"Big Green" Epic Comeback

2003.

That was the last year that the Choctaw Indians beat their archrival: the Fort Walton Beach Vikings. Going into this game with five wins in a row this season, Choctaw had more to prove and more to gain against their Viking foes. The late scoring touchdown in the four quarter tied the score with about two minutes left in the game. Freddie Gray's (#21) interception catch on the Vikings drive and a touchdown a few plays later with less than a minute left in the game gave Choctaw the seven point lead that was deemed more than memorable. When the clock ran out and the Indians secured their 17-10 win, the fans flooded onto the field and cheered with the players.

Not only did the Indians break their 5 game losing streak against FWB...

They also broke the 19-19 tie in the series and raised it to 20-19.

On a night that was more than memorable to the Choctaw Indians, I found myself celebrating (silently) for one more reason than they were...

The last time Choctaw beat Fort Walton Beach was during my senior year at Choctaw. The first time I've attended the game since that night so many years ago is the time that the team finally broke the streak. Now THAT was truly the most memorable part of the night for me.



Video footage of the game along with the celebration at the end:





To say I entered into this assignment like any other football game would be a lie. Sure, a part of me is biased toward Choctaw, but I never let my personal feelings dictate how I cover an assignment. Yeah, I did want Choctaw to win, but my job is to photograph the game and capture feature images from both sides. I wanted to gather enough footage to balance the video and images with the exception of the winning and celebrating moments. If the Vikings had won, my images would have mostly contained red and blue screaming fans and players. Instead, I received a double dosage of excitement by being able to photograph and videotape my alma mater celebrating and cheering.





The closing seconds of the game were painful, that is, they were long and dragging. The energy off of the fans behind me was radiating and contagious. I wanted to break out and join them in celebrating, but I kept my focus on the task at hand. I photographed and videotaped several eager fans cheering and chanting as they waited impatiently to storm onto the field:







Once the game was officially over and the fans gathered in the middle of the field, I squeezed through the crazy Indian fans and grabbed a few good moments on video. When I discovered where the players were converging, I ran to the front in time to catch some chanting in the video and cheering in some images:



This game was by far my favorite football game to photograph/video this entire season. Covering a Choctaw game was part of it, but the suspense, the intensity, and the last-minute game-changing plays by Choctaw in this epic rivalry made this game one of the best all season. I am thankful that the staff photographer handed me the torch for this game and entrusted me with the sole responsibility to photograph football, fan & cheerleader, and band images for both teams as well as football, fan, and celebration video footage from both sides. This was by far the most work I've put into a game this season and it worked out very well.

The band photos were a lot of fun for me and made halftime fly by fast. The color guards were in front of me the majority of the shows, so I mostly have images of them performing. Here are two images from Fort Walton Beach's marching band:





These two images are from the colorguard of the Style Marchers:





If you were to ask me how that night could have been more memorable, my mind would draw a blank. If you were to ask me what I would have done differently, I would tell you a few minor issues. But, when I look at all the plays, all the photos, all the video footage, and all the screaming fans, there really couldn't have been anything better. Sure, my video camera froze on me during the second quarter and caused me to miss a few plays, and sure the intense play-making on the field had me running back and forth like a chicken with its head cut off, but it was worth it.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Stripes & Stars help us Remember

On Veteran's Day I photographed the Veteran's Day Ceremony at Beal Memorial Cemetery. In the hour-long ceremony, members of our military lined the grass by the flag pole with colorful wreaths for veterans in different cities and wars. The Fort Walton Beach city wreath (pictured below) was one of the components.



The event was meaningful and sentimental, but also very predictable from a photographer's standpoint. I looked toward the crowd for some versatile images and discovered a mother holding her daughter while they sat in a lawn chair (top picture). I watched them intently and captured an image of both of them gazing up at a miniature flag. The moment doesn't tell the story of the event too well, but it adds a special touch to the overall setting. Both images were published in the daily paper as well as the Eglin Dispatch.

Tropical Storm Ida

POST-IDA:

On Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, Tropical Storm Ida made landfall on the gulf coast near Mobile Bay. The Navarre, Fort Walton Beach, and Destin areas prepared for strong tropical strength winds and heavy rain leading into Monday night. The storm had passed through by Tuesday morning leaving a handful of damage in the areas close to sea level. I took a drive out to Destin today and photographed some of the damage found in the Destin Point and Jetty East condominiums. The top photo is one of the houses that had severe damage in the garage area. Below is an image of a worker at Jetty East cleaning up the parking garage area.:



The driveways were broken in half as well:



Another house a few doors down that lost the entire garage floor just a couple days after they repaired it. The paint was still drying on the walls when the storm hit and pounded the cement to the shore with a sound that resembled "bombs dropping" as the resident said.



