Saturday Sept 09

Well fall is upon is in Savannah, which only means my weekends will be a lot more busy--with school events, football and events around the city there is always something to shoot. Today was a perfect example of that. I know I promised scenes from HS football, but rain forced me not to take any I was more trying to get good video in between the rain delays. I promise some actual pictures after I return from vacation.

Anyways..today was a very eventful day it started with the Savannah Pride festival. It is neat that Savannah, a southern town has such a large LGBT community. I interviewed two college students who gave me amazing sound. Both were very intelligent and well spoken( hints the great sound). I then went to the Savannah College of Art and Design to shoot their orientation. Having graduated from SCAD it was inspiring to be back on campus--working in my career. It's moments like that when you look back on your education and smile, knowing that it's what got you the job--that and some talent! I did an interview with a SCAD official and another alumnus who happened to be one of the designers of facebook. When I get interviews I typically prefer to get the 'regular' people as opposed to the 'officials' it tends to make a better SOT (sound on tape). However sometimes the officials help explain what is happening at the event better because they are trained in speaking the media. I typically go with a public information officer for things like shootings, fires etc. Someones a witness is better for an interview because they actually saw what happened and aren't afraid to talk about it--police can't until after its investigated.

I was then off to a sept 11th event with one of my fellow reporters, he did the interview which meant I only had to focus on shooting--I love that!

Finally came the evening and the part of the day where I actually remembered to take pictures. ;) I attended the Savannah Philharmonic and an ballroom dancing charity event.

Well that ends my Saturday I'm heading out only to be back here tomorrow.

And finally

I will end with this... Thank you for keeping up with these post today I'm too tired to post as they happen so I have to backtrack on Sundays.

Anyways the final two stories of my Saturday were a bike ride fundraiser and a pedestrian that was struck by a car.

I'm off tomorrow--this photographer needs a much needed break!!

College Football

I thought I would share what I do on my breaks, got to love some football!

Craft Brew Fest

Savannah is known for a few things our hospitality and our bar scene. Well both were on display this weekend at the 4th annual craft brew fest. I was dispatched to cover both the beer tasting and a concert on both days of the weekend. It was very hot very hot but, I was glad when it was over. I couldn't have any drinks, it was a tease just to look and not to touch. After work I passed out and just went to bed gearing up for my Sunday.

A bloody holiday

It's never a good sign when I have to cover a homicide, it's an even worse sign were we have to cover 4 in less than 24 hours. We received a call from police at around 4:30am Saturday morning that two people have been shot and killed and their car crashed into a wall outside of an apartment complex. The details are still coming in from police, but they are in need of the help from people.

The third killing occurred on Hilton Head Island involving a young child, and the forth early Sunday morning on river street--downtown Savannah. All four killings are under investigation.

High School Football

It's my favorite time of year--football season! At my station we have a Friday night high school football show that we dedicate a half hour too. Each able person grabs a camera and goes out to shoot some talented young football players. My school was Groves HS in Garden City, GA. The atmosphere was a great one, it's been years since I've been to a HS football game. However, the play was a bit left to be desired. The final score was 49-0 against Groves. I left a half time made a beeline to the station, edited and wrote the script and headed home for a turn around to my Saturday. Check out the pic from below it was a bit rushed cause I was leaving, but I should have a better pic of more games next week.

Savannah is ready!

Those were the words spoken by Savannah's Mayor Edna Jackson earlier this morning at Savannah's new emergency operation center. Yes we are feeling effects of Tropical Storm Isaac here in Savannah. Our news director has made it clear that the weather is the lead story from here on out. When weather is the lead you typically do a lot of weather type stories. This gave Savannah a chance to rest the minds of its residents by showing just how 'ready' they are. This facility holds a backup generator, backup 911 center and host a wall full of dozens of monitors so city officials can keep an eye on everything. The small snag is that the facility won't be up and running until a few more months. A federal grant is what funded the operations center to a tune of a million plus dollars.

The city lead us on a tour full of empty rooms and rows of empty telephones. It wasn't a very interesting story visually, but it was nice to see that the city is trying to make us safer-- mayor Jackson said we are ready for anything. She hosted a press conference with other city disaster leaders and the local media, WJCL (ABC) ,WTGS (FOX) and my station along with the paper were there. WSAV which is NBC was absent.

My day was quiet besides that, nothing but the sound of the rain fell between the squawk of the radio and the sound of typing in the newsroom.

