from the archives...

We're just two lost souls swimmin' in a fish bowl, year after year.

Rugby - from a sports assignment.

south bound - part II

October 22, 2011

We drive off the highway and park in a patch of grass surrounded by trees on all sides. Here, we wait until the last star twinkles away into the brightening sky. I can see my breath whiffling out as I exhale, gleaming against the bright red glow of Clayton's tail lights. Because Clayton and I arrived early, we are waiting (in our vehicles, of course, with the heat on) for the rest of the crew to arrive. I can't keep from thinking that if I weren't doing a photo story on Clayton, I would still be tucked beneath the warmth and solitude of my blankets. I'm really glad that's not the case. This is exactly what I love about photojournalism - it takes you places you might not otherwise have gone. It gets you out and shows you the world in a brand new perspective. A different angle. And getting to share people's stories through my photography is the most amazing feeling of all. It really brings us together as a community, and I think it's great that there are people like Lewis Clayton who are willing to allow photographers to document their lives and to share their stories with the world.

Here are a few more shots from the story...

Pride parade and festival

Today was the Gainesville pride parade and festival, an annual event in celebration of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. After a long morning of shooting my photo story, I drove downtown to see the parade. It was fun and I was able to get a few funny features, but once the parade was over and everyone was hanging out in the Bo Diddley Community Plaza, protesters from Dove World Outreach Center gathered to object the event, warning people to abandon their ways and seek forgiveness. However, festival goers were not happy with the protesters and began chanting, "Our God loves us! Our God loves us!"

in the meantime...

So tonight I went downtown for some Occupy Gainesville protest action, but when I arrived there were only two people standing on the side of the road holding signs. Other than the two people and a couple posters stating, "We are the 99%," I'd say Occupy Gainesville was kind of a bust. So anyway, I wandered elsewhere to find photos. Here's what I found...

boy meets giraffe

Here's a photo I took this past Labor Day at Silver Springs in Ocala, Florida. I liked it too much to not post it in the new blog...

south bound - Gainesville cattle ranching

These are some photos from a photo story I'm currently working on about Lewis Clayton,  a Gainesville cattle rancher. More to come later...