18% Josalee Thrift

Hmmm, what to do when the zombie apocalypse comes..

2009-07-10T13:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went to a farmer's market in Thomaston where I ran into some people from a farm whose owner I had made a deal with last year: When the zombie apocalypse comes, and all infrastructure fails, I will ride my bicycle the 20 miles or so to his farm, where shelter and food will be aplenty.

The first year I worked at the Republican-American I did a photo story on a couple different CSA farms. (Community Supported Agriculture.. NOT Confederate States of America) It was a good excuse to be outside and enjoy the earth.

I'm on a boat!

2009-07-09T02:02:00.002-04:00

Today I was assigned to shoot a triathlon sprint. Getting there was a pain, as I was directed to park in a place where another person told me I couldn't be and then he wouldn't let me turn around and then another person let me turn around and then two other people helped direct me through some obstacles and one of them angrily yelled "YOU'RE WELCOME" as he walked away. (I of course stopped my vehicle and yelled "I SAID THANK YOU!") By the time I got to the beach where the triathlon was to begin, I had about 10 minutes before start time and no good vantage point.

Then along comes one of the organizers, who I knew from local high school swimming. I waved to him, and he says, "You want a boat?" as he's pulling a plastic kayak to the beach.

"Sure!" I say, and before I know it I'm in the kayak with my gear and only as he's pushing me out to the lake does he say, "You know how to do this, right?"

I've never kayaked before. But I've spent many hours canoeing at Camp Skimino and at Newport News Park, so I nodded my head yes. And if I hadn't known I would have learned pretty quick since I was already on the water and was about five minutes away from being surrounded by swimmers.

Marie revisited

2009-07-08T12:52:00.002-04:00

Since I had a couple separate slide shows of the story, I thought it would make more sense to combine them in one. I also added some newer photos from the past few months. The audio was taken back in 2007, but still applies for the most part.

Marie's not doing so well. She just signed up for hospice, so she has a nurse visiting her down in Killingworth a few times a week to help her out. Marie said that when she feels it's time, she'll move back down to the house in Middlebury (which still hasn't sold, and Marie now sees that it wasn't such a bad thing after all), put a hospital bed in it, and die there, among friends and family.

Jolene's wedding

2009-06-29T23:40:00.003-04:00

I came down to VA this weekend to go to an old friend's wedding. The wedding and reception were at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond. Even back in high school I always really liked Jolene's style, so I was really excited to see what she had in store for us. I think the detail I was most impressed with was the all-vegetarian buffet.

Mess with the bull, get the horns

2009-06-22T16:07:00.002-04:00

I'm going to lose my hearing.

2009-05-24T21:32:00.007-04:00

About two months ago, maybe a little more, I met another Josie through a mutual friend. The craziest thing is that she's just like me, too! At least, just like me when I was her age.... which is 19. Apparently she didn't think I was TOO old, as she invited me to go to some local rock shows, which brought back a LOT of old memories from back in Virginia.

Those shows, mixed together with my previous visit with my friends MAE (see 3/1 post) made me want to go out and listen to some more live music.

Luckily, one of my most favorite bands ever, Alkaline Trio, came to Toad's in New Haven, and I decided to actually bring my Mark II.... to a concert in which I knew it was very likely to turn to fisticuffs. But then I convinced myself that a Mark II with a wide angle lens on it is much more potent than a fist. Luckily, it didn't go down like that and I came out with some images that I may just blow up poster-size and hang in my room:

I also saw a band that I had never heard of but was suggested by a friend, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the photos were funny to me, because the setting was an American Legion:

poof!

2009-05-18T20:06:00.004-04:00

Hi.

I changed servers. In doing so, I lost most of the photos I had uploaded onto this blog. Sorry. I could go back, but that would be time wasted on the past. Let's focus on the present!

The following are some videos I did about a local prep school. I learned more about rowing than I'd ever thought I'd learn. The first video is the team practicing for the upcoming regatta, and the second video is of the actual regatta, which I edited at around 2:30am... after drowning my 28-70mm lens in Lake Waramaug, and after shooting and editing another video.

http://www.rep-am.com/videos/043009-JT/

http://www.rep-am.com/videos/050309-JT2/

Recently I feel like I've been getting a pretty annoying case of bad karma. But then I think instead that perhaps it's just the fact that the more risk you take, the more of these little annoyances will happen. And when I say risk, I mean like, walking outside. Anything can happen. Especially on the steep and slippery bank of a river in the rain while trying to shoot both stills and video for the same assignment.

