The Heart Mind and Eye

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POY 2009

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

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

I'll just list some of highlights.

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

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

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

Big Hit

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

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

I made a couple images I liked.

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

A face mask...

A hurdle...

And a big hit...

KSU band

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

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

Geddy walk

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

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

Point Cats!

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

Game three of the volleyball game against A&M.

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

Who Dat Flippin

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

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

Trifecta Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

here's the screen grabs...

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

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

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

15mph

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

Quite a Hoot

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

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

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

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

Poor Owl.

HOT ROUTE... HOT ROUTE

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

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

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

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

Ice cream social

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

Johns ice cream social and outdoor movie night.

Uncle ben and matt

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

Playing with Alec.

Finished

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

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

Alec and Me

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

Ba ba ba ba

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

More Tumba

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

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

At the game!

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

In Kansas

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

Stupid rain

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

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

Unprofessional

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Road Trip

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

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

It's Hot

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

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

Swampland Time Lapse

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

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

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

amphibian fatality

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

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

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

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

RIP Frogs.