Old times (File)

I'm hitting the rewind button here. I've been so swamped with stuff that some photos have fallen through the cracks. I just downloaded my card with pictures from my last day at the Daytona Beach News-Journal. It was on June 23rd.

I've talked about the day before. To recap, nothing was told to us but we knew something was up. I pulled out my camera and documented as much as I could.

It wouldn't be a documentary of my last day if I didn't have a shot of myself.


What a wonderful day for layoffs....


They were very welcoming...


The room of doom...


It helped that everyone, even those staying, had to clean out their desks. It's really too bad that there is no bureau in DeLand anymore, there are a lot of great stories and no one to do a decent job of covering them.


Ronald Williamson is the man! This guy is one of the greatest writers around. He can take you from place to place with his words. You won't know quite how you got there, but you'll know it was one of the greatest rides you ever had.

The void that is filled. Thanks Max Preps!

After covering high school football for 14 years, I think it would of been one of the biggest voids after losing my job at the paper. Fortunately I found an online editorial magazine, MaxPreps, where I get paid to shoot, keep my rights and they market resales! They really have started to fill a void where newspapers are falling off. They have nicely written stories and video to go with the photography.

Since the amount of shooting I have done has dwindled to a slow drip, I am working my butt off anytime I get the opportunity. I am working really hard on looking outside of the moments on the field, more than I normally would, just because I had no outlet for it before.

Where to begin...

I just started this and I'm about a million postings behind already. Creating a business has taken a ton of work and there are a million things I want to talk about, but first I'm going to back up a couple weeks.

Friday, August 15, 2008 - A week and a half before I arrived in California to help my dad move to Arizona. The past five days have been non-stop unpacking of boxes. We only stopped to eat and watch the Olympics before going to bed.

I finally took a break and took up an offer from James Gregg, an amazing photographer who works for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, on a trip to Mexico. I had grown up in California, but in 20+ years I had never ventured over the border. I love new things and I love adventures, and this was both. James kept asking me what I wanted to see, but everything was new to me and in a world of new, everything is interesting.

We started out touring around the Arizona side of the border. James showed me the wall that has been so much a part of the news. He said that rocks are constantly thrown at the border patrol over this thing. Drugs are also tossed over.





Flooding has become a major problem because the grates in the wall are so thin that debris gets caught and then the water backs up. It has caused whole streets on the Mexican side of the border to be under water. Through this hole in the middle of the street you can see where the water flows underground. This is some of the water that floods into the streets. I find it crazy that there are just giant holes in the street. I wonder if cars ever end up in these?

This is one of the guys trying to fix the flooding. They are putting pipes underground to reroute the water. Unfortunately they don't have certain pipes they need, such as corner pipes, so they are having to be creative. They are laying down rocks and concrete to turn the water.

James making some of his own shots.

I can't wait to go back to Nogales and shoot some more. I was so overwhelmed this first time.




We had planned to get to Nogales around noon and eat lunch. Unfortunately time flew buy and it was about 3p before we ate. We were starving. James knows his way around Nogales. We cut through this little bar to find an amazing restaurant on the other side.


I had never heard of a Mexican dish called brochette, so I tried it. This is Pollo Brochette w/coconut and it was amazing!

This is a bar in the restaurant we ate at.



And while we were eating, they decided to pull the curtains. I definitely have to go back to this place. This is going on my places to remember for portrait shoots!


Oh, and the on there thing. The restaurant is built into the side of a mountain!


More gorgeous light...


Even the bathroom was cool!


We did a little more wandering after lunch.
Back in Arizona we had a chance to see the Border Patrol and their pups at work!


Thanks James, the trip was amazing. I hope to be back soon for round two!