Ok, I went to Haiti. Like all of us, I was shocked and saddened at the first news reports coming out of Haiti after the devastating earthquake on Jan 12, 2010. I watched the news in disbelief and could only imagine what the Haitian people were going through. I was watching for the first news photographs to come out of Port au Prince, when I got an IM from an old friend.

“Hey, you want to go to Haiti?”

Well, um, of course. Even though I had not covered too much news in the last few years, it is still in my bones. And this was/is going to be one of, if not the, biggest story of the year. Seems my friend who is a DC photog has some ‘in’ with a few military folks and they were heading down to help relief efforts. All we had to do at that point was get to San Juan, where the Air Force was staging and we would be good to go. Not wanting to go without an outlet for the photos, we scrambled to try to get some guarantees. Seems I don’t carry much weight in the photojournalism circles these days, and it was hard going. And most of the organizations that would be hiring photogs already had folks on the ground or en route. We were all set to go, and I bought a one way ticket to San Juan for the next day when things fell through. As with most military plans, they are fluid, they change all the time. Well, his contacts changed and couldn’t really help us out. Now I am more or less itching to go. I put some time into this and really wanted to go and bear witness, be a part of the story, do whatever I could to help. I decided to try something that had worked in the past for me and called up the Public Affairs Office of the 82d Airborne Division. Found out the Division would be sending down a few thousand troops. I asked if there was room for a journalist to come along. This is called being ‘embedded’ or a ‘ride along’ program. I was told there would be, my credentials were checked out, and I was told to wait for the call. So, I waited and waited and waited. I also got myself out on the embed list for SOCOM, which went very well, but I still have not heard from them! After about 10 days I had just about given up and was getting back on with real life when, of course, I got the call from the 82d. Told to be at Bragg Monday morning, so I was, but the flight was delayed until Thursday at 7am. Fayetteville is not that exciting. But next thing I know I am walking towards a 767 with about 350 soldiers, on our way to Haiti.

So, I wake up and it is screaming sunlight and hot as hell. We were on the ground. I could almost not believe it. The damage is right there on the walls of the terminal, cracks running every which way and you try to imagine what kind of force can do that. There were 9 journalists total, myself, a 2 person TV crew from Savannah, a 3 person TV crew from Raleigh, a one man producer for CBS News and 2 other still photogs from High Point. We were all assigned to different units within the brigade. I was assigned to the 2/319^th AFAR, a field artillery unit. After gathering up our stuff it was off to the FOB ( forward operating base ). I was thinking I would get there hang out for a day or two, get my bearings, then switch to a line unit. Well it was apparent right away that this FOB was the one to be at. They had scouted by air and ground and found an equestrian stable and the owner was very happy to share his space with the troops. So they had moved in. I was on the ground for about 10 minutes at the FOB when Cpt. Alexander came up and asked if I wanted to go on a HA ( humanitarian aid ) mission. I dropped my pack, grabbed the cameras, and off I went. It was my first real look at the situation. It is as awesome and awful as you can imagine. Buildings just flattened, and you know that every one of those buildings has bodies still in the rubble. There were tents set up on almost every open piece of land, and by tents I mean everything from bomb proof 10 person shelters to tarps to bed sheets strung on a wire. There were people everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Just like you would expect in a capitol city. The markets seemed to be back up and running, more or less. We made our way to a distribution point where the 82d was providing security. The way it works is like this – the NGO’s go into a camp and find a camp ‘leader’ and with his help they identify how many people need rice. Then they give out rice coupons to the women in the camp. It was determined that having the men in the lines and receiving the aid was troublesome for a few reasons - from violence to the children not receiving the food. The women then would show up at the distribution point the next morning at sunrise and World Vision would hand out a 55lb bag of rice to each woman. A couple of hours before this the 82d would go in and start to clear and secure the DP. Then they would hold back the crowds and just keep order. This would happen at many different points in the morning and then again in the afternoon sometimes if more rice was freed up. The 82d is very respected in Haiti, and there were only minor incidents. The people just kept order.

