the three covered by the Sun. But we've dialed back a bit, leaving some of the more northern area for the Houston Chronicle to cover I guess.

Makes sense.

It's after five, so most of the other side of the building is gone or working on it. FRIDAY! Wooo!

It's a cool job. I've heard myself say that to people several times over the last couple weeks. I say it without even thinking about it, because it's part of my small talk sometimes. People ask about the camera, how long I've been doing it, or how I like it.

I do. It is what I want to do. I could make more money in a studio or some other photo job. And I'm actually trying to find some stuff to do on the side, occasionally, so I can make a little extra money.

But I want to do this.

I want to be in the newsroom.

Feeling just Capitol

I fell behind. Sorry.

Had a few weeks of only one day off and that one day I really wanted to spend playing video games and sleeping. I even managed to combine the two activities at one point. Woke up dead, don't try that at home.

I've dropped my WorkinTheFacts qualifier. If I post pictures and am talking about work...assume it's for The Facts.


Last week on Monday, usually a day off, I got to wake up SUPER early, pick up a reporter at his house and head off to Austin for a two day event. It was our county's day to do some minor lobbying and handshaking stuff at the capitol. Mostly seemed like a press event, but it was still kind of fun.

I like traveling for work. I like traveling in general, but I've never really get to travel much for fun. Part of the draw for newspapers when I started was the chance to get to go places. But it turns out if you want to travel really far, you have to have all kinds of experience and work at a huge paper or an agency. Come on! They should do it like Army, send the newbies. No such luck.

Austin is a cool town though and we had a few hours to look around between assignments, especially after we got kicked out of a meeting. I didn't do it, I swear.

Austin is kind of like a big Ann Arbor. A cool town that is washed in hordes of flannel hats, white guys with dreadlocks and unwashed pretentiousness.



My favorite image from the two days:

One of those cool moments you think might happen, and get the pay off for thinking on your feet.

I had an instinctual bell ring in my head, so I rushed through a bunch of people to go back up a floor and shoot down into the rotund. Saw her step out of the group and BAM. Not overly amazing, but just kind of neat.

She said on that spot if you say something straight up no one can hear it, because of the acoustics of the building. If I were a gov'ment man I'd put a mic at the top, in case someone felt like confessing something sinister.

Her view from there:

I did it, I shot the sheriff, the deputy and his wee-doggie too!

The capitol building was quite impressive. I've been in Michigan's and it's nice, but this one just seems grander.

I had to buy a suit to be let down on to the floor of the House and Senate...best $4 I've ever spent

Yep, $4. I have suit coats, but for some reason they didn't make the trip down here. So I went to a thrift store, found a suit that fit me perfectly. Fantastic.


There was some other stuff that happened, but at the end everyone filed out of the building and wanted to get a picture. I guess they usually do it on the steps, but there were protesters. So I suggested moving to a slope of the lawn, so they could get the building in the background.

Opening my mouth on the subject volunteered me to take the picture. Joy. Wanna know what I hate more than posed portraits? Posed portraits of a huge group of people.

My rule of thumb is the more people you add to a photo, the less and less creative it becomes. Just out of the sheer nature of people, their attitudes and quality of light/shadows.

But mathematically, I thought if even a fraction of the people in this picture buy it, well worth the ridiculous amount of time it took to set everyone up and for me to climb up in a tree.


Amount of reprints of this shot purchased = 0

No one has actually bought any from either of the days. Hundreds of pictures, hundreds of miles of travel, horribly hideous hotel room and no damned reprint money! BAH! Might come later, you can never judge the fickle photo ffffff....damn. I was trying for some clever alliteration there, but failed.

Our motel room was ridiculous. Apparently all the rooms were themed. Ours was the "Polka Dot Surprise" room. It looked like a fat hippie ate the 70s and threw it up all over the place.


Have some other stuff to catch up on, but I'll stop here.

Inside Joke for Alex Ybarra Did you find it?

