The Way I See It

Against my will, I was forced to shoot the American Idol concert.  Ugh!

I was on the elliptical and my towel fell down and I bent over to get it and I was clocked in the eye by the machine’s arm … or was I?

Today was a fun day. I met Tucker Max on the set of his movie I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, which is filming in Shreveport. Normally movie folks are super-secretive and are careful about who they allow on the set and what kind of pictures they can take, but this was quite the opposite. Tucker was great and said I could shoot whatever I wanted and come back as often as I liked. I’m going to take him up on that, so I’ll have an audio slide show done within the next week or two.

I take lots of pictures that I like. I enter them in contests sometimes, and the great ones never seem to win. Sometimes I enter not-so-great ones because you get points for entering. And sometimes they win. Like this NPPA Region 8 June clip contest winner … 3rd place, feature.  Whatever.  I’ll take it!

This billboard is in a prime, obvious location in downtown Shreveport, which has two casinos and is directly across the river from Bossier City, which has three - including the one being advertised.

Looks like somebody had some fun with a roadside sign on Greenwood Road in Shreveport.

Co-worker Jim Hudelson got a flat tire on his truck in the parking lot at work today. I helped him out by giggling and taking pictures while he changed it … in the 102 degree midday heat.

I’ve always wanted a tattoo. Thing is, I never knew of what. Or where. Instead of wasting more time trying to find something meaningful, I went to the Body Electric on a whim and decided to get the first thing that caught my eye. It was a black tribal sun-like thing, I had the guy modify it a bit, and that’s what I went with. On my ankle. And I like it.

Me and co-worker Henrietta Wildsmith went to an exorcism the other night. She took still pictures and I shot video. It was … well, I’m not exactly sure how to describe it. But here are some shots she snuck in of me.

Just some shots from pool night and other visits to the Locker Room in Bossier City. I sure do know some goofy people.

I shot some mixed martial arts fighting at Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City. I never want to do it again. A guy was knocked out inches from my face, and the final punch sent his mouthpiece flying - it somehow managed to shoot through one of the cage links and hit me smack in the head. In the photo of the fighters, it is that blue thing in the bottom right corner. It is in mid-air, already through the fence and ready to gross me out. In the next shot it is laying on the ground next to me.

Almost 200,000 folks have viewed this video since I posted it on YouTube about two years ago. And many of them have left comments. Anyway. Here’s me and Igby in Texas.

Here’s a photo of me looking all disgruntled during a book burning at a local church. Read reporter Kristie Richie’s story here, look at fellow photog Henrietta Wildsmith’s photo gallery here and watch my video here. Unbelievable. I’ll just leave it at that.

I’m not really sure what to say about this.

Here’s Eric Wright during the biking portion of the Red River Triathlon in Shreveport. It involved a 1.5k swim (in the Red River), 40k bike ride and 10k run.

Fellow VisCom graduate Eric Wright came to town from Gadsden, Alabama, to participate in the Red River Triathlon. I wouldn’t let him leave until he ate some crawfish, since he once lived in Baton Rouge for four months and never had them.

This air show photo of mine, which appeared on the front page of The Times today, led to this letter that was sent to reporter John Andrew Prime:

The Air Show has always been a wonderful event for me - since I was a child. It seemed to be the only good reason to live close to the base - as the constant din of bombers taking off and landing was more than enough to lead to agitation.

I love the Air Show. I’m a pacifist - but the awe and might of the Blue Angels on display is truly a magnificent sight. The aerial acrobatics are above and beyond expectation - oh, wait, that’s not quite right, they pretty much do the same thing every year.

Your article was very nice. The issue at hand, the reason I am writing, is about the accompanying picture taken by Val Horvath. Below the fold I finally piece together that there is a figure of a child playfully aiming his toy gun at the jets. I’m sure it was an oversight, I HOPE it was an oversight. But it was a little startling.

I’m an extremely liberal person. I feel a tad desensitised by violence in the media - it’s a fact of living on this earth with numerous other human beings enjoying exerting their free will. However, I was more than a bit taken aback by the image.

I just wanted to write to express my opinion. I almost said nothing, but when I gasped at the picture, my father says, “Yeah, it’s pretty bad, isn’t it?” That prompted conversation with everyone in the room during our Mother’s Day celebration and it appeared that we had all shared the same experience.

In war time or in peace, it’s not a pretty image. And, no, it’s not your parenting that put the child in that position. It’s a fact that playing war, cowboys & indians, hell, even Risk, is a part of growing up (well, in the case of Risk, it’s a part of BEING an adult, at least in my case).

I’m rambling. I just wanted to let you know that I thought the placement of the picture lacked tact.

Thank you for your time. Also, thank you for your work, as I have always been an admirer.

Any thoughts?

So I was sitting in the office tonight when I heard a call come in for 222 Lake Street. That’s the address for The Times, and there was supposed to be a fire on the railroad tracks and in the surrounding bushes out back. I didn’t think it would be anything major, but since it was a couple hundred yards away I grabbed new night cops reporter Kristi Ritchie and we ran out the door. Only to find this. Give me a break! The firemen came and put out the flames. With their jug of drinking water.