Day 28 (Sat., June 26)

I love making lemonade when all I have is lemons. Today's lesson: never stop working. On Friday, when I went to check out the Salvador Dali art exhibit (which, by the way, was very enlightening) I saw banners promoting the city of Fort Worth's concert in the park series. As any journalist would, I got curious and decided to look into it. So, after doing my homework, I found out that the Fort Worth Botanic Garden hosts a lacer and firework show every weekend in June. Luckily, I found out about it the last weekend it was being held and I got a chance to go see what it was all about. These photos are all from that event. This was not an assigned event. I was there on my own because as a photographer, I figured it would be a very visual environment to portray. These are the photos. Other than that, today was long. I shot two assignments this morning. It's now midnight and for the past 12 hours, I spent working on two assignments and this one "enterprise" piece I have been typing about. I shot professional soccer today. Freddy Adu, the 15-year-old phenom who is compared to the great Pele, was in town to play against the Dallas Burn. My assignment was to go shoot him. However, he only played the final 18 minutes. But I was able to get the job done. The last two photos are from that event. I hope you like them. Spending almost 12 hours on working gives you the chance to learn something new. Today I learned that you cannot leave the camera rain-protecting gear at home, ever. It rained for most of the soccer game, and having the covers in the truck really saved my butt. As I mentioned in Wednesday's entry, during the intern meeting we discussed how to break news. One of the things that we talked about was having extra clothing in the car, just in case something happens. Well, I learned that lesson the hard way. The first assignment included taking photos at an used-car dealership. I rolled around in the ground and under the car to get a different angle. When I crawled from under the car I was completely filthy. So, I went home to change before heading out to the stadium. Tonight, when I shot the lacer show, I rolled around in the grass looking for a good low angle. However, as mentioned, it rained today and the grass was very wet. Needless to say, I went home wet, cold and with mud all over including my back. I was filthy, but got some photos to make it worth it. This reminded me of the time when I used to play little league baseball and I would come home with a very dirty uniform. It was a way to show I was part of the game. I still remember how other kids, who did not get to play too often, would pick dirt up with their hands and rubbed it on their shirts so their parents would think they played. Well, I am glad my mom was 1,500 miles away from my apartment when I got home tonight. Otherwise, I would have gotten yelled at the way I would when I would come home dirty. "Well, of course...'' she would say. "You don't do the laundry, so you don't care." However, tomorrow is laundry day for me, so I do care. But when I look at these pictures, I remember it was all worth while and I think I scored the winning run today.

 

Caption: Freddy Adu, a 15-year-old Major League Soccer star, (in front, wearing white) goes up for the ball against the Dallas Burn's Carey Talley in the second half of Saturday's game at the Cotton Bowl. The teams tied 1-1.

There was 13,933 expecators at the Burn vs. United soccer game today, the biggest crowd this season at a Burn game at the Cotton Bowl. However, I don't know how this lone Burn fan was able to find a seat all by himself.

Yesterday-Main-Tomorrow