Sunday Shift

Well Sundays are a mixed bag, some days we have lots to do others like today was very slow. I only had one formal story to do okay two formal stories to do. One was a opening of an office for a DA and the other was a fundraiser for a children's hospital.

On the breaking news side of things I had to cover two accidents, one a possible death and the other a fender bender nothing too serious. More than likely people are always willing to talk to me at an accident or crime scene, you would be surprised how many people want to tell you exactly what happened-- often its when you don't ask. On the one side that's good the other side it can make your job a bit tough having to shift through the lies and find the truth-- but hey that's what journalism is all about right!? Well I have one final day of my week before my ' weekend' I'm calling it a night.

Fire at a Shed

First off I want to say sorry for not posting as much as I should. Now that I have the time after I get off work I can and also I will be using a new app on my cell phone that will allow me to quickly post pictures and text on my downtime.

Now on to the picture you see above that was the result of a fire on the islands at around 10:30 Saturday evening. Fires make good television but it is rare that the media is able to get to an active fire. We typically end up getting the aftermath. I was 'lucky' enough to arrive on scene just
as the fire was being put out. According to officials on scene the fire is still under investigation, there have been no injuries and we are still awaiting a press release.

I was then set to a police DUI check point on route 80 on the way to Tybee. It was a really cool story especially since I got to see the police officers set up the checkpoint. The reason I didn't have any picture from it was because I had to pee and I didn't have much one to shoot and take pics as my shift was ending--have to be quick.

Lastly, I did 8 stories, it was a pretty good day. It's rare where I can go through a day without shootings, I deadly accidents. I promise to post more.

Terror at the Movies

No one should have to feel like their lives are on the line while watching a movie. That is exactly what happened at around 12:05 MT in a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado just outside of Denver. A gunman opened fire on dozens of movie goers during the screening of the Batman movie " The Dark Night Rises". It was a dark figure wearing body armor head to toe and carrying several automatic weapons who turned a happy movie occasion into a national tragedy. 12 people have been confirmed dead, 51 injured and nearly 71 confirmed shot. My morning started around 3:45am, it was another Friday--everyone was waiting for the weekend. Shortly after 4:30am EST I noticed flashing police lights on a monitor in our control room. I was in audio at the time, I cued the sound and took a listen, our affiliate KUSA was bringing us information that sounded as though there had been a 'mass casualty event'. Our producer noticed the feed  we took the video live in the top of our 5am hour. Thirty minutes later we would go into wall to wall coverage of this event. By 8am EST we learned that several people were killed in another American shooting. The worst since Virginia Tech, where a mass gunman killed 32.

There are some days where you wish for something to happen to make your day go faster--this was something we could never or would never wish on anyone. People are now without mother's, father's, sons and daughters. Movie theaters across the country are stepping up security--there is really nothing we could do as a nation. We are a free nation, and we don't like government interference. But maybe that's what we need more of. We should of already had security at our theaters and we should already been weary of people who bought multiple weapons in a short amount of time. I'm not against guns, but I feel that we should of caught this sooner, we could of noticed this sooner, and who knows maybe this would of been prevented. I think sometimes we are all too busy to notice people who are crying for help. Maybe we could of saved Mr. Holmes sooner.

Let me say this, I DO NOT feel sorry for him, but do feel sorry for all those who were on the otherside of his weapons. We are sometimes too busy to notice these kinds of people and when we do, we don't do anything about them. We have to speak up! Okay I'm off my soap box. What I said here and what I will sometimes say is not a reflection of my work! Just my personal opinion.

A bloody Weekend

Savannah has seen it's fair share of violence before, but this night stood out for me. We had multiple calls for shootings over the night hours, When I walked into my shift at 3:45am the following morning I would cut VO after VO with flashing lights and police tape. True most cities see a spike in crime during the summer months, but it seems like everything the police to stop crime, another shot rings out in a different part of the city. Be safe out there people, please!! 

Another Day

Just when I thought my shift was over and the dust settled over Savannah for what might be a quiet Friday afternoon, this happened. A Chatham Area Transit ( CAT) bus collides with a vehicle heading the opposite direction, according to police the vehicle disregarded a traffic signal and ended up on the wrong side of the bus. Six people were sent to the hospital including both drivers and several passengers. Traffic accidents are one of the many things I cover in this market. It seems like we have several wrecks a day, it's just sad to see sometimes. Police and fire are always excellent in their response and do a excellent job...I almost wish that the drivers would pay attention. It would make the streets a safer experience.