8:07pm — Things have been hectic all day at the newspaper office. Folks have been doing live updates for the web every hour. Others have been trickling in and out, pillows and blankets in tow, preparing for a few long nights. The word Gustav seems to echo around the place. With the help of others, I just brought most of my supplies inside in case my Jeep gets washed and/or blown away. We aren’t right on the coast, but the eye is heading straight for us. They fed us some dinner - mostly sandwiches and cookies - but I could really use a shower right now. TV’s are tuned to the weather channel as the storm continues on. The computers on the ground floor of the building are covered up with trash bags just in case, but the newsroom here on the second floor is up and running. The break room, which has a lot of windows, has been sealed off with plywood. All our cars are outside, parked in a row in the parking lot, and we’ll have to hope for as little damage as possible.
5:06 pm — Been in Lafayette all day shooting assignments for the Daily Advertiser. First I went to an evacuation point where folks without their own transportation gathered to catch buses out of town. Then I drove around a little to find photos of people preparing. I got shots of them boarding up windows, stocking up at one of the last remaining open places in town (Albertson’s) and waiting in long lines for ice. Now I’m sitting here waiting for another assignment and trying to figure out where I’ll be spending the night and where I’ll be during the storm. The likely answer to both questions is the newspaper office.
10:54pm — We made it to Adam’s cousin’s house in Lafayette by about 10pm. Thing is, she has three cats, and I’m allergic. I found one lone Claritin in the bottom of my bag, so hopefully I’ll be good til morning. There was a lot of traffic on the way, but fortunately it was moving pretty well. We passed caravans of ambulances and school buses and National Guard units. Gas is dissapearing fast, so we topped off our tanks a few times. Water is scarce, too. But for now, all is well.
7pm — Last night me and reporter Adam Causey left Shreveport at about 9pm. We got to Baton Rouge at 1am, where I was able to get a couple of hours sleep on one of his friend’s couches before I covered the LSU vs. Appalachian State football game. It was moved up from 4pm to 10am because of Gustav, and it was HOT. After transmitting my photos for print, I came back and grabbed a quick nap and worked on my gallery photos from the game. I’m done now, and I’m waiting for Adam to get back here so we can head to Lafayette, where we will work as loaners for the newspaper there. I’ve heard traffic on I-10 is at a standstill, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
