To all the Fallen Heroes

First off let me say that my thoughts and well wishes go out to all feeling the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Luckily it looks like losing power for a few hours and some minor damage to a few items seem to be all it has done to my house, but winds are still rough here so I am not cleaning up any tree limbs yet and watching to make sure no more come down.

As most of us are concerned about those in the path of the storm I have been thinking more of a local family touched by tragedy and felt the need to vent my frustration and feelings. Yesterday while doing his job like every other day a young man lost his life. Twenty seven year old Daniel Golden a Huntsville, Al Police officer was shot in the head and killed while responding to a domestic disturbance. While this was the first Huntsville officer killed in the line of duty in 40 years and only the 8th one in Huntsville history that is little comfort to his wife, a Huntsville Paramedic, or his two step children.

From Huntsville Times “According to police sources who asked not to be identified, Officer Golden was responding to a call about a Hispanic man beating his wife with a gun. The man shot Golden in the head as soon as the officer stepped out of his cruiser, the sources said, and then shot him again.” I did hear on news at 10 pm last night that the man who was from Mexico was taken into custody.

Those that know me know that I have never been a fan of the majority of Law Enforcement. Having had my life and that of my family and friends touched by the small majority of Officers that unfortunately give them all a bad name, I lost a lot of respect for the badge. That is not to say that I dislike all officers or disrespect them. In fact the exact opposite is true and yesterday is a perfect example of why. While I no longer feel quite as strong a level of respect I do still respect them highly for the fact that they are out there risking their life every day. While there are some crooked and just generally dishonest ones they are still the small minority in a field that for the most part takes not only a lot of Guts, Physical, Mental and Emotional Strength it does take a high level of integrity to enforce all laws equally.

For every Scott Anderson, A Huntsville Officer convicted of murdering a young lady I knew, there are dozens if not hundreds of officers like Officer Golden. Individuals that know every time they pin their badge on it may be for the last time, but they still go out there to Serve and protect each and every one of us. While the badge has been tarnished all too often in recent years it still a career that deserves our Respect and Thanks.

Almost ashamed to be a Photographer

I am Almost ashamed to be a Photographer these days

Here is the perfect example of the Latest reason to despise Photographers http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/23/people.johansson.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us

I completely understand the need for Journalists and Photo Journalists, but as a Photographer I despise Paparazzi worse than PWCs. They both give us all a bad name, but more and more these days they are getting dangerous. It is a shame when accidents like what happened in Kansas last week where a 17 year old was attacked and killed by a Tiger while she was being photographed with the animal, but is it going to take another incident like Princess Diana’s death before Paparazzi start using their heads.

In the article Scarlet Johansson was trying to elude "Photographers" that were trying to capture her going to a park. She wrecked her SUV, but luckily Scarlet and the others involved in this accident were not harmed. This truly is getting ridiculous. Stars have been charged with attacking these low life scum that invade their privacy. personally I think these SOBs need to be charged with Reckless Endangerment, Invasion of Privacy, Stalking and whatever else they can pin them with until we shut them down. I will admit I am a bit of a voyeur (probably why I got into photography) and I do love seeing some photos of the celebs caught off guard, but I think there is a fine line between photographing someone on the beach or at a park and chasing them for 4 days and causing an accident despite their claims to the contrary. While not all of them are scum I would say over half and probably closer to 90% of them give all of us Photographers a bad name. If we had tougher laws against these low lifes and actually enforced them maybe Diana would still be alive and well today and Scarlet and others would not have to risk their lives to maintain a little privacy.

I do love having fun

While it has been a rough and busy summer, luckily I have been able to squeeze in some fun here and there. Getting the house ready for a month long visit from my brother, sis-in law and two nephews took up most of late may thru june followed by the actual visit and the last few weeks have been filled by running around getting things ready for worst case scenario. My dad just had major back surgery on the 10th and that means a lot less time for me since while mom is having to help him a little I am having to pick up a lot of slack from both of them. Luckily he is recovering pretty well. It was basically a roll of the dice since every time they work on neck or spine 60/40 is about best hope you can get for any help let alone complete recovery.

I was sure he was going to milk it for all it was worth and would not do anything for himself for weeks if not months, but he is already moving around some with a little help and seems to actually already be in better shape. So, hopefully the surgery worked and while at his age don't expect to see him competing in the Olympics hopefully he can at least sleep thru the night and get up in the mornings without needing a walker. He basically had 2 U-Bolts thru the base of his spine where the padding between some discs basically had disintegrated. Mom had similar, but not quite as drastic surgery on her upper back last year so I had already gone thru the drill. Catch is she weighs quite a bit less than him so while he was able to help her some she can only do so much for him so my back and arms have been getting a good work out lifting around on him.

Luckily the upside is I am finally getting some much overdue appreciation and respect. I am also getting a little free time over the weekends when I have some back up. Which means I have been able to sneak away for some shoots and fun in general. Since I did not know how much free time I would have over the next few weeks to months I made sure I got a shoot squeezed in with my Favorite model and one of my best friends Sunshine. I finally got all the photos edited last night and have a few of the better ones added to her website www.bamasunshine.com and I will be adding a few to my site www.dbatesphoto.com along with some from another recent shoot soon.

I have been bout ready to give it up the way recent shoots have gone, but this was just what I needed. I don't know why, but the shoot seemed to have gone better than lot of previous shoots and not only got me going again it was just what I needed to get my head back in the game. So, Keep an eye out for tons of upcoming shoots in the upcoming months.