Whew! November was a busy month. Not only do we have the holidays and high school football, many of the charity walks are in the fall.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this month. I hope to make this a regular feature on my blog for many reasons. Mainly since being busy means hundreds and thousands of photos to go through. It is better to do that monthly than to wait to the end of the year. Wish I would have thought of this in January.

I grew up in Louisiana, so I have seen gators. Then I lived in Atlanta, where the only gator you see is fashioned into a boot or a shoe.

So here I am back in Louisiana, and south Louisiana to boot. For more than two years here, I was on a gator drought. Occasionally, I’d see the baby gator at some of the festivals I covered for the American Press. However, the gator “au natural” escaped me.

Southwest Louisiana is one giant wetland with fresh and brackish waters right out your front door. There are more than a thousand shades of green occurring naturally here. It is a gator/waterfowl Mecca. Think the reality TV series “Swamp People” — not really, but almost.

Much to my disappointment after making trip after trip to Cameron Parish, the wild gator always evaded my sight and camera until I made my latest trip down to Creole.

With 60 minutes to kill before my next assignment in Cameron Parish, I cruised down a road just off of La. 27 and north of the ship channel. Rolling slowly past a small pool of water on the side of the road, I spied what could have easily been a log except for the texture of reptile skin.
Hastily slipping on my 70-200mm zoom lens on the Mark IV, I turned my car around at the end of the road. Rolling back to the point where I thought I saw what could have been something that looked like it was a gator, I parked my car. Camera in hand, I slipped out of my car leaving my car door open (just in case).

Peering over the hood of my car to the backwater pool, I saw her – all 10 or more feet of her — “au natural.” She was sunning and on her head sat a baby resting his little reptile feet on mama’s eye sockets.

I fired off a couple of shots but the 70-200mm did not get me close enough without being in “eating” range. So far, so good, mama had not moved. Seizing the opportunity, I opted for the 300mm. I changed the lens quickly and quietly while leaning inside my car with both eyes moving from camera to gator then back again.

This time I moved to the other end of the car, daring to be closer to mama. My exposure needed to be bracketed (varied) to allow for the glare on the water and the dark shades of a gator’s skin. Quickly, I fired off three shots, changed the exposure and fired three more.

On the seventh shot, mama started to move. For a brief second I debated my next camera angle, then the shear size of mama kicked in the fear factor. A picture is worth a 1,000 words but it is not worth an arm or a leg. Logic won. I got back in the car and fled with my all my extremities intact.

Safely inside the car, I checked my photos for exposure and focus. Yes! I had my gator “au natural” photo. With only 15 minutes until my next assignment, I downloaded the files onto my laptop just to be certain the shot was good.

Some things are missed in the viewfinder while shooting on the fly. Photos often look very different on a 15-inch screen than they appear on a small camera screen. Looking at my shots of mama sunning on the log with baby, I noticed another baby gator, then another, and another.

In all mama had nine babies — NINE babies.

** This notebook ran in the American Press on December 12, 2010

When you photograph a face, you photograph the soul behind it. – Jean-Luc Godard

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band gave their first concert in Lake Charles last week. It was a special treat to be able to photograph this group. They embody New Orleans Jazz and the spirit of that city. Here are a few of my favorite shots. I did post a slideshow here on the American Press site.

There is no such thing as taking too much time, because your soul is in that picture.- Ruth Bernhard

My job has a long list of perks. Covering the arts sits close to the top of that list.

Louisiana Public Radio and the Arts Council produce a series called Crossroads that airs in SW Louisiana on KRVS. The series visits other cities but the broadcast version is held at Lake Charles’ Central School Theatre almost monthly when it is “in season.”

This concert series has been on my to-do list since I first learned about it. Finding the time to cover this event has been an issue for almost every event. On January 20th that all changed and I was able to cover Chris Thomas King’s Crossroads concert.

King is the son of a famous blues musician, Tabby Thomas, but he is not walking in anyone’s shadow. He is a great blues man in his own right with multiple Grammies, 3 gold and platinum awards, and movie performances. His website is christhomasking.com if you would like the complete lowdown. It was a great performance and a photo ran on A-1 the next day.

My black and white favorites are below. I shot this event with my personal Olympus E-3. Love Love Love my camera. Cheers!

<-kew->

Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long. – Walker Evans

The period between Christmas and Mardi Gras in South Louisiana is a slow news period. Add rain to the mix and it becomes an even slower news day. This means that I hunt for “wild art.” Yesterday that translated to a barge floating into the void of fog and rain on the Calcasieu River. The photo ran in color. I prefer it toned in a black and white version.

I am at war with the obvious -William Eggleston

Post summer is settling in over south Louisiana. Its still warm and thanks to El Nino we have rain and more rain. October is normally dry but i’ve stomped through the mud all month. Not to mention, the Friday that the heavens opened up and blessed us all. After all, what’s a little rain in 80 degree weather. Below you will find a few of my favorite photos.  Not too much other to report,  other than the weather. Lake Charles has many events to fill my assignment calender which is always better than being bored.

i shot this during the opening prayer. I imaged this guy was praying for no rain, much like myself.

Fall is definately candied apple time.

I love folks that are quick to laugh and smile. This photo makes me smile.

Now, I do have one simple multimedia from the 15th annual Chousatta Pow Wow in Kinder, LA. Click on the photo to view the slideshow. The song is called the Flag Song…I love all the chants and wish I would had more time to gather info, songs and photos.

click here for slideshow

Writing does not come easy for me. However (in my opinion) the changing shape of media will require all journalists to write a coherent story.  Recently, I have jumped into the practice of writing beyond a simple narrative for 2 assignments for our art & entertainment section, “The Marquee“. Both pieces do accompany audio slideshows. The first piece is about a local Elvis impersonator. The second will run on Friday.  I feel my writing is rather plain and frankly quite boring but I am hoping practice will make prefect just like my mama said. Thankfully, my photography will make up for my writing.

See the Elvis slideshow here: http://www.americanpress.com/lc/blogs/wpphotos/?p=30

These young guys are true inspirations to every baby boomer. John and Gervis did their time in the work force while playing their music part-time. Then they retired. Now they invest their free time into their music.

Watch the audio slideshow at this link: http://www.americanpress.com/lc/blogs/wpphotos/?p=20

More fotos are on my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotokew/sets/72157604030671013/.

2008 © Karen E. Wink