Thank God for insurance.

Update on Marie

2009-03-29T00:08:00.005-04:00

A little more than two weeks ago, Tracie called me to tell me Marie had had a heart attack and was in the hospital, but it was minor and she was okay. Then, about a week ago, Marie had suffered a stroke, and she has been in the hospital ever since then.

I visited her at the hospital tonight, and I felt like I was in a fog. I didn't know why until I later realized that this time I wasn't there primarily to take pictures, but rather for the sake of visiting. When I got there her husband Paul was there along with her granddaughter Mysti and Mysti's boyfriend Matt. Also there was one of Marie's close friends she made at chemo, Ron. Since there were now 7 of us in all, we moved everyone to the floor's "lounge room," and just chatted for a few hours.

At one point Marie went around and asked everyone what they wanted to do before they die.

I saw the cancer on her x-ray. I saw the effect of chemo when she shaved her head. But it wasn't until today that this all became very, very real.

To see how I've covered Marie's story for the past two years, go here:
http://www.rep-am.com/slideshows/mariemm/

rockstardom

2009-03-01T23:08:00.007-05:00

The other night one of my best friends from back home came to town while on tour with the band Mae, who he plays bass for. They're a fairly well-known band, and because they're from my hometown of course I have a sense of pride in them as well, not to mention how awesome it is that they're donating a lot of the money they're making to Habitat for Humanity to help a woman in Newport News. Check them out.

So since I had the day off I got to hang out with them before and after the show. I forgot how much I liked shooting musical performances... especially when there's no bouncer glaring at me and no chance of getting hit in the face by a flying shoe and/or crowd surfer.

2008-12-13T00:16:00.002-05:00

recent additions

I've been playing around with the new web features on PhotoShelter.

In the meantime, I have been having several conversations with fellow newspaper people about the fate of our industry. You never realize how passionate you or your colleagues are until you have these conversations. I read something that predicted that by 2010, about a year from now, most towns won't have local newspapers. That frightens me. What frightens me even more is that it seems the only people that care about this are people that work in papers, when the people who should be most concerned are citizens! I revel in having a right to information. Information is free! Library cards are free! That (and the interstate system of defense highways) is what I LOVE about this country! Sadly, it's so often overlooked and taken for granted...

I know, there's the web. Everything will go to the web. And I must sound like a broken record to my friends, but NOT EVERYONE HAS THE INTERNET! People who have the internet are NOT the only people who are important! And yes, libraries have internet, and they're public and free. Well, libraries are not conveniently located at every corner. What about people living in rural areas? Newspapers give you the opportunity to page through news that you normally wouldn't come across. The Internet customizes what you see with every click, narrowing your breadth of information each time. It's like radio now-- you only hear what the big bucks want you to listen to.

.. And I dearly love my job. I can't think of any other job where you (and thousands of other people) can so quickly see the product of your work. I don't want my occupation to turn into the stuff of folklore, like cowboys and shoe repairmen... but, if it does, I'll at least have (paper) evidence of it.

sneak peak

2008-11-22T00:13:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve 2007: Marie, undergoing her fourth round of chemotherapy for stage four lung cancer, looks at herself in the mirror after her daughter Tracie shaved her head.

PHOTOS!

2008-10-24T22:23:00.003-04:00

COMPLETE GERMANY PICTURE ALBUMS

Hallo from Deutschland!

2008-09-15T10:19:00.004-04:00

So I am in Germany visiting my brother and his family. This weekend we were at the annual medieval festival in Dreieichenhain. Above is a performer practicing between some tents before he went on stage.

This vendor sold honey wine and was VERY nice once he realized I didn't understand German. I bought one huge glass bottle and two smaller ones to take with me to the States.

My brother and I. Yes, we really are related. Here is a very similar picture of us:

More photos from the festival:

This is my 12-year-old niece. She is taller than me.

My brother, my niece, and my sister-in-law. I love the houses.

We rented an RV to stay in for two nights.

I have TONS of photos of various scenes, from my first authentic German meal to my brother eating the Oreos I brought over since they don't have any in Germany, to my sister-in-law's Prussian father. When my brother introduced me to him, instead of the usual polite introduction, my brother says, "THIS. is a PRUSSIAN! Take a good long look. There aren't too many left anymore." Which is entirely true, and extremely interesting to me. Klaus the Prussian fled his home when he was 6 years old with his parents to escape the Russians. The German government finally assigned him to live in the town they live in now, called Breitenbrunn.

what's josie been up to?

