Day 33 (Thurs., July 1)

Earlier in the week I talked about taking photos that depict the patriotic spirit of this Fourth of July week. Today's assignment helped achieving a photo like that. I was assigned to go to the Dallas Convention Center to shoot 700-plus petitioners who were just about to take the Oath of Allegiance and become U.S. citizens. Now, a bunch of immigrants finally getting their wish to become U.S. citizens is a big story. However, I have seen the many photos and news clips on t.v. showing a bunch of people swearing to obey and be part of this country. I wanted to step out of the box. The voting box these people now get to check off, if you will...

I wanted to show a photo that really gave u the spirit of why people were there. However, the photo I was looking for never happened. I was hoping to see someone jump for joy; or someone crying because their long-awaited process is finally over. But I guess that's what happened when these people got their acceptance letter in the mail a few weeks ago and now are just going through the ceremony to officially be citizens. Then it hit me. I wandered around the outside ballroom of the convention center and wanted to take a different type of photo. So, I had a vision. The shadow of a new citizen along the windows of the convention center with their little U.S. flag. So, for about 25 minutes I hunt this photo down. Salvador, who was there to write the story, approached me at one point and asked if I was ready to leave. I'm stubborn with my visions and I had to say no. For 10 more minutes I walked around and chased people who might be in the situation I as fishing for. Finally, an 8-year-old kid waved a U.S. flag and my eyes started to wave along with his hand. I ran, took a few photos and my mission was accomplished. It's great when you have a vision, it makes your photography job a little easier.

Today is a great day. Today is the first of July!!!! Do you know what that means?????? That mean that July (better known as Julio) has a whole month of birthdates. You see, today is my birthdate... and so will it be tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, etc., etc... Julio is July in Spanish (I find it hard how a lot of people don't make that connection when they go to my web site and can't figure out how i came up with the title JulyThePhotoGuy.com), so that means I have 32 birthdates a year. 31 this month and my real one on December 19 (mark it down; and send me gifts on that day). So, if you are reading this, you better send me my July birthdate gifts soon. Otherwise, they are going to stack up and I am not sure how you're going to make it up.

Also, today was a great day for the web site. www.JulyThePhotoGuy.com is becoming famous! Yes, that's right. If you are a frequent visitor to the web site, you are being part of history. You see, today I heard that the topics on my journal have been brought up all over the place. Such places include my university, my home, my home town in Calif., and most exciting of all: in Texas. Yes. The editors at Al Dia are frequenting this site. I am not sure if they are doing it to check up on me and make sure that I haven't done anything bad during my stay in their city (as if I would reveal such thing... hmm, maybe I would. Keep posted and if I do, you'll read about it). But maybe they are reading the site to make sure I won't write more bad things about the newsroom, like last week's Monday entry, in which I talk about the "Buscando Amor" episodes on the t.v. screen. I swore I would have been hung from a tree outside the Dallas Morning News building for posting that up. So, anyways... The popularity is increasing. Ben, one of the new interns that started in the sports department last week, mentioned he saw it and that he wanted to be featured on the site. Well, Ben, as of this minute, you're now famous! Other feedback from the web site include the other interns. Also, Minerva Hernandez, a sweet lady who has been working as a receptionist to the Daily News editorial department for a long time, mentioned she's been keeping up with it. I can't believe my words and photos are being seen by so many people. That's very odd because remember, I work for a newspaper, which means many people see my photos and words. However, these are people I know and these are people who can come after me if I reveal a few extra details about their lives. Salvador already wants me dead because all I do is portray him as quite the lady's man with the photos of him next to attractive women (evidence A and evidence B). I hope he doesn't kill me. Otherwise, he's looking at a long conversation with my mom as to why he brought me to Dallas and didn't bring me back alive.

OK, since I'm in the mood of saying today's a great day. Let me give you one more reason to believe why today's a great day... Today is Day 33 of my trip. Any combination of the Number 3 is my favorite number. I like the Number 3. So, 3, 33, 333, 3333 and so on, are my favorite numbers. So, today's a great day for being day 33 of my internship. More on my love for the Number 3 on July 3 (AKA day 35) when I will be talking about how crazy I am for the Number 3. So, come back that day. Thanks.

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