Catching Up

It's been well over a week since my last blog post, thought I would take a moment to get caught up. My trip to Raleigh ended back on March 23 when the Hogs were "slaughtered" 108-77 by the Heels in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Daily Tar Heel (UNC's student paper) ran a headline that actually read "UNC Slaughters Hogs" Ouch.


Got back to the ole wild art hunt. I actually shot this photo of a man clearing vines off the side of a building while I was walking to an assignment in downtown Fayetteville. I love it when I find wild art on my way to an assignment and actually have time to stop and shoot it. The kicker above the photo was "De-Vine Intervention." Nice.


Had to crawl out of bed early on Saturday and head waaaay down to Greenland (remember I live in Bella Vista) to shoot a large scale search for the body of a man who was washed away in a flash flood during heavy rains two weeks ago. I got super muddy on this assignment. All in all it was a good time though. Got to hang out with Pablo for the day. Nuff said. Oh, they also found the man's body, not while I was there. At least now the man's family can have some closure.


Immediately after shooting the search for the man's body I drove a mile up the road to shoot the 142nd Fires Brigade's return from a 10-month tour in Iraq. Remember I'm still super muddy. "Look, it's the Swamp Thing with a camera." I enjoy shooting troop homecomings. Everybody's happy and there are a lot of great moments to catch. This homecoming was also great because ALL of the brigade's men and women came home. No casualties. That's a good thing.

I shot photos of the wife pictured above kissing her husband when she and her children arrived at the armory about an hour before the brigade's arrival. It was a really funny moment when Pablo stepped in to interview her because he kept asking her what she and her husband planned on doing then they got home. "He's going to eat a bowl of cereal because he hasn't had real milk for 10-months since he's been in Iraq," the wife replied after thinking for a moment. "Well what else are you going to do," Pablo asked. "Ummm, that's about it," she replied after giving him the look like he should know what they're planning. "No really, what else are you going to do," Pablo persisted. At this point I wanted to whisper over his shoulder..."What do you think they're going to do when they get home Pablo." (Laugh)