Behind the Scenes..

It is a norm on capitol hill as a photojournalist to cover press conferences, photo ops and hearings. But it's a rarity to get the opportunity to document politics at it's core. This past week I was able to document actress Jennifer Garner and Mark Schriver meeting with senators and congressman lobbying for "Save the Children," organization. It was an amazing experience to see how the system works behind close doors.

Dip anyone!!!

Can Lt. Dunbar save the Gulf of Mexico, more then the CEO of BP?

News-channels around the country were broadcasting live feeds of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations house hearing which saw BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward getting drilled for hours about the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The well of the hearing room was lined with more then 30 photographers shooting frames of every movement that Hayward made. On the other side of the hill, being covered by only two photographers was a small business senate hearing titled 'Harnessing Small Business Innovation: Navigating the Evalaution Process for Gulf Coast Oil Cleanup Proposals'. One of of the witnesses was a small business man who owned a company that manufactured a machine that could separate the oil from the water, but do to red tape. His company as well as other organizations that were represented at the witness table, were not able to implement these savors due to the red tape that the government had in place when it came to companies that had in the past not worked with the government.

Local Flavor...

One of the most exciting things about being a freelancer is the wide range of subjects I am able to cover. Earlier this week I did an assignment for a couple Texas papers of a ceremony to celebrate the 67th anniversary of the Bakers Creek Air Crash. It was nice to be only photographer there, able to move around freely. No press secretary or P.R. person telling you where and where not you are able to go.

Un Secretary General Ban Ki Moon pic in "The National"

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The National - News
10 Jun 2010

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

Old story..new edit.

As an artist, which a photographer is first. We are always constantly evolving and developing our talent and the way we work. A few years back I did a story on a young marine corporal. John Dick, who after gaining his US citizenship. Felt it was time to complete his dream of becoming an officer in the Marine Corps. Soon after he entered into the Officer Candidate School and this is were our paths crossed. At the time I was a sports editor at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Va. My editor decided to give me a curve ball and assigned my the story about John Dick. I spent the next ten weeks documenting his journey through the school.

Recently I applied to a workshop and decided it would cool to use the story as part of my application process. I went back through my entire take(ed. note: A good reason not to delete your outtakes). What I found at the end of this process that a few of the photos were the same from the first time I put the story together, but many of them were new selections. Its a good way to show how we develop.

Good way to end the month