The same house as a few pictures up, but with a wider view of the area. Trees were on the ground, garages were destroyed, and driveways were almost non-existent:



On my way back, I stopped on Highway 98 between Okaloosa Island and Destin to capture an image of some of the flooding by the road:



Before I returned home, I stopped by Meigs Park in Shalimar to see if it had any damage. I saw some of the wood by the seawall was uprooted but nothing else noteworthy. I took a snapshot of this woman walking along the damage:



PRE-IDA:

Before Ida make landfall, I drove to Okaloosa Island to look at the impact the storm was having on the beach. The waves were roughly crashing against the pier:



One guy was skim boarding on the water until he was told to stop because of the danger. I'm sure there were plenty of skim boarders finding a wave that day:



Underneath the pier:



A woman and her child walked along the beach before the storm:





www.nwfdailynews.com

For the Fallen...

Florida's fallen military members were honored during a memorial ceremony at Healing Field in Crestview Saturday morning. About 239 flags were placed throughout the field, one for each soldier killed in the Iraq war, and will remain up for the entire week. I studied the crowd throughout the ceremony to locate family members and friends of those who knew someone who had fallen so I could capture a photo of them by the individual flag that represented the person they knew. Not many people walked over to the flags after the ceremony, so I worked with who was there. After taking a few unexciting photos, I caught this girl leaning against a pole and gazing out onto the street. The look on her face, the position of her legs and feet, and the flags blowing in the background inspired me to capture the moment (top picture).

The girl was with her mom and dad, who came to remember a long-time friend of theirs. The soldier was killed only two weeks after he arrived in Iraq. As she told me the story, I held back tears as she struggled to do the same. My heart really went out to her and I expressed my condolences sincerely. She thanked me for coming out to take pictures and made me feel like my presence was of some importance to her. After I finished taking pictures, my heart was so moved that I retreated back to my car and played a song by Phil Stacey called "Old Glory". I've listened to it a few times today and feel as if this assignment was a bold way to remind me of those who died in the war. I truly respect those who put themselves on the line for our country and commend their boldness, for I know I would not have the strength to do what they do. May God bless these families and friends as they deal with one of the hardest tragedies in life.
Below is a photo of the rows of flags:



Friday night fooseball...well I like the sound of that. Once again I hit the road for a game and after being sidetracked for a bit, I finally made it to South Walton High School for a rivalry game. Walton (in blue) made some amazing plays and really pulled through the game with a 43-7 win. Normally I would submit a photo that shows the dominating team scoring, but I used my best photo instead:





VIDEO:






This photo shows and obvious face mask penalty, but the flag was withdrawn and dismissed after review. Well, I have the proof...but who listens to a photographer? Ha.





Here is a fumble caused by Walton and recovered by them as well:



Touchdown!



Feat of the week for football was a few kids just playing the game behind the endzone. I took this photo between plays so I was unable to get much closer and capture more action, but I liked how this one turned out:



www.nwfdailynews.com
www.varsitysportswest.com

A New Leaf

Art at the beach. It's not a bad way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon with family and friends. I joined in the atmosphere and photographed the 14th Annual Destin Festival of the Arts at Henderson State Beach Park. Many of the tents had paintings and photographs, but the glass art drew me closer. I scouted the area for awhile and finally settled for the first photo. Another interesting photo opp was at a 3D picture art tent. By looking through polarized lenses, certain sea life would jump out at you and create that 3D visual. I caught this girl gazing through the lenses and snapped the picture for the second print photo:



I always search for funny or unusual moments to capture, and caught these two women asleep on the park chairs. I thought their postures were funny, so I snapped a shot before returning to the assignment:





On Tuesday I photographed a district volleyball game at Rocky Bayou Christian School. RBCS won against Bethlehem and advanced to the next level. The published photo:



I also videotaped my first sports video for the Web site:



Thursday morning I traveled to Choctaw Field in Navarre to photograph the Air Force Special Operations Command's new joint training program. In the first picture, one of the trainers launches the Battlefield Air Targeting Micro Vehicle (BATMAV) as a Navy sailor operates the vehicle by ground control (bottom photo):



The Aircraft is already being used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the number of trainees in the program is only increasing. They started with 11, but plan to do more throughtout the first year. (paraphrased from article)



Thursday I once again traveled to Rocky Bayou Christian School to photograph the district volleyball game. RBCS advanced to the next game and beat Central High School. Here is the photo published:



I also did another video of the game:



Already 10 weeks into football, and I still can't get enough. This week I traveled to Niceville High and photographed them against Daphne High School (from Alabama). The game was largely in Niceville's favor as they dominated the scoreboard early in the game. One of the touchdown passes was my picture in print:





My first football video of the season:







Roy Finch (#24) accounted for several touchdowns during the game and was knocked onto the track after scoring on one of them. I caught the footage on video, and Finch rose to his feet as the crowd cheered in relief.



