Reggie

Today I shot another dog for the "merchant mascot" features story being published either this Sunday or next. This time the mascot was Reggie, a two-year-old chihuahua-mix who hangs out at B&B Office Systems in Gainesville when his owner, Kattia Olsen, 11, shown below, is away at school. Olsen received Reggie as a birthday present after her previous and much larger dog, a great dane, died. Initially I got some shots of Reggie inside the office hanging out in the halls and standing on the tops of chairs and desks, as he usually does. But fortunately Kattia brought him outside to go to the bathroom because I was able to get some much more playful and fun photos (not of him actually going to the bathroom, of course) in my opinion. We'll see which ones actually make it into the paper though.

Lesson learned

So this morning I was assigned to shoot the annual Gainesville job fair for The Sun. I got some good stuff, or at least as far as job fairs go. But as usual, I found myself looking more for artistic and interesting photos as opposed to the necessary literal, but sometimes boring, photos. Somehow I forgot to get an overall shot showing the hundreds of people who turned out to the event, which was a photo the paper wanted. Which was too bad. But I learned my lesson, and in the future I will remember to not only look for interesting shots, but also to capture those more literal shots that may not be super exciting but are necessary in showing the overall experience of the event.

Sassy skating

Today I only had one assignment for The Sun - to shoot Sassy, a 13-year-old Maltese who acts as a "merchant mascot" at a stained glass gallery in Micanopy, Fla. She sits atop the counter and greets customers as they walk through the door. But while the assignment went well and I got to photograph a really cute dog, shooting dogs sitting atop counters isn't exactly the most exciting thing in the world. So afterward I headed to the skatepark where the real action was. I've been busy and haven't been able to go feature hunting on my own in a couple weeks now, so it was definitely refreshing. I ended up meeting three cool kids who visit the skatepark pretty much every day. They reminded me of me when I was 15 years old and when my life was also dominated by skateboarding. Also, I've really been in a black and white mood lately, so enjoy.

Play rehearsal

Paint a picture

Abby Wambach!

Labor Daze

Today I went downtown to shoot the second annual Labor Daze festival. Somebody from the Sun was already covering it, but I just wanted to go anyways to see what I could find. I only got a couple interesting shots, but then I met a man named Joel Pearson who sells crabs around town for a different man who actually does the catching. I just saw a crab scurrying down University and thought it pretty funny, so I walked over and took some shots. He was only there for a few minutes while he unloaded a couple bushels for another man, but I introduced myself and gave him my phone number. So hopefully I will be able to go out on the water with them in the near future and photograph that!

Welcome, football

Fall is here, and with that comes football. The last couple nights I have been shooting Friday night, and Thursday night, high school football. A very difficult assignment as high school games are played at night and the lighting is usually terrible. Which means cranking up the ISO to keep my shutter speed high enough to capture the action. But aside from the technical difficulties, and aside from the fact that sports photography is not my forte, I had a pretty okay time. It's exciting to get better at something I'm not so great at, and it's hard not to get pumped up seeing hard hits and big plays. So here are a few photos from the past couple nights, and hopefully they will improve as the season continues! Enjoy.

Church

Reflections at the park

It has been raining for the past week, or two weeks (it's been raining so long I've lost track), and I have been struggling to find the will power to go out and shoot. But after a long conversation with Jenny today, I mustered up some motivation and went to the park for some weather/feature photos for the Sun. As it turned out, several areas of the park were flooded due to the rain, and I was able to take advantage and get some neat reflections. So needless to say, I turned a crumby day into a good day and got some stuff for the Sun. And for me! Enjoy.

Gainesville businessman honored

So today I shot my first assignment for the Gainesville Sun. It was in honor of Cleo Strawder, 86, who was the first African-American entrepreneur in east Gainesville (He is the man sitting between his two sisters, Annie Pearl-Strawder, left, and Easter Simmons, right, in the last photo). The event was held at Wesley United Methodist church in Gainesville, Fla.

Heidi Ho

Back in the 'ville, finally

So the other day, Jenny and I went to Hawthorne Trail at Paynes Prairie for a picnic. It was the perfect place to test my new lens (Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8), although I found myself playing more with my wide. As usual. But we had a great time nonetheless. It feels great to be back in Gainesville again after a long summer in Orlando, and in a week I will be back at school and starting my new internship as a photographer for the Gainesville Sun. So there will be lots more to come! Wish me luck!

Annoying white boxes in corners

Found this old-ish portrait today of Brandon Zuber, a young cowboy who was cracking whips at a festival in High Springs, Fl. a couple months back. Thought I'd share...

What up, dog?