GAMES: Come out swinging! Fight Night Champion

I've had some Xbox 360 issues lately...so that might account for some of the minor issues I bring up about Fight Night Champion. Just FYI

BOXING!

It's my first day with the new Fight Night game and I am excited. I wish I didn't have to work or that I would have been smart and rented it earlier...or later. Whichever, because it's sitting at my house right now, calling for me to pound some faces.

First off you start right in on a prison fight...one where you have been headbutted to near unconsciousness by a skin head. It's a little of a trial-by-fire, because it's a franchise game that has had it's control scheme adjusted for this edition. So that's an uneasy place to throw your gamer. I like it.

By just chucking the player into the story mode it grabs hold of those people (like me) who weren't a 100% sure about EA's ability to tell stories anymore. So far, it's a good one.

The punches seems to have real weight, when thrown and especially when landed. The camera rocks a little when you land shots. It adds a little excitement and drama.

The blood effects are also much improved. It drips everywhere and stains your trunks, his trunks and the canvas. Good times.

In one of the first couple pro fights as the story character I was facing down what can only be described as "one big mofo" and I cleaned that bastard's clock!

You are tipped that the guy will try to get you with a left hook, because he thinks you are weak on that side...but if you bide your time, the counter will present itself and BAM! One-tep, two-tep. You done.

That is the greatness of FN:Champion. One punch knockouts! In FN: 4 it felt ridiculous to be Ali or Tyson trying to chase some "dazed" opponent around that always seems to duck out of the way of your freight train power shot to the dome. In Champion, you can tell when they are dazed a little (weak knees, slack jaw or covering a lot) but a shot that is flush and unseen will skip all that crap and send him face down to the canvas.

Movement in Champion does seem a little slow. You can do quick flicks that move you fast, which I haven't got completely used to yet. And there are these little weaves that require the much-loved semi circle motion on the thumbstick. But sadly, the 360 controller is not a precision instrument. EA should know this. That is why they took it away from the fighting stick. Now it's just pushing the left stick in different directions. Much better.

The camera movement seems to be weighted more on your opponent than you, which seems odd to me. It may be more realistic, but early on it is throwing me off my rhythm.

And I have already screamed about a billion times for the ref to get out of the god damned way!!!

I like the added realism of having him in the ring, but never would a boxer's vision be blocked by a ref. Well...maybe, but he'd get knocked the hell out in the process.

It is very annoying and I have to adjust my gameplay because of it. But if you change the camera style to "Close" instead of "Champion" it seems to help quite a bit.

During the story you have goals and challenges to overcome. Which are cool, but one is setup very, very poorly. In boxing when you get cut, it can be a big deal and protecting a cut while maintaining your offense is a delicate balance. Well, in one fight you get cut on the first punch of the damned fight. Even if you have your guard up. Come on. Did the guy have a damn knife in his glove? That is some weak crap.

A few fights earlier you are presented with the challenge of having hurt your hand during a fight. But it starts play in the fifth round, and that is what they should have done for the cut. It just puts a fake feeling on the whole fight, to start off injured right away. It's not like you are fighting Muhammad Tyson-Frasier-RazorBladeMan-Ali.


The presentation style of the last three Fight Night games have all been different, but all been good. Round 3 was kind of edgy/grainy with classic boxing colors and lettering. Round 4 was a bit more flashy and clean. Glamorous, even. Champion seems to be a mix of both. During the story before the fights there are these dramatically lit, grainy shots from the locker room before the fight. It's just a halt, to keep you from being thrown into the fight when you are actually in the kitchen grabbing a Dew, but it's a really nice touch instead of big text on screen saying "FIGHT? Yes/No"

One move I don't like is the mixing of video game footage with actual video. There are these ESPN cut scenes, which are important to selling the story of a real boxing contender, but render the stuff. It would make it feel like all part of the same art medium. Not a mix-mash of parts. But that is a little thing.

Right from the first fight in the story you have a stamina bar to tell how tired you are. It's not the most realistic, but its important to know and you can't easily tell any other way.

