Monday
Posted on August 24, 2009
It’s been a week since I last posted . . . It’s been busy as it has been tedious. I spent my entire weekend putting together packages to send back to Arizona, wondering about what kind of project I want to do . . . something that is unique to Florida. It’s funny because if you ask me about Arizona it takes me about five minutes to give out ten story ideas and five of which I already have contacts for. Being in a new place where I haven’t been out much has made it a little bit harder. Each time I believe I have an angle, story or idea I find myself doubting it immediately . . . Going to have to change this.
As for the past week I turned in my first online videos and did my first video/photos assignment. It is a lot of fun, I love editing video but it is a totally different process here than it was at Cronkite News Service so my learning curve has been slow.
Last Saturday I photographed a couple whose house was in foreclosure. I would add the link to the story but I was unable to find it online.
Tuesday I came in and they sent me right back out for a wind feature. It was fun, although it felt weird . . . it makes me laugh when I think about shooting wildart 2-3 days a week during my internship at the Bend Bulletin in Central Oregon.
There was a Green Mamba attack on a cable worker in Hollywood, Fla. I shot video of Alan Cruz from the Miami-Dade Fire Dept. Venom Rescue Director. Tricky, no mike and just a small sony handycam but I think I did alright.
Go to sit in a courtroom on Friday for the sentencing of a young man, my age, for murdering his father and beating his mother while under the influence of vodoo spirits.
Along with shooting a young girl, Alyssa Rosenberg, who won gold at the Maccabiah games in Israel. I shot video which I edited for online and the tv station uses our work as well.
And the tour of the new Trump building in South Florida on Hollywood beaches.
Saturday was hitting up the Miami Dolphins vs. Jacksonville Panthers with photographers Robert Duyos and Jim Rassol. Here is the slideshow of the game. Below are some of the pics of the fans. It was a good time and my first Pro football game. I hope I get to go again. I’d like to do some portraits of the fans . . . they always crack me up.
I’m trying to wrap up the application to the Peace Corp and send in what I need to the Sudan Volunteer Programme. On top of that sending in the work I finished for the Virginia Piper Trust in Phoenix. Busy, slightly boring, weekend.
My newest addiction while editing on the computer? Common Radio on Pandora. Good stuff.
Monday
Posted on August 18, 2009
Your Monday is my Sunday . . . I can’t shake the feeling that I may not be making the most of my time in this wonderful state so I decided that my Sunday (your Monday) would be spent visiting a National Park!
I started the short drive from Ft. Lauderdale to the Everglades National Park. Apparently my GPS decided to send me via the “less stressway” or easyway to get around, at least that is how they sell it. So I got stuck on Florida’s Turnpike with no money . . . I mean in total (that I scrounged from the floor of my car) I had $1.13 in change to my name.
I found $ .92 at the first toll and she let me by with a look of pity. So desperately I looked for a way out, but my GPS was of no help and there were no exits with places to withdraw cash. I hit the next toll and scrounged up the remaining 21 cents in my car, gave the guy my story and he was so nice. Let me through, told me where I could go to get cash. Got my cash and continued on.
Anyway I finally made it to the Everglades and I guess I didn’t know what to expect. Well I didn’t expect to see the sign above. I was terrified at the idea of walking by an alligator but add the Florida panther to it, which until that day I had no idea existed, made me a little nervous. Safe to say that the most vicious creature I encountered that day were the mosquitos that bit right through my pants and shirt.
I started off with a trail farther in where you could see the vast expanse of sawgrass that creates that long expanse of the everglades.
The panorama is from a trail entering and exiting two little “islands” or built up areas. I would have photomerged it in photoshop, but it wasn’t working.
The area is flat, flat, flat . . . the highest point I reached was 4ft above sea level. So you just have these little “islands” or poofs of trees and bushes and palms. Some areas look like tropical.
While others look like they could be from up North.
On my drive around I saw this guy, thought he was a duck at first, half sunning on the road. I kept getting closer and closer to him, waiting for him to hiss or bite, but he just ran back into the glades.
I also believe I photographed an Anhinga but I’m not sure since this one looks a little small and a little too brown.
As well as this variety of scenic plant life and random photos.
Monday/Tuesday
Posted on August 4, 2009
Cross country trips are exhausting. I left Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday at about noon and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 48 hours later. I went from point A to point B on Sunday, referring to the above map. Then I drove from Point B to Point C on Monday/Tuesday. Today I am completely exhausted and on the trip I was a bit bored out of my mind . . . so I kept myself busy I bought an awful book on tape from a Loves Trucker stop in Baton Rouge. While there was a lot of violence, but plot wise it was pretty simple. I also calculated over and over again how much time I had left to get to point A,B,C, whatever. And I counted things . . . That was the most fun, here is my list!
1 – One of each: racoon, possum, and armadillo roadkill (only special because we don’t have them in AZ!)
2 – Number of times I was cut off by Arizona drivers outside of Arizona . . . jerks . . .
3 – Number of times I locked my doors while driving because I thought of those horror movies where the guys hide in the backseat . . .
4 – Number of I called my sister on the road 🙂
5 – The number of grasshoppers I crushed in Texas to get to the motel . . . so . . . gross . . .
6 – Number of Pilot truck stops I stopped at to use the restroom.
7 – Number of times my car made that noise when you run onto the shoulder because I was trying to take video of the trip and got distracted.
8 – Number of times I passed Cracker Barrels . . . . Oh Ashley
9 – Number of pictures of fetuses (plural?) on Prolife billboards in Florida and Mississippi, I only put this because they are the size of my car . . . thought it was weird.
10 – Number of times I heard Pitbulls Calle Ocho song . . . . you know you want me . . . .
I’ll be adding the random clips I took that nearly ran me off the road later . . . for now I want to sleep before my first day of work!!!
Deanna Dent 
