Day 2 (Sun., Oct. 16)

I couldn't start the day w/o my morning run, so I woke up early and ran down to the south end of the strip. It was a cool morning and I didn't have to worry about bad weather. Running in the west is so much easier than back in Florida. Here the air is dry. In Florida it is so humid that you are soaked in sweat within minutes.

Running on the strip felt so good. It was quiet and a few people were walking around. Quite the turn around as opposed to last night when things were hectic. As I was almost finishing my three-mile run, someone screamed "Julio!" and I was surprised someone knew me on the street. It was Joanne Lisosky, a professor from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington State. She's one of our advisers for The Working Press. I am still sad that Robert "Not Bob" Bohler won't be around. The professor from Texas Christian University made things fun last year. After running, I headed to work. The cool thing is that it doesn't seem like we are going to be doing too many photos of people talking into microphones during workshops the way we did in last year's internship. That was apparent as I headed out w/ Katy Stech of Syracuse University to do an assignment. She had an idea of talking to the faces on the street and getting their perspective on life in Las Vegas. It turned out to be a cool assignment as we were able to find Mrs. Aida
Casao, a 48-year-old woman who tosses fliers on the strip.

Being fluent in Spanish helped the situation because I served as translator between Katy and Mrs. Casao. After finishing the interview, I hung out w/ Mrs. Casao as I shot photos of her doing her job. She gave us insight into what she goes through during the day as she passes out casino fliers from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week for a $320 weekly salary.

I tried to be creative w/ the photos and I was able to capture the people she handed fliers to as they reflected on her sunglasses.

I got a good feeling about the internship w/ that first assignment. I was going to be challenged and I wasn't going to be stuck shooting people on the microphone -- at least not that much. Here are a couple of photos I did shoot during workshops. I tried to be as creative as possible and use a remote flash so I can give a better look to the "talking heads".

I ended the night by doing a photo essay on the opening night reception at Curve Lounge. It was really cool to be there because for the first time I didn't have to fight w/ managers when shooting photos inside a casino. Security is pretty tight in casinos and you have to watch your back even to shoot a photo of yourself in front of the cool architecture in these places. That brought up something to my mind. In Vegas there are millions of cameras and security is always watching the people that visit casinos. Yet, the tourists are given a hard time for shooting a single photo. Man! Anyways, here are the photos of tonight's opening night reception:

The final photo of the essay is very particular. I figured that the photo was cool as three women ate dinner while enjoying a view of the strip from the second floor of the Aladdin Casino. I shot the photo and thought it was a nice way to show how people were enjoying the convention on its first day. The photo was taken and then I had trouble. When asking the three women about their names for the caption information, I came across a very nasty person. The two women whose faces are visible in the photo were nice and gave me their names. However, the third, which is kind of hidden behind the woman in green, did not want to give me her name.

"OK, Cool!" I told the woman.

I respect that she did not want to give me here name. However, I have been taught by my photo professors and bosses that it's imperative that I get everyone's name. So, I tried to talk her into giving me her name.

"Quit! You're not going to get it," she said and she upset me.

"You know what?" I told her. "I often have people who do not like to give out their names and I respect that. But, I am just trying to do my job. What I find ironic is that in a room full of journalists, I thought I would have better luck and someone who would understand where I am coming from."

Well, I figured I had said enough and continued doing my job because I had deadline within an hour. So, I swung around and shot other people enjoying the balcony scene. Well, this person thought I still kept on shooting photos of her as I caught her flipping me the bird because she thought I was pointing the camera toward her direction. That's when I thought of something: this lady probably doesn't know anything about journalism. If she's doing that, she's obviously not one of "us" and she obviously doesn't know the dynamics of a telephoto lens. Just because I am shooting into her direction w/ a 200mm lens, it doesn't mean she's in the frame.

I still cannot understand why she would act that way. I mean she went as far as flipping the bird. This is while everyone was having a good time at the opening night reception. Hey, now that I think about it, she was not all dressed up like everyone else was. Maybe she was ashamed of the way she looked next to all the nice dresses and suits at the event. Or perhaps she's a true believer in what they say about Las Vegas: "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". It's really too bad that people like that give journalists a bad name.

Meanwhile, back at the TWP office, future journalists like Ryan and Katy were working hard on the layout of the newspaper. It's because of them that we will have a newspaper tomorrow morning. This is the true heart of journalism, the students who work hard and go on to great careers as honest and respecting journalists.

Other interns like (above, from left) Carla, Annie, Amanda and Clayton enjoyed the dinner and drinks at the opening night reception. They worked hard today so it was a well-deserved meal.

I am finishing the night of the internship w/ a feeling of accomplishment. I was able to stay focused throughout the day and I spent another day away from the gambling tables. That's quite an accomplishment!

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