Tommy Bernhardt's amazing 3/4 court shot...

Here is Tommy Bernhardt, a Braden River High School student and basketball player

making a last-second 3/4 court shot during a game against Southeast High School on Jan 18, 2012.

The video footage was provided by Tommy's father and here is the clip:

For workers at the Palmetto Parks Department, Trees are part of the family!

    

   From left, Charles Leaks, Jimmy Michener and Willie Jones of the City of Palmetto Parks Department water a just-planted Heritage live oak tree Friday at Hidden Lake Park after a Florida Arbor Day celebration attended by city and local officials. 

     It's a labor of love for the trio of workers, who tend to think of the fledgling trees in their care as part of their family and it's a big family! In the last decade or so, their department has helped plant more than 2,000 trees, 200 of which are located within the city limits. 

     Until this young oak gets established, it will be carefully hand-watered up to three times a week in regular visits from the city's 5,000-gallon watering truck. When itís fully grown, it will stand about 60 feet tall and its branches will extend 30 feet in any direction from this tiny trunk. 

     We'll all be long gone by then, but our children's children may be able to reap the benefits of today's careful planning and hard work part of what has helped the City of Palmetto earn its designation as a Tree City USA, along with the local cities of Bradenton, Bradenton Beach. Holmes Beach, Anna Maria and Sarasota.

Southeast High School rocks the County Fair!

Kudos to Southeast High School for taking first place in the county fair's annual drumline competition.
Here's some clips from their crowd-pleasing performance:

Sweatin' the shot

Talk about pressure.

Not the usual pressure of “getting the shot,” but as I looked to my right and left while on assignment recently, there were literally dozens and dozens of people with cameras and smartphones trained upon the drama unfolding before us.

Some of these folks weren’t playing by the rules, either. Yellow tape? You’d think that was a universally understood demarcation, but nooooooo. On my left were about 6 people who casually slipped under the tape and moved closer to the action. Right in front of me. Argh. How do you politely ask people to move out of your way as you’re trying to capture the drama of the SWAT team arresting a subject? How do you explain to your boss that you couldn’t get the shot because people weren’t abiding by the rules?

This time, I didn’t have to. Just as I was thinking about letting loose an unladylike remark, a deputy saved me by herding them back behind the lines.

Whew.

--Tiffany Tompkins-Condie

Questions, Questions, Questions

First picture of 2011
Rachel and Aaron Sheehan, celebrating the birth their daughter Leah Marie

Last picture of 2011
Bracelets, representing Brett Wagner and Josh Rogers, two students killed in a car accident Christmas night.

Often when I am out trying to photograph a subject for the paper, I am asked questions:

Will you take my picture? If you had to ask, probably not.

What television station will this be on? This is a still camera, not a video camera.

Did you get my good side? Always.

What kind of camera do you have? Nikon D300S and a D2HS.

How much do those cost anyway? More than I can afford.

Will this be in the paper tomorrow? I really do not know, no really! I do not know.

And…

How many pictures did you take?

Well to answer that question I had to do a little figuring. In 2011 from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, my finger pressed the shutter button down to shoot approximately 92,012 images. Of those I chose 4,286 pictures that were captioned and inputted into our system for editors and page designers to select for the paper, as well as online use. 

One interesting item that I noted gathering this information was my first and last frame of the year. The first frame I took in 2011 was of two parents, Rachel and Aaron Sheehan, celebrating the birth their daughter Leah Marie. The very last frame I took on Dec. 31 were of orange and green bracelets, representing Brett Wagner and Josh Rogers, two Lakewood Ranch High students who were killed in a car accident Christmas night.

92,012 images fly by fast, so let’s make the best of it.

Fair Days!

Just when you think it's time to take a break and unwind after the whirlwind of end-of-the year festivities, think again!
That magical time of the Manatee County Fair is upon us, and a new generation of racing pigs are no doubt traveling many long and winding roads to get to the fairgrounds on time. There's only a few days left before the gates are flung and the rides start buzzing this Thursday at 5pm. In the meantime, get ready to layer up for what promises to be another chilly fair week and most importantly, don't forget to save a little room for all of the tasty and guilt-inducing fair delicacies available on the midway!
Here are some more photos from previous years at the fair.

Not the paparazzi!

Please. Really...it's not cute or funny and nobody likes it.

If you see a pack of photographers somewhere, vying for a good shot, please be assured that we are only doing our job...getting the shot.

We will not be hiding in your bushes. We will not be hiding around the corner. We will not be hiding- anywhere.

Our credentials will be worn where you can see them and we will not shout TMZ-style questions at you.

For the most part, we will be mannerly to one another, even go out of our way to make sure that we can all cover the press conference/event/news happening to the best of our ability.

Even in the photo above, at an event that SEEMS like paparazzi should be there (the Sarasota Film Festival) we're all, for the most part, just local folks doing our jobs.

Getting the shot.

--Tiffany Tompkins-Condie

photo caption: Local freelance photographer Chip Litherland crouches to get his shot among the photographers on the red carpet at the Sarasota Film Festival at Van Wezel in 2010.--photo by Tiffany Tompkins-Condie