The crowd cheers while the band plays a song. I noticed the pink breast cancer ribbons on people's shirts and the player's pink wrappings around their feet, but I never found out the reasons why they chose that week to support breast cancer cure research.



The week was productive and the sports videos were a new leaf on my experience tree. I plan to continue shooting sports videos (esp. on Friday night football games) and work on my shooting/editing skills. Until next time...

www.nwfdailynews.com
www.varsitysportswest.com

In the spotlight...

Billy Ray Cyrus. Present but without Miley. The crowd didn't seem to mind as they cheered and screamed on the top of their lungs once Billy walked out on stage. He is a long time performer and a veteran to the Mullet Festival stage. As he belted out the high notes, danced with a pretend guitar, and spouted out random sayings from Hannah Montana, I scrunched down at the corner of the stage and snapped picture after picture of him. I always love crowd interaction with performers, so the first photo was the dominant photo in the paper. The second picture also ran with the first:



When I was a kid, I used to play with Barbies like most girls. I thought the dolls were almost non-existant now until Nick and I traveled to the Fort Walton Yacht Club to photograph (and video) a woman's 50th Barbie-themed birthday party. She loves Barbies and chose the theme because the 50th anniversary of Barbie also resided on this year. Many of the women there dressed as different Barbies and several men dressed like Ken.



Nick shot stills so I covered video. I've been wanting to practice video and learn Final Cut Express, so I took this opportunity to do so. Here is the final version of the video:



I wanted to capture some stills since the assignment was interesting, so between takes of video I snapped several images. Her friends got her a bike that she simply adored:





There is nothing like another Friday night football game. I drove to Crestview for the second time this season to photograph them playing Mosley. I arrived at that game with the knowledge that Crestview would win this game easily. What I didn't expect was the final score to be 34-33, with Crestview barely grasping the win.

This "flying" picture reminds me of a side-ways heisman pose (and a little of the tim tebow flying picture):



This photo was published in the paper as a vertical:







Crestview colorguard during halftime:





Another "flying" photo (of the same guy):



This kid was adorable. He didn't want his small, white, plastic football, so instead he went after the real football. He wouldn't let go of it for a bit so his dad had to take it from him and toss it away. Then he gave his son the plastic football again and they walked away. I thought it was funny:



www.nwfdailynews.com
www.varsitysportswest.com

Michelle Obama visits Eglin

As a photojournalist, I love taking on new, challenging assignments that push me to think outside the box and produce something more creative. I also love when those assignments involve another exciting element to them...like first lady Michelle Obama. Thursday afternoon she arrived to Eglin Air Force Base to speak to military families and show them her support. I was bused onto the base where I waited for over two hours for her appearance. The hangar was hot, but the crowd was patient. The wait was worth it.

The top picture was taken after her speech as she greeted several military families and exchanged comforting words and hugs. This image was published in the paper and submitted to the AP wire where I discovered it on yahoo news later that evening. The next photo was also published in the paper on the inside cover. She was walking the stairs where she would wait for Maj. Gen. Charles R. Davis to introduce her to the crowd (even though she really didn't need an introduction):



Here is a wide shot of the amount of people waiting for her to speak in the hangar. There was another press section directly behind the crowd on the left. There were about 1,100 people there:



The first lady waved to several of the crowd members as she finished her speech. I found the flag in the background as a great backdrop and took advantage it:



Before she gave her speech, I noticed she smiled a few times from the introduction the Major General was giving. After I snapped this photo, I noticed the woman in the background holding a baby was looking at her admiringly:



The crowd smiles, claps, and listens intently as the first lady gives her speech:



Michelle Obama sympathizes with the military and their families as she tells them how much she is in awe by them:



After the exit of the first lady, I saw these two women gushing over the pictures one of them took. So many people were emotional over the few minutes they got to listen to her or look directly into her eyes as she keenly looked back into theirs.



I knew the experience was humbling to me as I walked out of the hangar with a CF card full of pictures of the first lady. I hardly saw that assignment coming and barely had a chance to absorb the atmosphere before I was back to the office editing away. Assignments and opportunities like this remind me of how great it is to be a photographer.