I got back to the Black Falcon FOB and someone had set up a cot with a bug net for me under a pavilion amongst the officers of the group. I’m not usually used to hanging out with officers, being a former Sergeant, but this was a great group of guys. All of them from the Colonel to the privates were all very nice to me and many went out of their way to make sure I got where I needed to go and that I was included on missions. The guys have a special skepticism of the media, many of them having been burned before by quotes taken out of context and reporters with agendas. I was just there to shoot what was happening I told them. These guys were doing their job so well, it got to be a little stale visually. I told them that I wasn’t there to make them look bad at all, but that if anything got out of hand I would be shooting it and that those pictures would certainly be selling. They thought that was fair enough. And once they found out that I had been one of them, they all seemed to relax a bit. So my days at first consisted of getting up and going out on a HA run in the morning, but after a few days of that I knew I had gotten all I was going to get from those and I needed to sleep in as I was not sleeping well at all in the heat and humidity. There were runs to the stores, to tent cities, to pick up relief supplies, to hospitals, orphanages, etc. I went out whenever I could. The best things were the foot patrols through the city. That it how you really get to see a place, by walking. We would run thru the tent cities that they were responsible for, just to make sure it all looked safe and to see what the NGO’s had done…new sanitation? New water points? Then we would go thru the markets and look for the rice and other aid that had been given out. They were not looking to get anyone in any trouble, just wanted to check the prices, to see what it was going for on the streets. That way they could help judge when it was reaching a saturation point as prices fall. I ventured out on my own a few times and never felt threatened. I was yelled at by a couple of old ladies near a water point, but I just moved on. After 8 days of this I decided I wanted to change my view, I was going to go to the journalist hotel and work from there. But then I decided that I had had enough and needed to get back to Charlotte. I was hot, sweaty, sick ( outer ear infection ), tried of drinking warm water and eating MRE’s, although that chicken breast with jalapeño cheese spread on a wheat snack bread is pretty good! The city was returning to a normalcy. I did leave right before the ’Days of Mourning’ and if I had known about that I would have stuck around for that. I didn’t get to the worst hit areas. I stayed mostly in the areas where the guys I was with were working, Citi Soleil and Citi Militaire. At first I was bummed and upset that I wasn’t seeing it all. I felt like I had only done part of the story. But then I realized I could not do it all in 8 days. So I mentioned that I was going to head out and within 5 minutes the word came down that I better get to the airport now to catch a flight out in an hour. That was a whole other adventure. It turns out that some Air Force Colonel decided that civilians, even embedded civilians could not fly back to Bragg/Pope so I had to get on whatever plane they told me to get on. Great. I ended up in Charleston SC, had to rent a car at midnight, drive a couple of hours, crash at a hotel, drive to Bragg, drop car off, get cab to my car then drive home! It took about 24 hours with some much needed sleep and iced tea involved.

All in all I think it was a good experience. I shot some good photos, nothing earth shattering like the work coming out of Haiti from the first week after the quake, but not bad over all. I was covering a story that was not being covered. On all the missions I went on, over 15, I never saw another journalist, not even the ones I came in with. These soldiers from the 82d were busting ass, working hard to get this aid out and doing a great job of it. They were not only providing security, but they were also coordinating with the NGOS and all the people who need help in their AO ( area of operation ). Because these guys were on the ground and out walking and talking to people, they know the area like no other. They would make lists of the camps and orphanages and what was at each one and what each one needed, from food, to clothes, to medical to building assessments, and then they would meet up with the heads of the NGO’s and pass along this info so that they knew where to go with their aid. It is good work. It should be known. These guys are usually on TV or in the news when something goes wrong. Well this is a story of how it all goes right and no one is telling it.

I would love to go back and make all the shots I am thinking of now, that I missed. If you know of anyone looking for someone with experience in Haiti, please pass my info along.

