Thursday, July 3, 2008

The Rest of Week 5

I went to Animal Care and Regulation Division in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday to shoot a press conference. Map Quest said it would take 12 minutes to get there, and I was supposed to be there at 2:00pm. I drove the reporter, who is another intern, and we left at 1:30pm. We got SO lost, my GPS was wrong, and I spent most of the time on the phone with my dad (because the PR woman was confusing me,) who was looking at a map on his computer and trying to direct me. Plus it was storming, and Florida storms are crazy. We didn't get there until 2:35pm, and I was freaking out...I was sure that we missed the press conference and I was going to get us both fired for getting lost and missing it. But it turned out okay because it was very informal, the reporter was able to talk to the woman and get what he needed, and I was able to shoot some pictures and get what I needed. So that was good.

Today I got sent to shoot a portrait of two people, who are deaf, who live in a gated trailer park. The park didn't want the newspaper coming, so I had to take off my badge and tell the guard that I was just visiting the couple. So I needed to shoot a portrait of them in their home, and then get a quick snapshot of the outside of their trailer. And I had to be fast and ready to drive away in case someone caught me and got really mad. I was a little scared of getting in trouble and someone coming after me with a gun, but this assignment turned out okay too. This couple was so cute, so I wanted to post the picture.

Reese and Linda Gardiner, of Davie, holding their Schnauzers, Princess and Minnie, are moving out of their home in Palma Nova Trailer Park. They have lived there for 17 years. They had a potential buyer for their trailer, but the park office killed the deal. They are worried that the office is going to sell their trailer when they leave.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Weeks 4 and 5

I was supposed to shoot a mug shot of a woman and her dog...her dog attacked a bad guy and held him down until the police arrived. Instead of just the typical mug shot, which I also got, I came back with this and it ran. It's obviously nothing amazing, but I think it was a nice moment.

Gordine Miller of Ft. Lauderdale, has owned two-year-old "Brownie," a Chow-Golden Retriever mix, since he was a puppy. "Brownie" held up a car chase suspect long enough for law enforcement to arrive and catch the suspect, 24-year-old Adrian A. Hardy.

One of the writing interns, Annie Greenberg, called me last week to tell me about a story that she was writing, and to give me a heads up that she was putting in a photo request so I could grab it if I wanted to. She knows I love horses and photographing people and animals, and even though it was on Sunday, when I'm not working, and on my mom's birthday, I grabbed it. Two 11-year-old girls who are legally blind compete in rodeos, and they were practicing for it on Sunday. I shot pictures and took audio, and was able to learn Audacity and Soundslides, so I put together my first multimedia piece! It was hard trying to anticipate when there was going to be sound that I'd want to record, but I think I did okay for my first time collecting audio.

It's on the Sun-Sentinel website, because I haven't figured out how to post it anywhere else yet. But here it is:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbhorses0702sbjul02,0,6958618.story

I hope it played the way it was supposed to, if anyone looked at this, because on my computer the sound and the pictures lined up like they were supposed to, but on Lou's (another photographer's) computer, the audio was all screwed up, and I'm not sure why.

And here is one of my favorite pictures from it.

Eleven-year-old Tiffany Persaud, of Hollywood, spanks Beefy to get him to trot during her lesson with Dr. Terri Jennings on June 29, 2008.

I've been shooting tons of portraits, which is good because that's one of the things I wanted to get better at this summer. And I'm getting more comfortable at setting up light stands with my flashes and positioning them. I don't think I have any for my portfolio yet, but here's one where I really liked the lighting.

Christine Quatrini, of Dania Beach owns "Thriftarella," the new consignment/thrift store in Davie. The name of the store is a spinoff from a store called Catch My Thrift. The owner of the store had a contest to name the mannequin that sat outside the old store for over ten years, and she was named "Thriftarella."