furry things of interest

bentley -- morgan's lovable yorkie. clearly, a ladykiller, even after a drastic hair cut.

arnold -- steph's regal rabbit. lives on a porch, hops circles around legs and enjoys the scent of floral body wash.

the governor and his shoes

Gov. Charlie Crist visited Ramblewood Elementary in Coral Springs. While addressing the media at the school's entrance, all I could think about were his shoes.

He was answering all of the reporters' questions and up until that point where I noticed a pair of tattered, leather slip-ons on the republican governor, I didn't expect much from this situation. His "people," standing just a few inches to the right of me, stared at me probably wondering why the little girl sitting on the curb is taking photos of the governor's shoes. They're modest, torn, almost non-threatening in a cheesy way, with all the fringe. Maybe I just love reading into things way too much.

It was surprising the way he related to the kids in the classrooms he visited. Half of them thought he was the president and were pretty star struck. Of course there was the awareness on my behalf that this whole thing is a photo op. But the governor would calmly squat down to tiny classroom chair level and joke with them in a soft voice while the teachers desperately continued trying to teach lessons no one was paying attention to.

After co-hosting the afternoon announcements with the school principal near the end of his tour, he walked through the library and stepped on someones shoe lace. "You better tie that," he told the little girl. "Actually," he said as started to bend down, "I'll do it for you." Kids were undoing their laces and crowding around hoping that they would be next.When he delivered the state of the state address back in january, i heard something about him being known for shaking the hand of everyone in the room. you know, something the "people's governor" (a role he's adopted) would do. Seems like he held true during this stop. With his "special governor pen" in his hand, he shook the hand of every student that lunged at him, every cafeteria lady that giggled with embarassment, every office aide trying to discreetly take photos with their cell phone camera. Needless to say, the governor left an impression on me.

a time for play

The community effort to build a playground at a foster children's facility was like "bonus element" ville. With all the boldly-colored pieces being hauled by all these sweaty, determined people, there was tons of framing and composition fun. There were about 250 volunteers, so it was totally layering-time, you feel me? Thanks for the nice wide lens, newspaper!

sinfonica de los antonios

the antonio bricenos (sr. and jr.) jammed for me in their living room. the place was laced with this strange, velvety sophistication -- peaceful still life hung on the wall, glass top tables, stacks of classical music sheets in a wicker basket. the afternoon's playlist included classical duets that i won't even pretend i can actually identify.

interamerican bank conference

jose miguel insulza, secretary general of the organization of american states. i was listening to him while sipping on free coffee on the itchy-carpeted conference room at the mariott in downtown miami earlier this morning. "latin america is not the poorest region in the world," he said while delivering the keynote speech at UM's second annual latin america conference. "it is simply the most unjust."

the fire out west

a brush fire and its resulting smoke led officials to shut down alligator alley as a cautionary measure. i was having trouble finding ways to get closer to the fire because the parameter they shut down was so large. i told jeremy, the dreamy plumber that lives just beyond the orange police barricade, my dilemma while i photographed him and he helped me get across.

it was a nice journey out to the broward /collier county line. the fire wasn't too serious. it didn't threaten any buildings or homes.

messy bessy

while searching old folders for photos from my high springs trip with the advanced one photo-j class, i realized how messy i can be.

nude colored tights and coloring books

the new york city rockettes visited the kids at the joe dimaggio children's hospital photo op style. it went smoother than i imagined.

edit - antonio

[because it was overexposed, i didn't include the photo of the shoes in the original post. after b&w-ing it, i kinda liked it paired with the face. hooray for the internet and its flexible editing possibilities.]
he picked the dried paint off his forearms and talked about his favorite seafood. he wears his job head to toe and can only rave about how much he likes it if you ask him about it. he takes pride in his job the same endearing way i've only seen elderly men do -- with a humble awareness that they are contributing to society in a way people don't want to subject themselves to. he was very lovely.

deja chomp...ions..

university avenue was saturated with beer and excitement as the end of the ncaa backetball tournament game approached. how does the gator nation do it?while slinking around bar stools and into black-light-lit hallways, i realized that this was the first time i had ever been to any of the midtown bars.

after sending some photos to el periodico back at casa casey, i went back out with a beer in my pocket and shot the well-anticipated celebration. nothing like toasting to emotion en masse to make for a delightful evening. left with only the 50mm on my canon and quickly regretted it.
on the bike ride home, two guys carrying a college park apartment sign crossed my path. i slipped in to the chanting caravan behind them and followed them back to their street fire.

[psotscrpit : my post title and its lack of creativity/enthusiasm does not reflect how i feel about the subject matter. it is really great to be a florida gator. it's just that most of the 352-photo brigade has already updated their blogs and totally used the great titles.]

dream act

for a story about the legislation aimed at undocumented high school students and their higher education opportunities. kique profiled a girl with perfect grades, high ambition, but no papers, who let us take her photo. as to not compromise her or her status, as well as comply with the company's policy, we couldn't use her face. kique held the flash tethered to my camera with the cord behind the girl while she studied. i think it worked out okay given the circumstances: nervous people, nervous editors, nervous me.

as a sidebar, we interviewed a venezuelan high school girl with an activist spark. she has been an advocate of the dream act. maria fernanda has started some real discussions at her high school. the bottom one was the one that run, because it fit the mood of the other photos better, i liked the top one better because it reminded me of those cheesy yearbook backgrounds.

sample douglas house

the sample douglas house in pompano was moved on three truck beds to a dirt lot where it's preparing for its unveiling as a historical house attraction.


on the way home, i had to stop to get this guy ever so delicately shaping the letters with blue paint on a store's roof.