The Finish Line

Last weekend I covered the half marathon that the paper (Naples Daily News) puts on every year. I enjoy these types of races. It's early morning, people are in high spirits, and situations open up for some nice photos. I was assigned to cover the start and finish of the race. I set up right at the finish line waiting for the winners and any runners that are either celebrating their finish or hurting from the race. After so long I became a bit bored so I threw my flash on and messed around with some hot centered light. A lot of the runners were in such a daze from running 13.1 miles that nothing was getting their attention. Volunteers kept trying to move them along but their directions weren't getting through to some of them. It was pure joy and also pure exhaustion in its rarest form.

Shredding

I was running around taking care of some errands this past Saturday on my day off and remembered that my boss told us about a BMX event that was happening over in Golden Gate and figured what the hell, I'll check it out. It was nice to mess around out there with no objective, assignment, or purpose. It was like a nice little workout for my eye. Thanks for looking.

The Day's Catch

I spent some time hanging with the crabbers at Capri Fisheries last week while we did a story on a short lived strike from some crabbers in Everglades City. It turned out to be an update on the stone crabbing season in the area, which isn't going so well. Stone crabbers in this area live and die over their catch for the season. In some areas, it's the only way to make a living besides tourism.

Here are some of the quieter moments from my day with them.

My Time In 2011

2011. What a year.

Mine began when I moved back home to Louisville from St. Pete and started life as a freelancer. It went pretty well, but I experienced what every freelancer does with the roller coaster of never ending weeks and weeks with no work. There were times with boring assignments but there were also the ones with meaning. I got to bounce around the great state of Kentucky occasionally and I always feel something special when getting to meet so many different kinds of people. It's why I do what I do.

After some travel around the east side of America, something changed my life. I got a job with the Naples Daily News in Florida. That's right, back to Florida. Who knew? It wasn't even a year since I left and I'm turning around and going even further south. I'm not going to lie, it was a difficult adjustment for me. I left everyone I loved to come to this job. I know that they love me even though I left. I had nothing but support when I started and still do to this day.

Like I've said many times before, Florida is a place of infinite wonder. There's every type of person here and even some you can't find anywhere else in the world.

Shortly after I arrived to Florida, I jumped on a plane to Jeffersonville, NY. I was a part of a lucky group that participated in the Eddie Adams Workshop. I wrote about it in a previous blog post in October, but to reiterate, I had an amazing experience that I won't ever forget. I was inspired by so many great people in not only my vision but myself as a human being. Go Blue Team!

I don't know what 2012 will bring. I know my resolutions. I have several, including reading more, flossing, and tackling deeper projects. I know I have too many to take on in one year but they are all goals. Goals will be achieved and some goals will not. Either way, the theme of the year is this...

"Turn it up to 11"

-These photos are only a slice of what made the 2011 pie. After looking through my year, I felt these photos best represented what I've felt and what I hope to improve and achieve in 2012-