Post Number 50!

Yay!!

Whoohoo!

Not that 50 posts is all that significant. Particularly because it doesn't seem like that many! Anyway, nothing horribly exciting is happening right now but the 4th of July was fun and I had some time to see the beach and explore a bit. Also, a friend is visiting this weekend and my parents are coming down next weekend! Now if I could only get my dogs down here... :-)

As for the internship, well, I've been working on a dozen different projects! Still doing some research on the homeless and the hungry but today I discovered some of the gangs that exist in our area in addition to the rest of the nation. Interesting stuff! There are over 1,000 different gangs in Florida alone! And not only are they in big cities (Miami, Jacksonville, Tallahassee), they are expanding to more suburban and rural areas now. Plus, the internet opens up world wide interaction. Scary, but true.

The Florida Highway Patrol project is moving rapidly through production and so far so good! The last of the footage needed has been gathered. Salt & Light (S&L) still wanted two more events; a traffic homicide and the Tactical Response Team (TRT) making a warranted arrest. So we attached a couple of mini-cameras to the vests of some troopers making the arrest and our senior producer, Don, dragged himself out of bed a 3:30am to shoot some footage of a traffic homicide he was called about. These things may not be pretty, but they are real and deserve some attention.

Ending on a happier note, I've discovered a fantastic church in the area that I just love. And I've finally made some friends that are around my age! Not that I don't adore my supervisors and various Hanover alumni! I've rediscovered my faith and haven't been happier in a long time.

Q

Sick and busy!

Sorry it's been sometime between entries. I've been sick for the past week and when I am working, I bounce between 3 or 4 projects on any given day! I've been doing a lot of research about the homeless in Florida, since that is one of our upcoming projects. So I've been locating shelters and other organizations that specialize in assisting the homeless. I've also been discovering what the real definition of homeless is. It doesn't just apply to a person who lives on the streets with a mental illness. It also applies to people who had a home but recently lost it because of financial or other reasons. Our peers could be classified as homeless if they have not had a stable place to sleep each night for a period of 3 or more months. This includes people who "double-up" and live with family or friends because they don't have a place of their own. Homeless also refers to people who ran away from their home to escape an abusive relationship and have nowhere else to go but to a shelter.

A second project that I have been working on is regarding the issue of hunger in America. I haven't dug too far into the topic yet, but I've been hunting down food banks and soup kitchens and other organizations of the like that may be helpful in our project.

The Payton's Song project is at a standstill right now as we are attempting to schedule interviews with family and friends.

Two different groups have come to us with piles of their own footage and the request that we turn their footage into promotional videos. The first group is called ShelterBox, which is actually a pretty interesting program. It's a natural disaster relief group that provides a large green container that has supplies enough to take care of a family of 10. Recent example of their use is the Haiti earth quake. The day after the quake, ShelterBox had already loaded hundreds of these boxes into their cargo planes and flew them down there and helped set up camp sites. Very cool stuff. The second group is called Faith and Action, and to the best of my understanding, it is a group of people in D.C. that bring Christianity to the Federal offices in the area. I'm still learning more about exactly what they do.

Finally, the Florida Highway Patrol project is entering its editing stage and I've been blessed with the lovely challenge of finding royalty free music that can be used. It's been quite a task! More details soon!

On a completely unrelated note, I've finally had the chance to see some of the area and have visited Lido beach a few times. Tomorrow I plan on taking an easy day just lounging on the beach, weather depending. Pictures to come!

Q

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