An Official Update!

Ah, at last, the pictures! I think they are pretty self explanatory as to what we were doing at the time! I do want to mention that we were standing under a bridge over the highway when we shot the motorcycles. It was HOT and SCARY! The cars are obviously moving very fast. Driving on it is one thing but standing next to the road is something else! No one was harmed. :-)

Following the K9 units was the most fun for me for obvious reasons! The troopers are great people and the dogs are fascinating. I've never been scared of dogs, so being told to stand back from some of these dogs was a bit off putting. Then we witnessed them practice attacking the man in a bite suit! That was intense! These dogs are brilliant and powerful. I hope I can go back again sometime this summer and do some work for my independent study!

I loved this dog's muzzle ^

This is Leroy. Of the dogs we met, he was really the only one I could pet. Ha!

For good reason too!
I didn't actually go up in the airplane, but this picture is awesome. It's actually a shot from a camera that we stuck to the wing. Wicked footage. I'll share if I can.

The last day of Miami was spent mostly with the K9 units again. We got to ride along and watch the dogs search cars. One guy got arrested for having a bag of weed that the dog found. Man. It was quite interesting to observe.

These past weeks I've been doing all kinds of different things. I've been capturing footage from the tapes from Miami as well as researching music to use in the recruiting video and in the full length documentary. I've also been working on some other projects that are up and coming. It's mostly been initial research but one topic is homelessness in Florida and how there is a new breed of homelessness (not just someone living on the streets). More details as it develops!

Besides the internship, I've been meeting some people through an awesome church in the area and I'm starting to feel at home down here. I may come back!

Q

Brief Update

I've been itching to do an update about the rest of the trip in Miami and what's been going on. But I've been holding out for the pictures to be posted online. Once they are, I'll share them!

My next project to focus on is called "Payton's Song." Payton was a 5 year old girl who died of cancer in Bradenton, Florida (just north of Sarasota). I've been doing research and am developing a timeline of the events that occurred and when good and bad news was discovered. It's a bit heart breaking, but her parents created a foundation that is donating thousands of dollars to research cancer in children, particularly brain cancer. It's a sad but inspiring story and I'll share more soon!

Q

Touchdown Jesus

Every time I drive back and forth to school in Madison, Indiana, I pass the beloved landmark that is lovingly referred to as "King of Kings" by the church but is more commonly known as "Touchdown Jesus" by the rest of us. Heywood Banks also gave it the name "Big Butter Jesus," but, whatever you called it, this statue was definitely an eye opener. During the night, it was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. I haven't been able to find pictures of the remains yet, but here are a few photos (from Google) to remember this awesomely and impressively hilarious attraction.

If anybody is interested in purchasing the t-shirt that has the statue on it from Donkey Tees, here is a link and if you use the code "HCSBA," you'll help out my organization at school and you'll save 15%!

Q

Miami: Day 2 and 3

Oh man. It's been a long two days. Yesterday we spent the morning riding along with a trooper on the road for basic traffic violation stops. It was very fun to be in the vehicle! However, nothing horribly exciting happened.

Then the evening was spent with the Florida Highway Patrol K9 Units during a routine training session. We first spent a few hours in a park. All of the units met up in an open field and after some warm up and basic obedience, the dogs and their handlers took turns attacking the person in the bite suit. My best pictures were taken with S&L's camera but I'll have a few below. It was very exciting to be so close to this kind of action! These dogs are amazing! After that training and some dinner, we went with the K9 Units to an abandoned building where the dogs each had an opportunity for some training with tracking scents. Someone got into the bite suit and hid in the building and the dogs were evaluated on how quickly they could find him. Again, very exciting to be following such talented dogs. We'll be meeting up with them again tomorrow for some real work, not just training.

Today, we spent the morning with the aviation sector of the FHP. They were doing a routine aviation detail where one guy is up in a small plane, circling portions of the highway and calculating speeds of fast vehicles. Once he spots one, he gets on the radio and the first trooper in line jumps behind that vehicle and pulls him over. There were about 6 cars in this continuous line and I got to ride with a very friendly and awesome guy. Again, it was quite the experience to ride along when these guys have to chase a car! This was the first time I was shooting by myself (as in, the other crew members were in other cars), and I think I did pretty well! We also had a woman in the plane with a camera and two smaller cameras attached to the outside of the plane. The footage is awesome!!

Then in the afternoon, we interviewed a few members of the TRT (Tactical Response Team, similar to a SWAT team) and got to check out the various vehicles they use and how the warrant process works when they have to arrest someone.

That was pretty much what we did today and yesterday, and it's been hot and exhausting! Once I have access to other pictures and video, I'll be sure to post it!

Q

Actually, I just realized I don't have a great picture editor (to downsize and crop pictures) on my netbook...so once I get back home, I'll be sure to put up the good stuff!

Miami: Day 1

Today was my first official shoot with Salt & Light. We are currently working on a project for the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and will be spending all week here following a variety of officers while they work.

Today we met up with the Motors of the FHP. These are the troopers who ride motorcycles. Lovingly called the "wolf pack," these men spent the morning "laser detailing" the highway (I-75). Detailing involves a number of motorcycles (today there were about 7-8) and starts with one trooper under a bridge with his laser gun and was reading vehicles' speeds well down the highway. Once he finds a vehicle that is speeding, he tells the first trooper in line what vehicle it is and in which lane. Once the vehicle passes under the bridge, the trooper with the laser reconfirms which vehicle he caught and then the first trooper in line on a motorcycle follows that vehicle and pulls it over. Then the next trooper in line pulls up and the process repeats. Once a trooper is finished pulling over one of the vehicles, he comes back to the same spot to get back in line.

It was quite an interesting sight! We had two cameras on tripods underneath the bridge, one camera that was on a shoulder (my shoulder!) and then two smaller cameras hooked onto the motorcycles so we can get footage of what they are doing. Later that day we interviewed two of the troopers and learned about all the positives of being one of the motors. There seemed to be hardly any negatives!

Q

Sarasota!

So, I've been in Sarasota for about a week now. I'm just about settled into my condo, which is awesome. My internship is going very well so far. My only issues at the moment are the facts that I'm not used to the heat yet and that I don't know many people yet. Oh well, that will come in time I imagine!

Here are some pics of my condo!

For some reason I couldn't upload them... Oh well. More soon!

Q