Now here are some pix, a mix of PJ shots and snap shots:

my bunk -

A huge 18 foot projection screen was brought in for the Super Bowl

Crowded street

A child asks for anything from the guys on patrol. They were not allowed to give anything to the people and while these are tough, battle tested dudes, it broke some of their hearts, even if they deny it now!

Carrying away the rice. These ladies could carry anything on their heads, anything!

checking for rice coupons

a helper on patrol

unloading Shelter Boxes. These things are awesome. Check them out. This is where you money should go if you are donating.

A Specialist keeping watch

Crowded market

beans and grains and rice, oh my!

Trash is everywhere, just piling up.

Animals, like this pig, roam free throughout the city. I saw ducks, loads of chickens, pigs, goats and cattle.

Crazy busses EVERYWHERE!

A sergeant stops the line of people heading for rice.

destruction everywhere you looked. One block would be complete flat then the next would only have 1-2 buildings damaged.

Two young boys. Note their toy cars, it is a plastic bottle with bottle caps for wheels pulled by a string.

On patrol

trying to get a shelter up before a rain comes.

on patrol passing a damaged building.

Children in a tent city wait to be seen by an Army medic.

Spec. Bellinger, a native Haitian waves to some kids while on patrol.

Enterprising folks created cell phone charging stations with small generators and power strips. EVERYONE has a p hone in Port au Prince.

Patrolling through a tent city.

This dude freaks me out. Must be some kind of voodoo thing.

Waiting in line for a Shelter Box.

Keeping watch while resting on what used to be a school.

Waiting for rice.

Bags of rice

Children in a tent city play with homemade toy kites.

Children in a tent city

A child smiles.

One of the biggest reason we bought the house we did is for the very large yard. It is almost a full acre and we are 3 miles from downtown center. Kinda crazy. I know there are larger lots here in Charlotte and 1 acre doesn’t compare to some of you who live  in the sticks, but it is awesome for us. The dogs love it, love it, love it. They will run and run and play all day. They have made a little path around the fence and sheds. And I feel sorry for whichever squirrel stumbles when I open the back door, they will be a goner if these dogs ever manage to catch one. While we were house hunting and checking out the neighborhood, we saw three deer in a yard about 10 houses away. That was pretty cool. Then one night after a late shoot I came home to an 8 pt buck standing in our driveway! We have had deer int he backyard, they jumped the fence to get in and out and the other night a herd of 8 strolled right across the driveway while we were standing there. I’m sure there is other wildlife around, but that is what I  have seen so far. Oh, we have heard an owl a few house away. We want him to come here!

We also love birds and decided to put out feeders. And before you knew it we have 9 feeding stations set up! Can you say obsessed committed! We have replaced some of our earliest ones with better and prettier ones. We just were gifted with an awesome anti-squirrel feeder from Lesley’s mom that spins the squirrels away, can’t wait to see that in action! So now we have 7 feeders with seed and 2 with suet. It has been awesome to watch the birds. We have some many kinds it is kinda crazy, we can have over 10 species in an hour! We have had 2 types of woodpeckers, cardinals, wrens, finches, bluebirds, all kinds! I am hoping for blue jays but that would be both good and bad, as I hear they chase away a lot of other birds. We would love an owl and a couple of other types of woodpeckers, but we are mostly very happy with what we are getting.

I decided I would like to take some pix of these birds for both fun and for help in identifying the ones we couldn’t. So, I dug up my 300 f4 and took the screens off the windows and started shooting. Now, these photos are not of the best quality, many are shot at very high ISO’s and are cropped very heavily, like 1/8 of the frame or even less. I could do better with a 400 2.8 and a 2x converter, but, alas, I sold mine about 10 years ago when I stopped shooting sports. So here is what I have done with what I have on hand! If you know any of the birds I can’t identify or notice an mis-identified birds, please let me know!

pt

Eastern Bluebird - we love our bluebirds and hope they nest nearby this spring. We have 3 houses throughout the yard spaced well apart.

