Vero Beach in Season

The "season" here in Vero is in full swing which means lots of events and society parties to shoot. So, here's another random sampling of my coverage from the last few weeks.


I shot some more polo last month for an article that partially focused on the family aspect of some of the local teams. The second shot here is from an exhibition match where John Walsh squared off against his son, Hayden, for a few chukkers.




I got back in the kitchen for all of the excitement as chefs competing in the Vero's Top Chef fundraiser plated 160 dishes each for waiting diners and judges.


The Environmental Learning Center held its 14th Annual ECOfest, which brought people out in droves and gave me the opportunity to photograph happy children scooping up lake scum and holding large reptiles.



Out on the barrier island here you've got the beach on one side and the river on the other. It's only natural that I take a few shots of each on the reg.



I photographed local goldsmith Gary Dulac and, in an attempt to show his jewelry and him working at the same time, I shot one from the other side of the display case instead of up in his face. That one didn't make the cut but this macro shot of him applying his "scratch finish" to some 14k gold earrings made it into print.



The Vero Man Fossil went on display for a short time at the Vero Beach Museum or Art and drew people from all around the area for a glimpse at the piece of ancient art.


The Community Church in Vero began installation of their new Lively Fulcher pipe organ.


I like photos with space even if it's just a shot of a fellow dusting off a light fixture on the ceiling.


Asian antiques and their dealer


This last shot ran as a full page vertical on the front of our Health section. The patient is undergoing Conductive Keratoplasty to improve his near vision, not being tortured.

Bonus element: framing?

I actually had my external hard drive hooked up to my computer the other day so I randomly selected a few photos that I like from the last couple of months to make a blog post. Now that I'm looking at them I see that there are unintentional similarities between the bulk of them and that, apparently, I've been doing a lot of framing lately. I guess I'll need to start using a new bonus element this month...maybe a pan blur on every assignment? I'd say about half off these made it into the paper (which is not to say that they ran with any great size or uncropped) and the others didn't for whatever reason. Below you have the Bass and Birdies charity fishing/golf tournament; a trio of dishes from Tangos II here in Vero (that fish is a sculpture on the wall reflecting off of the bar); a whole roast suckling pig at Vero's charity Top Chef qualifiers; a Pilates class; set production for Riverside Theatre's big production of "42nd Street"; a shot from the Vero Beach Museum of Art featuring a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a watermelon; a neat little scene I stumbled upon walking along the highway the day after the Superball; a silhouetted Argentine horse at Windsor's Equestrian Park; and the last two are portraits of a fellow who is currently living and working aboard his sailboat at the Vero marina (I went with the first one for print but I liked the second shot as well). Thanks for looking.

Long Week

The other week I shot 18 assignments in 3 days for the paper here. It was a very hectic schedule that didn't allow for spending the kind of time that I generally like to have with each situation but there wasn't really an option. In rushing from place to place I made a bunch of portraits for Valentines Day, covered some society events, shot the food page, visited the annual Garden Fest, shot the artist profile, photographed an Elvis impersonator, and managed to score a good vantage point for the last scheduled nighttime space shuttle launch. Here's a sampling of what came out of all that running around.

Explosion and a Fire at My House, My House

A few days ago half of my apartment complex literally blew up. I was sitting in my living room when an explosion rocked me out of my chair. The neighbors across from me were trying to light their gas stove and something went very wrong. The explosion blew off an entire section of the building's roof. When I opened my door and saw the rubble and quickly growing fire I ducked back inside, grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911. Then I put on some jeans and shoes, grabbed my cameras and abandoned my apartment. After some initial shock I started shooting. I've shot quite a few fires, but the experience is very different when you are apart of it instead of just a bystander documenting the situation. Somehow my building didn't catch on fire and all of my belongings are ok (as am I) but others weren't as fortunate. I have had to move out of my apartment now since the gas, water and electric are all shut off and most of the complex is now condemned. I've been meaning to get back on task with the blog. I guess that this will do for the first post of the new year.

























There are a few additionaly photos to view in a gallery at Veronews.com