2008-09-05T00:31:00.004-04:00

Well, there was the sidewalk festival in Kent:

I saw the walking fruit first as I was driving by. I did a double take in my rear view mirror and that's when I made an illegal U-turn, drove past them again, in the direction of where they were walking, found a parking spot, ran out of my car with my gear and waited. Yes, I was hunting fruit. Apparently they were doing promotions for a nearby IGA grocery store.

The seemingly sadistic man who's burning another man, albeit tiny, glass, and soul-less, was someone who I only saw because I walked past some people who were looking at him from across the street. This is Max the Glass Blower. He was in the shade of a tree, and if it wasn't for the flame I wouldn't have even noticed him. The purple glasses I thought were a fashion statement, but are really there to help him see what he's doing through the flame. He had a few extra pairs and he let me wear one, and I put a purple lens over the lens of my camera, and this is the effect.

I think these two dudes go to the same hair stylist.

This is Jason, the owner of a new restaurant downtown called the Country Club. If you go there, he will write your NAME on your plate!!! Anywho, I like this because it's not every day I get to take my time with portraits and use the tools that I made with my very own gaffer tape and cereal box. (A snoot.)

---
One of my friends from freshman year at Boston is in a band, (The Appreciation Post) and every so often they'll come through the area on tour. (We actually reunited randomly when they came through and played with some Waterbury bands a few months ago... THAT was a blast from the past!) So I met up with them at the American Legion in Naugatuck, only I missed their set but we hung out a little bit:

Then we went outside to get away from feeling like the oldest people there and that is when Roger (Who's like, 7 feet tall) Looked up at the sky and said, "Um, guys?"

Five minutes and two miles later:

I wasn't on the clock, but MAN was it cool when I ran to my car and Roger and Nam (the ROCKstars) yell, "Go, photojournalist, go! Go shoot that fire!" in front of a bunch of teenagers.

In the meantime I'm looking forward to going to Germany for two weeks on the 9th. This will be the first time my brother and I will get to hang out without Dad yelling at us for things like playing laser tag at 3am or drinking in public. Also, I get to see my niece who is 13, I think, and from what I hear, she sounds exactly like me when I was 13... so.. this should be fun. =)

VIDEOS!!!

2008-09-03T17:38:00.003-04:00

Thomas the Tank Engine

This was my first REAL video. (I did one a few weeks earlier with a small point and shoot camera.) I was stoked. Nidia, the mom in the video, called me at the office the next day and we became friends pretty fast and talked a couple times. She also shares a name with one of my favorite Panamanian aunts, and was more than happy to have me practice speaking Spanish with her.

Flying in a B-17 Bomber

Last year around this time I rode in the same B-17, with the same pilot even. That was before I knew a thing about shooting video so I did an audio slideshow on it that apparently has garnered over 6,000 hits on YouTube, which I only found out about after I spoke to the pilot during the latest assignment. It's always cool to come back to an annual event where people remember not only you but your work.

Germany in ONE WEEK!

long summer nights= long blog posts

2008-07-04T12:32:00.006-04:00

This is my third summer in New England, and with each summer I realize just how precious these long, warm days are. And what I love more than the long warm days are the hot, hazy nights, which just brings me back to my summers as a teenager back home.

We at the Rep-Am but a lot of emphasis on the importance of exercise to morale, teamwork, and personal health.

Now I know what I must look like to the chipmunks that run away as I fly by on the Middlebury Green Way. The guy to the right is Jamison, who witnessed my very first tire blow-out. Not just the tube, I blew out the TIRE. And furthermore we were about five miles from our cars. After two weeks, four tubes, a newly learned proficiency at changing bike tubes, and throwing a near temper-tantrum at the Bike Rack (my safety had been at serious risk), I think the problem is fixed.

The paper put on a "Flag Day Coloring Contest" where kids drew a picture that incorporated an image of the American Flag, and the winners would have their pictures published on July 4, and receive some prizes. The first winner who came in was Hannah, and I was so excited at how festively she was dressed! She was wearing a red and white striped shirt, blue jean shorts, and I didn't notice her nails until I was shooting her holding her picture. So just for fun, I got this photo.

The same day I had an assignment in Wallingford to shoot Dan Mazzaferro, a local who competed in the Olympic trials. I introduced myself to him, and mentioned how I remembered taking his photo when he was a senior at Cheshire. I also noticed this HUGE ring he was wearing, which was an NCAA Championship ring from last year for Auburn University, where he attends now. I said, "Last year? What year are you now?"

