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.