Day 6 (Tue., Sept. 6)

I went on my first assignment today... sort of. I got to meet more co-workers and I quickly found out that the first week will be very influential. That's because I will be doing a lot of shadowing this week. What I mean by that is that I will be tagging along w/ some of the Sun-Sentinel staff photographers as they go on their assignments. This is great. My two other internships have been good and both times I was thrown into the mix as I got my first assignment within two hours of arriving at the office for the first time. Not that there's anything wrong w/ that. I actually liked the fact that I hit the ground running. However, I never really had a chance to see how things worked at these places, which were all very new to me. So, this internship will be different. I will learn a lot again, I know. I hope.

The early part of the day involved shaking too many hands. I learned a lot of names and met so many people. But since there were so many, I wondered if I will remember each and every name. Probably not, but I have four months to practice the name learning. It was cool to see everyone, especially when people recognized me from JulyThePhotoGuy.com. Wow! My web site is getting famous. Cool.

I like the way things went today. First, I was given a quick overview of what my tagging along w/ photographers will be like. Next, I was handed a Domke camera bag. In it was all kinds of goodies. Two 1D bodies, a 17-35 2.8 lens, a 70-200 2.8 lens and two flashes. Wow! They hooked me up. That means I won't have to worry about equipment during this internship. Believe me, equipment makes a lot of difference. You might have lots of talent and be good at what you do, but if you have crappy and/or cheap equipment, then it's going to be hard to get the job done. So, now I don't have any excuses for turning in weak images. This is going to be fun.

I was getting acquained w/ my new gear, but I was pulled away from it as I headed to the 11 O'clock meeting. There I met the leading editors at the paper. I was introduced and everyone said hi. Then it was all business from there. There was a lot of things to talk about because of Katrina and the long holiday weekend. It's been two weeks since I visited Steve Gonzales at the Houston Chronicle when he took me to his morning meeting. I really missed being around this environment.

After the meeting I headed to do some routine stuff. I got my mug shot done for my badge. Man, I came out so mean in the photo. I guess I had not seen myself w/o hair in such a long time that I forgot how angry I look that way. It also didn't help that the guy shooting my mug told me to smile for the camera and waited 20 seconds before shooting the photo. Once the flash and shutter went off, I was on the process of relaxing my face back from smiling, so I looked weird. I almost look like I want to kill someone. Haha.

I got my badge at a bureau north of Ft. Lauderdale, so I had a nice little mid-day drive. During the drive I got in contact w/ Todd Bigelow, one of my most influential photo professors at Cal State, Northridge. Todd is among the many photojournalists in the country who are following the aftermath of Katrina. He spent a few days in New Orleans and ended following a displaced family to Palm Beach. So, since he was in the area today, we had to meet.

Turns out Todd is really good budies w/ Tim Rasmussen and Rolando Otero, the director of photography and deputy photo editor at the Sun-Sentinel, respectivelly. It's quite funny that my bosses did not make the connection w/ my name and my university w/ Todd's side job as a college professor. I guess it's good that they didn't because I wasn't picked for the internship because of whom I know.

After becoming official w/ my badge, I headed out to shadow staff photographer Judy Reich to a high school volleyball game. It felt good going there. It was quite ironic how my last official assignment in San Angelo was a girls' volleyball game and I started my internship in Florida w/ a similar assignment.

We got to the match 30 minutes early, so we had a chance to talk a little about sports photography. We got acquainted and did the usual pre-game ritual that included getting rosters for both teams. The local high school, St. Thomas Aquinas, played host to Venice, Florida. I felt at home here as there is a Venice High School in Venice, California. Both teams have the same school colors, so I felt some sort of connection to Los Angeles.

I shot the photo that's at the beginning of this entry. It was good to do some sports photography. Especially w/ my new cool gear.

After work, I joined Todd, Tim and Rolando for dinner. It was cool hanging out w/ these guys as they talked about back in the days when they met and worked together. Todd shared the experiences of being a freelance photographer for big magazines such as Sports Illustrated and People. Tim and Rolando gave their insights into being in the newspaper world. It was cool to hear about the difference in both worlds. But most of all it was very inspiring. Tim talked about how important it is for his photographers to be well taken care for. That's why he gives us all good gear. Beacuase he wants the photographer to feel comfortable and just shoot. In fact, he has gone as far as setting hurricane kits that include all kinds of survival items so that his photographers can just pick up the kit and go to work. "That way all they have to worry about is shoot," Tim said. I like a boss who looks out for his employees. The coolest thing I heard from Todd was how he had a conversation w/ his wife after he got a call from People Magazine asking him to cover Katrina. Soon after he told her about the assignment, she was back from the store w/ all kinds of survival items for his journey ahead. It's beautiful to hear what Todd's wife did for him. It says a lot about their relationship.

It was good to hang out w/ my new bosses. It was also very pleasant to hang out w/ my professor away from the school environment. Photography is very rewarding. It puts so many great people along your path.

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