Dan: "I'm going to be a junior."

Me: "Seriously?!? So I must have taken your picture YEARS ago!"

Dan: "Yeah, I'm old."

"YOU'RE old??!" I thought to myself. Time FLIES!!!

Anyway, here's a photo of him showing off his skillz.

For graduation season, which ended just a few weeks ago, we held a photo competition for three categories: Best Overall Photo, Best Gallery, and Best Emotion. What was at stake, you ask? Three trophies hand-made by our very own Steven Valenti. I received Best Overall Photo for a photo I shot at the very first graduation I shot:

Rachael Dioses is comforted by her stepfather and mother Dominic and Maria Cavaiuolo of Cheshire after Dioses received the diploma for her brother Timothy Dioses, who died last month, during commencement ceremonies on Thursday at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury.

And if anyone has ever wondered if I ever tear up at sad events? The answer is YES. I almost started bawling at the Crosby graduation when the cousin of a would-be graduate who had drowned the week before was singing a song in his honor. It KILLED me.

TJ won Best Photo Gallery with his coverage of Torrington's graduation.
Jim won Best Emotion with a photo that I will post up here later...

So after I "accepted" my award, I celebrated by going to Señor Panchos in Prospect, sitting the trophy on the seat next to me, and having a photo shoot with it afterwards. (The actual circumstances? I met up with Johnathon Henninger from the Record-Journal to pick up my sunglasses that I had accidentally left with him when we had met up with Chion Wolf from NPR in West Hartford. Though we have no photos from that event, it was certainly memorable because John had successfully finished his very first beer: a PINT of Newcastle Brown Ale. The man is 30 years old.)

rainbow hunting

2008-06-01T00:30:00.006-04:00

Today I attended the Small-Paper Summit, put on by the Society for News Design and hosted by the Rep-Am. I learned a lot more than I was honestly expecting, and though it's so easy to be pessimistic about the newspaper industry, many things that speakers Darren Sanefski, Charles Apple, and Bill Ostendorf said were pretty gutsy in that they WERE optimistic. I also received an extremely constructive portfolio review, so keep your eyes open as I should tweak up my website soon. It definitely refreshed my batteries, and just in time for my weekend!

After the conference ended a wicked thunderstorm came through, and afterwards a rainbow popped up behind my house, and then a second, fainter one:

Then I rode around on my NEW BIKE looking for better vantage points but the rainbow soon dissolved.

Ah, my bike. I had been looking for a bike for a while but I'm short, and I have short legs, thus finding a bike that I could comfortably ride was a tinge difficult. It happens. We live in a heightist world.

A few weeks ago my co-worker Jamison, who's a bike FREAK, called to tell me he found a bike that looked like it would fit me.

"Where did you find it?" I asked.

"Bike Rack, in Waterbury," he said.

"Wait... where??"

"Bike Rack!"

"Well, if you found it on a bike rack, doesn't it BELONG to someone????" I ask in astonishment of Jamison's intention of stealing a private citizen's property.

"THE. BIKE. RACK. It's a STORE!"

Once that was settled, we went over to THE Bike Rack one day and lo and behold, the bike FIT!

So I bought it, and it wasn't until after I bought it (here in Waterbury, CT) that I noticed this sticker:

Oceanfront Bicycles, VA Beach, VA.

Someone could have ridden this SAME bike right past me when I lived in Virginia Beach 20 YEARS AGO. This bike is MEANT for me.

Now, like any good vessel of travel, it needs a name. Any suggestions?

Of Bikes and Men.

2008-05-26T12:02:00.004-04:00

I'm becoming more and more inspired by portraits I see on strobist, and I decided, what better way to practice portraits than with friends?

My first willing experiment is my friend Matt Lolli, who's obviously really into bikes and making art inspired by cycling, as is illustrated by Ghostship Clothing. We started out just doing portraits of him, and the focus quickly turned into a t-shirt campaign.

I'm pretty excited with how they came out, and I can't wait to shoot more of these as I add items to my ~~rifle case~~ light kit bag.

In the meantime, I'm deep in the bowels of editing HOURS upon HOURS of audio down to less than 5 minutes for Marie Tyrrell's follow-up that we're aiming to finish next month. She's doing well.. she just came back from a dude ranch with her daughter Tracie and granddaughter Mysti. Last month I went with Marie to her cataracts surgery. I was starting to feel a bit queasy as I watched the surgery until one of the women there told me exactly what was happening, which I thought would for sure make me vomit, but I was surprisingly comfortable with the details.