If you were boxing you wouldn't have to guess whether you were tired or not, you would know. You do not get one for your opponent, which is awesome. That you should have to figure out on your own.

A problem I always have in Fight Night when I use the stick to punch is, usually I don't throw what I wanted and even though I swear I only pushed it once he always punches a couple times. Maybe I'm just spastic during the fights, but it's really annoying. Especially when your opponent is backing up all the time.

One issue that might be related to just my Xbox is some weirdness with the sound. Between rounds your corner man gives you some tasty bits of info and his audio is so quiet I can't hear it. Most of the time its mostly because the stupid announcers are yammering on about something they've said 800 times already, but even when they aren't I can't hear him well.


LEGACY MODE:
My first go-round of creating a more fit, boxing version of myself for Legacy Mode has gone poorly. If you aren't part of EA's special whatever you don't get to customize your face. You just get to pick a template and go with it. As I'm currently offline, Xbox-wise, I had no choice but to pick a generic Anglo face.

One thing they've improved upon are the tattoos. It seems like every boxer that steps into the ring nowadays has some super awesome tats. Rounds 3 & 4 gave a pathetic offering of body art to customize your boxer.

Champion gives a lot more choices, but you don't get to choose the size or specific placement. Which would be cool. Maybe someday.

The training is still lame, but not as lame as Round 4 and not quite as easy as Round 3.

Stamina is a huge deal in FN:Champion, both in the ring and in the gym. If you over work yourself during training you will go into the ring underpowered.

You can train in different gyms to gain an edge in certain skills, like speed, but a lot of the training games are still frustrating as hell. This time there is no "auto train" for 50% option. But it doesn't seem real clear what kind of points you get from the training anyway. There is a bar for your stats, and they go up a little. That's the best I got.

I'm still working through it, may amend this a little. But so far, I like it.

EA has been champ for awhile for boxing games, but with Fight Night Champion's addition of a story and some drastic realism they have moved up in class.

XBox 360 Cake like Julia Child would make

I have had to recently do surgery, of sorts, on my Xbox to keep the damned thing running a few days ago.

I got one of the red lights of death last week and have been battling with it since then.

I believe I have it in order. At first I just tore most of the body panels off with my bare hands and then punched the inner metal casing it as hard as I could.

I worked for a computer technician for several years, so you can believe me when I say it was completely at diagnostic measure...or not. I was actually just frustrated because they use those stupid star bits instead of red blooded American bolts, because they hate every guy that thinks he can fix his own shit.

But it worked! I was able to bask in sweet pixelated entertainment for about a day.

I researched the problem a bit, after remember I actually have a set of those stupid star bits, and found it was a solder issue with one of the processors and could be fixed easily with a soldering iron or a heat gun. But I really don't have either of those. So I baked it in the oven.

Here is my recipe, should you be in this position. First, start from the mental position that it is broken already. So anything you try is purely a shot from the other end of the court.

Take everything off the motherboard that you can, heat sinks and all. It should just be the bare board.

Some of the videos I've seen of people heating their boards they use tin foil to cover the parts they don't want baked, well...I don't have tin foil.

I'm single, don't cook much and am not worried about aliens reading my thoughts.

Anyway, I preheated the oven to 350. Solder melts around 400 degrees I believe, but I wasn't sure, so I shot under.

I just set the board in the oven, bottom of the board up and carefully balanced on top of the metal cage that makes up the core of the Xbox. If you set it right, only the copper edges should be on the cage.

I baked it for about 5-7 minutes and checked to see if the solder looked melted. It didn't, so I turned it right side up and put it back in for 5 minutes.

Now, in interest of full disclosure, at the point I took it out some of the transistors were hissing and some brownish liquid was coming out of the tops of a couple.

So I figured I had royally messed it up.

But I hooked everything up and gave it a try. It's been a few days and everything is good. You will need to buy some of that heat sink paste, because the oven will bake it all off, and it isn't good to reuse that stuff after you break contact anyway.

