Blessing of The Fleet

Greetings from Southwest Florida! So I'm using these new blog posts to show the world some of my first glimpses of the new chapter in my life in Naples, FL. About three weeks ago I started my first real job as a staff photographer at the Naples Daily News. It's a photographer's paradise here. I'm surrounded by very talented photographers and I'm at a paper that loves photographs and loves running them big. To be honest, it was tough to leave my home in Louisville. It's been a great place to me but I'm really excited to be here, making photos everyday, and making new experiences.

So to kick it off, here are some photos from Everglades City where there are more or less two industries- tourism and fishing. Stone crab season begins in a couple of weeks and yesterday was the blessing of the fleet. There are great characters in this part of town and I'm excited to keep going back.

Setting Sail

Here are some photos from my first photo column on a youth sailing team in Naples Bay. It was crazy to watch these kids bounce back and forth on these little boats. Maybe it also blew my mind a bit because when I was growing up, a sailing team wasn't really around. Anyway, here are some of my favorites from the afternoon.

Staying In The Fields

Back in 2007, Al O'Donnell's landscaping company employed nearly 275 people. Keep in mind, O'Donnell's jobs included large scale work like golf courses, developments, etc. When the economy started to slip, so did O'Donnell's business. He now operates with 55 employees. He's had to cut several positions and not buy much new equipment to save as much money as possible.

I spent a morning at their site and here are some of my favorites from the day.

In The Cutting Room

Here are some photos from the operating room while I was working on a story about a new robotic arm that helps sculpt the hip joint to be nearly exact during hip replacement surgeries. This was not my first time in the O.R. and hope I get to photograph in one again. There's always so much going on and it's a fun challenge to photograph a group of people that stand in the same spot for hours.