Eastern BluebirdNot sure who this is, maybe a wren?

Tufted Titmouse - a very regal bird

Tufted TitmouseA common DoveDowny Woodpecker - we LOVE the woodpeckers. We have also had a Red Bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Purple Finch - we also have an orange-faced one, but I can’t find him in the bird books or online.

Goldfinch I beleiveBlack-capped ChickadeeNuthatchWe love our Cardinals! We have quite a few of them and just love the flashes of red!I love the ‘What is he doing, What is he pointing at me’ look in his eye!Not sure, do you know? Some kind of wren or sparrow?3 kinds of birds on the feeder at once!Grackles  - the jury is still out on them. They come en masse and make a mess. Those are two bluebirds on the wire in the background.Thought this was a gold finch, but now I am not sure. Some help, please?I hate the squirrels. But just can’t bring myself to shoot em yet. They’ll just keep coming. 

I’ve been getting a bit restless and cranky lately. Those of you who know me well know that that is not a good combination. I get a bit, well, um, snippy. I need to be doing something, creating something. I need to be shooting something, anything. I’ve been reading some blogs that say just go shoot anything, it doesn’t matter what. If you are a car photographer, you don’t have to shoot cars ALL the time. I know this to be true. Just shoot. But, what to shoot. I can fall into a rut just like most any photographer where you feel like there is nothing to shoot and then quite conversely, I can find my self with an over abundance of ideas. It is the hot and cold of the creative mind. You get stuck behind a computer. You get stuck trying to figure out how to earn a living. You get stuck building a shed. Just shoot. I’m not complaining, I love what I do and couldn’t see doing anything even if someone would hire me! The day to day stuff of life can weight on a creative mind, as can whatever internal battles there are. And if you have a creative mind, you have internal battles, well, wars sometimes! Just shoot. So today I finally decided that I just had to shoot something, anything. I thought I would go for a drive, maybe look for a location or find some people, anything that caught my eye. Shiny! But then I got caught  at the desk finishing up an assignment, it started raining, the cleaning crew came and the blinds installer came. Enough stuff to squash my plans. Then I decided to just find something, anything. As I  watched the rain I kept seeing patterns in the drops, in the splashes. They looked great. I thought about lying down and trying to shoot some of those drops and splashes. Not the most original idea, it’s been done by most everyone with a camera. And of course it was now about 5pm and the light was going, going, going……. Stop coming up with excuses to not shoot! Solve the problem, make some photographs. Just shoot. So, I did. found a spot with lotsa drops and laid down and started shooting, I was using the highest ISO setting onthe camera, 6400!, But as soon as I laid down and started shooting, I felt good, no, make that great! I started seeing other places I could lay down and not get totally soaked. I started to play with camera settings and angles, I started shooting! Feels good. The photos aren’t going to win any awards, aren’t going to appear in a magazine or and ad and they aren’t going to make me any money. They are just the product of a creative problem that I tried to solve, the product of one side of my brain winning a battle. Just shoot.

So we tried something new this year. We joined a CSA this past season.  CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Basically you pay up front for the seasons harvest. This does a few things, 1 -it guarantees you some food. 2 - it guarantees the farmer a certain amount of sales and 3 - it supports local small farming operations. ( there are many many much more detailed and, probably, more correct explanations all over the interweb thing )The farm we chose is a USDA certified organic farm. That is kinda big deal as there are many , many hoops to jump thru to get the USDA certification. We went and did a farm tour and we liked the farmer and her operation so we signed up. What we were guaranteed was a part of the harvest every week. Whatever was in season, whatever was harvested, we received some of it. I think. We did receive vegetables every week, but some weeks we didn’t receive very much and other we received way too much of things that we didn’t want or like. We would receive a list in the email that said what was expected to be harvested and some weeks it matched up others, it looked like we were sent the wrong email! Either way it was always a nice surprise on Wednesdays when the box came. The worst thing about the program was having to clean everything when the box came. We couldn’t put it away dirty and the veggies were so fresh from the fields that there were often bugs and slugs mixed in, much to Lesley’s displeasure! Over all I would recommend a CSA to everyone. The veggies are as fresh as you can get them other than growing your own and your doing your part to support local farming. Remember, no farmers = no food!