I still haven't put it back together, so my Xbox is just a motherboard and CD Rom sitting on the bottom shelf of my entertainment center.

But so far, so good.

WTF: Long, long, long, long day

Worked 15 hours on Saturday. Whew.

Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't complain, because I do something I love. But working a long day is still a long day. Even if you love it "Work mode" still wears your brain and body down.

I've had a couple people say "oh, you just push a button all day." Well, that's not exactly true you stupid-faced idiot.

That is a fraction of a second that you push a button, the other hours and hours are carrying nearly 40 pounds of gear while moving through obstacles (whether they be fences, police/fire blockades, crowds of snot-faced children or alligators) to find the right spot to make a dynamic, creative image. Sometimes you walk, run, crawl or climb to get your shot. Sometimes you have to argue for the right to even do your job. Sometimes you get yelled at, leered at, threatened with a beating, a lawsuit or that "I'll have you fired."

All that while staying at a mental frequency which balances the technical and creative requirements of the job. Yeah, anyone can take a photo if they have a camera. But that's like saying anyone can paint if they have a brush. It doesn't mean it's going to be any good.

The biggest challenge, sometimes, is to stay creative when I'm exhausted. I never like being the "good enough" type of photographer, even when I'm tired. So you have to carry on AND try to create something beautiful or at the very least story telling.

So you can come home physically and mentally exhausted. Which can cause for some frayed relationships at home. But that's a whole other discussion.


On Saturday I shot a marathon (how fitting) in the morning, had to hunt for a garage sale to shoot, two send-offs for local soldiers, highway construction, a political dinner and a plane crash. Only two were in the same town around the same time, so it was a lot of driving.

The marathon had a marathon, 1/2 marathon and a 50k. Not only did they have to run fifty Ks...whatever those are, they had to run up a massive bridge.


Damn, that's a huge bridge!

I shot them coming down and one of the guys thanked me for not getting them coming up it, which would have been sweet, but wouldn't have worked like I wanted for this shot.

So the two bigger things from the day were soldier send-offs by the Brazoria County Cavalry. I hadn't shot one of their rides before and now I had two in one day! I like the group and they seem to enjoy the coverage, so win-win.

Very patriotic, despite the bug guts

I shot a bunch of photos. Gallery 1 Gallery 2
Kind of trying to scattershot so I had a variety to use for the paper and to try and sink some reprint money. Purchased so far = 0. :*(

I don't take it personally or even really fret about it, because it's hard to judge when people will buy reprints, I'd like them to buy them as soon as the gallery comes up, but one of my favorite shots (that I blogged earlier) was purchased a month or so after I shot the thing. So you never know.

Got some okay stuff.



The city declared it a day in honor of him because he was leaving for Afghanistan

The Republican dinner I had to shoot was pretty boring, as is kind of the norm for dinners. Yeah, you get free food, but if you are tired and want the day to be over you want stuff to happen now so you can get your shots and go. Some of the Cavalry people were actually there and commented on me having a long day.

Nothing super awesome from this one, except my shot of CONSPIRACY!

Well, probably not, but it certainly looks like it. The guy on the right just looks like he's up to something or he has to poop.

Here is your envelope stuffed with cash. Now...where is the truckload of baby teeth?

**Note: Grain and effects may have been added to heighten the dramatic mood of the photo. :D

In the middle of this, luckily after I ate a plate of cold food, a reporter called to tell me a small plane crashed.

I have no pictures I want to share, because they all make me mad to look at. I bounced around the area for awhile, looking for the best place. Having fire fighters tell me one area I could go and police telling me I couldn't go there.

It was frustrating, because I couldn't even get within a half-mile.

It ended up my best chance was to stop along the highway, climb up a tree and shoot with a long lens while balanced on a limb.

All I got were lights in a forest, it was kind of lame.

But when I get back to the office the reporter tells me the chief of police emailed us shots he took on his iphone. Made me feel like a worthless piece of crap.

But by the end of the day I didn't care anymore.