And last week we at the Rep-Am bid farewell to Ben Conery, who was one of the first good friends I made when I moved to Waterbury (which will be THREE years ago next month). He's going to greener pastures, at the Washington Times.

Good luck, Buck.

kitties!

2008-03-22T20:00:00.003-04:00

There seems to be a feline theme in some of my photographs lately. If you saw my portfolio, you would have noticed this new one:

One of the reporters said she has never seen so much emotion on a CAT before. Oh, yeah, and the cat had gone back INTO the burning building, and was later rescued:

And sometime last month there was a huge snow storm and no one was out except for this little guy:

IN OTHER NEWS, I received a Publick Occurrences Award for Photojournalism from the New England Newspaper Association last Friday for the story I did on Marie.. who is doing quite well, by the way.

"mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho!"

2008-03-16T00:37:00.004-04:00

In recent weeks, I feel like I have been the grim reaper of tractor-trailers. It all started with my boss calling me at 7am one day for this:

The driver behind the wheel of this tractor-trailer carrying compressed hydrogen fell asleep. I wasn't very good in Chemistry class, so I didn't know what the big deal was when people were making dramatic gasps whenever I said "compressed hydrogen," and the reactions were so lively it could well have been the magic word on Pee Wee's Playhouse when everything goes bonkers. Anyway, for those of you like me, compressed hydrogen is what they use to make bombs. Now that I think about it, I wonder where this tractor-trailer was headed. Anyway, the important thing here is no one was hurt, AND riding in the baby plane was pretty cool--I was even on the driver's side!

And wouldn't you know it, the NEXT DAY, in roughly the same area on the same highway, I was called to this:

Apparently the trailer had somehow come OFF the truck. Scary.

NINE DAYS LATER....a storm came through, on my shift of course, (somehow fate just has it so that the Southerner, who has NO experience driving in snow, always shoots the snow storms..) and eventually they closed the west-bound lanes and all lanes on 84 were going east:

After this I was just so fed up with these accidents that I went on vacation, to escape it all ya know? And on my first day back, I was sent to this accident, ALSO on I-84:

Be careful out there, fellow drivers.

Erin go brea!

2008-03-05T00:09:00.004-05:00

After weeks and weeks of rehearsing, I, along with my fellow staff photographers, (minus TJ, who was too busy with his OWN Irish dance troupe...) performed an Irish dance recital under the direction of our web guy, Curtis. I personally think we did pretty well considering the costume constraints, which, needless to say, the dudes had a HUGE problem with. After all this though, I really want to host a dance-off with the photog staffs of the other CT papers.

Happy St. Paddy's Day from your friends: Steve, Josie, Bob, Baz, and Jim.

Homeward Bound

2007-10-12T06:22:00.000-04:00

It's 622 and I am at Bradley Airport embarking on my journey to Virginia to 1- shoot UConn v.UVA and 2- visit Ma and Pa Thrift. I can't even remember the last time I spent more than 24 consecutive hours in my hometown.

Did you know that in REM's song "It's the end of the world as we know it," Michael Stipe sings "no fear cavalier," a verse thought to be inspired by the Wahoos?! Though I've only been in Charlottesville a handful of times, it will always hold a special place in my heart, especially when I think of the time I went as a junior in high school and convinced some freshman that I was in my second year at Mr. Jefferson's University. I learned fast.

AND did you know that the creator of "Cavemen" first wanted to set the show in Newport News, Virginia but couldn't because there was no way anyone, not even the best magician in the WORLD, could make Los Angeles, where the show is filmed, look like the News.

Anyway, it feels like it's going to be a weird trip already. Considering: a) I got absolutely no sleep last night so things seem weird anyway, b) a red "something is wrong" light switched on on my car's dashboard on my ride to the airport and totally stressed me out to the point where I was very close to sticking gaffer tape over it, c) they moved me from connecting in Cleveland to connecting in Philadelphia which is precisely what I was trying to avoid as I'd only have 1 hour to switch flights in the chaotic mess that is the Philadelphia airport and d) I was randomly selected to have my carry-on bags thoroughly searched! When the TSA guy asked if I had any electronics I had to laugh because every piece of camera gear I'll need on the field is in my carry-on.

Wish me luck!

stories.

2007-08-08T01:00:00.000-04:00

Last month I completed an audio slideshow of a woman who I had been following around since March. Although the story is by no means "done," we had enough to publish so we decided to go ahead and do that. If I waited any longer it would have been a bit overwhelming trying to fit everything in one issue.

