@UTMike, so am I understanding correctly that anyone can download the image if they like? Since this is how I make money, it concerns me.

Thanks for the info! and dbarber71, you ain't seen scary driving (either side of the road!) until you've driven here in Shanghai. Ultra Scary! :-)

Yeah, I remember that as well. The newspaper in Tuscaloosa actually sent a care package to the staff of the paper there to help them get through the long hours that they had endured. The tornado that went through Tuscaloosa that day is still considered the largest F4 to go through the state. Gardendale, which is just northwest of Birmingham, also got hit severely. I actually saw the tornado as it was going north of Birmingham. I was trained as a storm spotter and saw the wall cloud very clearly. I was in the parking lot of the McDonald's across the street from the Galleria mall and watched it. You could even see the debris hanging in the wall cloud. An amazing sight.

On April 27th, 2011, I was teaching Animation in the Tuscaloosa City Schools and also, like most teachers, had a job as a bus driver. I got to work at 5:30 a.m. and was told to go home, the National Weather Service had said the weather would be "quite severe" and school was called off. I decided to go do something I hadn't done in a while and went to the Birmingham Museum of Art, which was near my home in Hoover. My ex called me and said there was a tornado bearing-down on Tuscaloosa and what should she do. I told her to get our children and a mattress and go into the hallway with all of the doors closed. She did this and the vortex narrowly missed that home. My students on my bus were not so lucky, and most of my route was devastated. In fact, had I been taking them back home, I would not be here to write about this today. There were over 60 persons killed in this storm and my last day in Tuscaloosa was 4.5 years after this event and you could still see the damage in places. It literally changed how the city looked. I was writing for the Adorama Learning Center at the time and ended up doing a story about the media coming into my neighborhoods and working. It was an odd feeling being on the other side of the coin. You can read that article here:


https://www.adorama.com/alc/0013076/blogarticle/First-Person-Tornado

The shot I am showing you here got national play and is an iconic photo of the event in that community. I have been asked several times to allow its' use and always do.

In the days after the tornado, I and my friend Samantha walked my bus route and I checked on as many of my kids as I could. The day before the tornado, I had 50 kids on my bus, but the next day that we picked up, a few weeks later, I had 5. The rest had been displaced. None thankfully were hurt though. Anyway, here is the photo:

My wife is from a city in China called Jinhua. By Chinese standards, it is a small town, only about 7 million people in it. It is a beautiful city at night and one of the most beautiful places in the Jinhua Opera House, where for $7, you can see world-class Chinese opera. It is the first Chinese opera I'd been to and I was enthralled. The language is old Chinese. So old in fact, even the Chinese need a translation, and as the performers speak in ancient Chinese, the audience has a scrolling text translation on the side of the screen. These performers start at a very young age and learn the operas and language. Most start around the age of 6. This young woman was an evil princess in the opera we saw. The first act was 4 hours and 2nd act, another 4. We saw the 2nd act. Unfortunately, Chines opera is a dying art form, but the government has gotten behind the effort of revitalizing it. I hope they do and I will go back to see this again.

Several years ago, my kids and I paid homage to God's greatness by visiting the Grand Canyon. When we got to the park and were purchasing our passes, the rangers were complaining that the coffee machine had broken. I had empathy for them because working nights, I required copes amounts of coffee. So, the next morning, I decided to get up very early to photograph a sunrise. Not having been to the canyon before, I wasn't sure where to go, so with doughnuts and coffee in hand, I went to the entrance gate and asked for advice. They saw the craft of coffee and their eyes got large. Asked how I knew and told them I had been in earlier when they discovered it was broken. Needless to say, I became their best friends for the day. They told me about a place that was 10 miles or so up the road, off the tourist radar and said that huge amounts of Elk were spotted there regularly. SO, I told them if I can up missing, that's where I would be found. In this area, there is no fences or guards, so since it was 4 a.m. and VERY dark, I had to be careful. The sun started coming up and on another ridge I saw a heard of elk that I'd bet was several hundred strong. On another ridge though was this lone guy, and I shot some nice images of him, this one being my favorite. I consider this my best "wildlife" photo (and don't really consider myself a "wildlife" photographer...), so am pretty proud of this shot. Hope you enjoy it as much as I (still) do.

It is a profession that I dearly love though. I have been working full time at newspapers since I was 16. Before that, I delivered newspapers. Once it gets into your blood, it is difficult to get away from it. Most of my adult working life has been centered around photography and newspapers, and it has been good to me. I DO know many that struggled and many who were cast aside in the digital age. Is a pity that so many talented people can not practice their craft. I am very, very lucky.

Hahaha! I should have known those quotes would be used against me. Too funny!

Tomcadman, My sincerest sympathies regarding the loss of your wife. I can not imagine. And if there's anything I can do to assist you with developing your photo skills, am happy to. mark.lent@xjtlu.edu.cn

You know, I can't tell you how many times I have had people come up to me and say any of the following:

"Boy, that's a nice camera, I bet it takes good pictures"

"Is that all you do all day, going around shooting photos?"

"Man, you get to travel all around, huh?"

And my favorite... "What TV station do you work for?"

The reality though is that photojournalism is hard work with long hours and now very low pay. I have lived in my car for weeks, been shot at, cussed at, threatened, praised and ignored. It is a true mixed bag of experiences, but the great part is that you get to see and do cool stuff, too. I have met Presidents, pro sports figures, politicians and people who were both famous and infamous. I have slept with homeless people under bridges and been to world-wide sporting events. SO, is it worth the long hours, hard work, enormous amounts of crap you have to put up with? Absolutely. This photo is a good example of some of the places you have to stay in. This was shot in Ulysses, Kansas in the ONLY hotel in town, which was at a truck stop. Sometimes, ya gotta stay where you gotta stay! :-)

Hi all,

OK, here's the deal... I will be in Europe for most of the summer. The itinerary is Scotland (Dundee and Glasgow), Amsterdam and Rome for the first ten or so days, then I will be going to Tuscany to do 3 weeks of Maya 3D animation software training. At the college I teach at, we are going from 3D Studio Max to Maya, and while I am "ok" at Maya, I want to brush up a bit, so I found a training program that is English language in the town of Cantona (I think that is the proper name) and will be living in a castle the entire time. Sounds pretty rough, huh? Anyhow, I am looking for recommendations for these locations. Rome I am not too worried about, but Scotland and Amsterdam will be short trips, so I want to get the most from these. Suggestions???


Thanks!

And thanks to the rest of you for your kind complements. I appreciate all of them and it is a pleasure for me to show you these images. I have a question though- on several of my posts, people have said "this is a download" and am not really following this. Anyone care to explain to the noob? :-)

@DJmills- I have not yet begun to shoot! Hahaha!

@aellman - Thank you. These are pelicans though, which is my FAVORITE bird.

@Northsidejoe- and hello back to you from Suzhou! BTW, am a Steelers fanboy. :-)