We found out a few things about our own eating habits during this 26 week period. We found out we really really like the greens. Yup, the chard, the kale, the mustard and beet greens, we love em all! Before this neither Lesley or I would have even thought of trying them. But we realized quickly that the spring boxes were piled high with these so we tried a few recipes and we loved em. In fact we are still buying them from the farmers market or the grocery now and are excited for the spring to come for more fresh greens! We also liked the Pak Choy. The carrots were awesome! As were the green beans. The purple beans, which we received for over 7 weeks, were not so good. we ended up with about 2 large ziplock bags full that we tried to give away. The fresh garlic is outstanding and is much better than the store bought stuff. the potatoes were just amazing also. Lesley loved the eggplant, I didn’t care for it. The micro green were surprisingly awesome . I found out i liked radishes. We didn’t care for the beets or kohlrabi, but loved the broccoli rabe.

So with all that said, I thought it would be a fun idea to photograph the boxes every week. I started out being very disciplined and getting it done every week, but then work and life gets in the way sometimes. We couldn’t let the boxes sit as everything started to wilt right away ( and the bugs would crawl out of the box apparently! ) So if I wasn’t there to get the box right away or within a couple of hours I didn’t get to shoot it. Then we bought a house in the middle of this and that got in the way too. Then towards the end the boxes also started to lose their appeal to me, it was hard to get motivated to come up with a new way to shoot the same veggies. At first I looked forward to it as a visual and creative exercise, but after 10 weeks it grew a bit old. I really loved shooting the veggies but being in the new house and moving and having all my stuff all over , it all just got to me. But I did shoot 13 weeks worth, half of the program. Not bad. And I took some pretty great photos.  So here is a roundup of the photos.

Well it has been a while since I updated. It’s been a very busy, crazy time. The house projects are mostly done. I am moved into my new office. The shed is built. The walls are painted. Lighting updated. We had a trip to Florida and I had a fishing trip that turned into a fly tying trip because of the poor weather and rough seas. I have also been shooting quite a few different things. This post is from  our road trip back in September and our trip to Florida. Mostly these are just some photos that I wanted to share. I am hoping to get a few more posts in before the end of the year.

I hope everyone has a great and safe Holiday Season!

This boat is huge and has a history according to Google. Yes that is a helicopter on the deck. This was in Montauk, NY

This is my friend and super talented photographer Cary Conover. He shoots in a pool league in NYC. I taught him everything he knows. Just kidding, I’ve not been able to beat him in a long time.

This is the view from our room at the Cooper Square Hotel, looking uptown. Not to shabby.

While in NYC we visited the Met. I had not been there in over 30 years and I had forgotten how much I love it. We went to catch the Robert Frank exhibit of his classic work, ‘The Americans’. No photos were allowed in the exhibit and I followed the rules for a change!

A close Close.

I love me some Jackson Pollock

Part of the Asian art wing.

This is The Tomb of Perne. It is very impressive and only peaks my interest in traveling to see more Egyptian sites.

In the Roman and Greek wing.

Hand carved Buddha’s, there were hundreds of them on this one piece. I am in awe of the craftsmanship and effort put into what we consider art today.

While driving outside of Philly, we came across this abandoned rose green house operation. At least I think it is abandoned, it was way over grown with much broken glass and roses and other plants everywhere. It was a photographers dream. I would love to go back, but I’m not sure I could find it again.

While in Miami I visited with my friend Mark and we stopped for a happy hour drink at one of my favorite watering holes, Mac’s Club Deuce, a great dive bar on Miami Beach.

It’s five o’clock somewhere!

The E-Train!!!!

Always a photo waiting to be made at the Deuce.

Neon left over from a 1980’s Miami Vice episode!