Here is a link: http://www.rep-am.com/slideshows/marie

Remember to turn on your speakers! In the meantime I'm still following Marie, although I haven't seen her in about 3 weeks which I think is the longest I've gone without seeing her. This weekend though I am going to Vermont with her family, so hopefully I'll get to make up for all that lost time.

Marie's story kind of fell into my lap after I had met her three times in one week from having so many assignments at the Oxford Town Hall, which is also where the town's library is as well as the Oxford Senior Center, which is where Marie works as the activities director. She told me about her cancer, and the gears in my head started clicking, so I asked her if she would mind me sticking around and visiting for the next months. In about a week, she had become so comfortable with me that, though she was happy to have the company, she would forget I was there in the way you forget your pet is in the room. It's a comforting presence but nothing that you feel you have to dress up for or live up to, because your pet likes you just the way you are.

Anyway, I'm glad I have this website to update the story as I follow it. Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I've been trying to make better audio slideshows on shorter time allowances, like the Ponte Club Festa di San Donato here in Waterbury.

Apparently this has been a preoccupation considering last night I had a dream that all the staff photographers were at work for some reason and I was like "Hey guys! We should do an audio slideshow on OURSELVES!" I think in my dream I meant slideshows in which the photographers narrate how they got the shot.

I often have dreams that something of significant historical importance is happening right in front of me and I'm overglassed. What an awful feeling.

iTunes withdrawal.

2007-06-10T18:14:00.001-04:00

My second replacement iPod (my third since its original purchase in April 2005) died a few days ago, and its demise was exactly the same as the last two! And of course, this time, the warranty has run out even though this iPod is only six months old. Apparently they only count from the original purchase.

Anyway, the death of the iPod came just a day after I sent away my iBook G4 to the iBook hospital to get a SuperDrive installed on it so I can burn DVDs of my raw files.

I depended on my iPod for music on the road, and my laptop for music at home. I figured I would be okay sending away the laptop since I have my iPod, of whose imminent death I was unaware of.

Now I am music-less. . . . and on hold for the fifth time with Apple. But I must say their technical support is surprisingly pleasant. I just always feel like they're on my side. Personally I think its due to a feeling of guilt they have from the decreasing quality of their product. My first iPod lasted for 12 months, the second for 8, and this one for 6.

=(

new and improved!

2007-05-28T22:31:00.001-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while, mainly because there were some complications with my domain name. See, about two years ago when I lived in DC for a brief period, I happened to randomly meet a very nice gentleman who happened to own a server, and I just happened to need a domain. Being the nice gentleman that he was, he went ahead and set up the domain name josalee.com for me, which was great. . .

Until two years later when it was time to renew and the nice gentleman was off being nice and educational somewhere in Afghanistan, teaching villagers about computers.

So instead of waiting to see if my domain was going to be renewed and if I would still have access to it (yes it was renewed, and no I don't have access) I went ahead and bought josaleethrift.com.

I must admit that I will miss that feeling I get from impressing people when I tell them that yes, I have my very own domain name that only consists of my first name. It's like I'm ALMOST in the same category with people like Cher, Madonna, Aaliyah, and Tupac. Perhaps that will be the case in another two years. In the meantime I shall join the ranks of the two-named.

Anyway, there was an actual point to this blog: I did not learn until very recently that looking through a slightly unsteady long lens (800mm) for a long time will make you sick. And by "sick" I mean the kind of sick you get when you play Wolfenstein for too long. The doubly bad thing about this is that usually, when you are looking through a very long lens, you're shooting a pretty important event.

In my case, I was fighting the urge to vomit while I was in a CEMETERY. I finally put down the camera when my knees were about to give out. At first I thought it was the heat that was making me sick, so I drank an entire bottle of water all at once, which just made me sicker. I finally hopped off the riser and stumbled into a wooded corner of the cemetery so I wouldn't disrespect anyone's grave.

Fortunately, I didn't vomit, but as I left, the TV guy Jeff was nice enough to carry my step stool, and a very nice firefighter from Meriden carried my lens (like a baby, as another photographer said) to my car. I would like to point out that had I not been sick, I would have been able to carry all those things by myself. And though the previous sentence should be obvious, I feel I have to vindicate a statement made earlier in the day by an older gentleman who saw my lens and said, "Wow! That's a big lens! Especially for a little girl like you!"

Lesson: Bring a tripod.