Tornado – update
As bas as it got downtown.
Excuse the lack of posts. We’ve been busy in Gadsden at the Times covering the Tornado damage.
While most of Etowah County was spared a direct hit, several surrounding counties and communities were hit hard. Our sister paper The Tuscaloosa News wasn’t so lucky. I haven’t been on the bike or out on a run, but I feel as exhausted as if I had ridden a century in the afternoon or ran a half marathon before work.
I’m so proud of the work we’ve been able to do, sharing needs in the community and helping share reports of what has happened. This tornado has been truly devastating and the people I work with have really pulled together and done some really strong work. The most heart wrenching part has been trying to catalog those who lost their lives to the storm and trying to help remember them.
I went to help up in the Upper Sand Mountain area this weekend and seeing the devastation first hand really rocked me in a deep visceral place. I honestly cannot imagine what the people in the communities in the direct path of the storm are dealing with and I wish I could do more to help.
The Etowah County American Red Cross chapter has been huge and my friend Heather New the Executive director and her minions have been doing amazing work. C and I even met a friend that walked through Gadsden in 2008 and is back volunteering with the Red Cross as an EMT.
The community outreach has been overwhelming.
Thank you to everyone who has helped. The recovery will be a long one and there is much to do.
lens flare 1
I was walking to an evening assignment and saw this nice little bit of light. It looks shopped, but It’s simply a RAW conversion. I guess you pay for the magic in these modern über zoom lenses with this kind of flare.
Even still I think it’s a nice frame of Downtown Gadsden and the Court Street District
Homelessness Series
So I forgot to post this closer to the print date of the section because that was a crazy crazy time. I was working on the series, but also I was mostly taking vacation days- so deal with it.
The Gadsden times published a section on Homelessness entitled ‘When Homelessness” hits home. We published a 6 page print section and a seperate niche site at When Homelessness Hits Homes
I shot several of the stories that went with the series- and I even had the cover photo and the photo on the rack card. It was pretty fun to work on a big indepth project like this.
I am not super happy with all of the photos since I had to shoot it one handed b/c of the broken arm- btu I am proud of the project as a whole.
Here are two little slideshows of two of the stories I shot. If you follow the link you can get to some of the interactive graphs and graphics I developed.
13th Place: a Children’s Shelter
Malcom: a highly educated homeless man
Work
The work never stops- seriously- I thought this new job was a better gig…..
(Newspaper) Pictures of the Year 2009
The staff at the Gadsden Times fulfilled our annual obligation to be reflective of a years work and to put together a “Pictures of the Year” package. Each of the photographers was allowed to pick several photographs for the section. I had a hard time picking photographs; in fact I’m terrified at the thought of the looming contest season.
I was in an odd spot for picking photographs because I had only shot for half of the year. I only remembered a few photos and there are other photos I am sure that I love I just couldn’t think of- during the crunch to put the section together.
As I pulled my photographs I tried to pull one from each of a few mental categories- not contest categories mind you as those are created by people who seem to never have taken a photograph of put together a newspaper- I digress. I wanted something a little newsy- a little reportage from a big event hence the National Guard deployment. I also love detail photographs in the newspaper because they give such texture and are opportunities to play with color and light in a quick way- that gives us the green peas. People love animal photos as evidenced by the perennial winners in MSNBC’s pictures of the week, do you know what people love more than animal pictures? That’s right baby animal pictures- I shot the ducklings while watching the State IRS raid a car dealership- so I just happened to have the 400mm 2.8- guess what great bird lens. The foggy trestle bridge is another favorite- it combines a Gadsden landmark with a great foggy day- I was on my way into work on a day where I wasn’t scheduled to shoot- but when I saw the beautiful fog enveloping downtown Gadsden I started making a few frames, first I hit up the Emma Sansom monument and then I made some other very foggy photos- and in an effort to make a package I decided to steal a few more moments out of the office. As I made the turn at First and Locust and heard my tires squee on the railroad tracks I snapped my head right to look at the bridge and I couldn’t make it out. I stopped in a nearby lot and dashed towards the trestle as the fog was burning off. I made a few frames and the ghostly spectre of the bridge ended up my favorite from the day. Last but certainly not least was from very near the begging of the year. The Master Gardener’s display Garden at the County Extension office is a gold mine for me photographically. I tend to shoot there several times a year when they are prepping for their swale, during the sale; at various classes they hold for the public- such beautiful foliage and flower pictures result. I received a call from an inside source after one of the coldest mornings all year, he told me that someone had left the sprinklers on overnight and it was a veritable Winter Wonderland along Meighan boulevard. I had a great morning freezing and shooting the ice-coated plants and I love the arches and fangs of this particular bush.
So here are my photos, some of my favorites and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed shooting them. While my job responsibilities now don’t require nearly as much shooting and a lot more sitting at a desk- still love photography and the creation of art.
My Photo Stream
