Play it cool

Call me corny, but there’s nothing better than a well-choreographed dance-fight.
Jerome Robbins’ work on West Side Story may be the best. Ever. But Manatee School of the Arts does a wonderful job with the high-energy action of the Jets and the Sharks.
Riff, the leader of the Jets played by John Pikar, embodies the cool-cat style and athletic grace of the dancing scene in Wednesday night’s dress rehearsal.
“Just play it cool, boy.”
They did.

--Tiffany Tompkins-Condie

Pasture-ized Tomato

There are many ways to eat a tomato. We like them stewed, fried, juiced, sliced, or spread over a pile of noodles in a thick spaghetti sauce, or just right off the ground…or maybe not.

These tomatoes, discarded from a packinghouse, were distributed in a pasture in Parrish where the green and red fruits were enjoyed by grazing cattle.

You probably would not find this tomato sliced over a cheeseburger; no, this is one time where the hamburger gets to the tomato first!

Famous folks

Sometimes famous folks come to town, and we cover it.
When the President comes to town, we really cover it.
Arrival, event, departure; we try to be there.
On the occasion of this photograph, journalists were shuttled out to a flatbed trailer in the middle of a blazing hot desert of asphalt at the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport.
There we sat, stood, sat, dripped sweat, joked and sweat some more.
Ah, the glamorous life.
Finally, eyes burning from staring into the sky, Air Force One came into view in the distance.
Journalists scrambled.
The plane rolled to a stop, stairs rolled up, the door opened.
Everyone strained for a glimpse of the president.
His appearance was marked by the sound of shutters firing as fast as we could let them fly.
Down the stairs, salutes, smiles and a couple of handshakes and he was gone.
Time to get comfy on the flatbed until his departure.
--Tiffany Tompkins-Condie

Notes on the Classroom Assignment Display....

While walking the halls of Jessie P. Miller Elementary School in Bradenton recently I came across an exhaustive classroom display of children's goals for 2012 - it would appear that the art of the New Year's resolution is something passed down at an early age! One among them, penned by a student named Rodrigo, was both entirely practical and heartwarming. It reads, "My goal for the new year is [to] learn how to tie my shoes." And there, underneath, is a little stick figure, presumably the author, wearing a big smiley face and showing off a tied shoe. As adults, it's probably high time to check our own progress on 2012's manifold resolutions as Spring rolls into view. If you happen to be a little behind on your list, Rodrigo's bit of practiced penmanship serves as a poignant reminder that, sometimes, the simplest of goals can also be the most rewarding.

Surprise!

Sometimes you never know what you got waiting in the camera. Surprises can be both good and not so good. As an example, you return to the office after shooting several assignments and you find that your flashcard has bit-the-dust and is totally blank, crashed, a big heart stopping nothing. A good case to shoot an assignment with two cameras!

And then there is the “wow, where did that come from” surprise. I was editing the photos of a flock of white pelicans spending the day in an East Manatee lake and came across an image that I never saw through the lens, a silhouette of a fish making its final journey down the pouch of one happy pelican.

I have taken many pelican photos through the years, but this was a new one for me. In some ways I felt sorry for the fish, capturing its final moments of flopping around, but on the other hand, pass the tarter sauce.

The photo that almost never was

Chasing down a rowing Canadian Olympic team may not seem like much, but the stealthy crew made it a challenge. The first obstacle: Where are they? Sources had the men’s team practicing at Fort Hamer, but after a nice long drive to the frontier of Parrish we learned that the team decided to go to Nathan Benderson Park, in Sarasota.

Schedules were tight and deadlines looming but reporter Nick Williams and I decided to give it a try. Driving through heavy rain only added to the insanity of our decision. How do you shoot rowers in a driving rain?

Barricaded muddy roads leading into Benderson Park blocked our normal access, but a posted map showed a little known road off Honore to enter the park. We only missed the road once, and upon arriving we found the fleet in the middle of the lake.

Shooting from a dock with a long telephoto lens seemed the only way to reach out to them, but as the clouds broke above and the wind calmed a beautiful canvas unfolded. The long lens was set aside and a wide angle captured the mirror-like vista and the sleek Canadian craft gliding smoothly through the clouds. And to think, we almost did not go.

Helping our Feathered Friends

Yes, that's a duck! It's having its retina photographed by Laura Price, CEO of Provizion Optics.  Laura taught me a thing or two about ducks today. Apart from the fact that they are absolutely charming, and kind of cuddly, there are also interesting tidbits about domestic duck nomenclature:
"Ping," (captured in the above photo while his retina is photographed) is what's known as a Pekin Duck.
When told this I immediately thought of the meal Peking Duck. Turns out you drop the "g" when just referring to, well, the duck.
Ping is 7 years old and has an increasingly serious set of mobility problems due to his breeding (as a meal) and his doting owners have constructed a custom wheelchair out of PVC pipes so he can tool around.
That's one lucky duck! In addition to providing a safe haven for their rescued birds and pets - all told there are 7 of them - Laura's company is donating $3200 worth of medical imaging equipment and software including their own RevolutionEyez device to Save Our Seabirds, Inc., of Sarasota.

Here's another picture of Laura Price with a common quail she took under her wing:

As Laura explains, this equipment will allow the staff at Save our Seabirds to transmit, via digital picture or even streaming video, images of a bird's eye to a specialists for diagnosis. This saves a lot of time and expense for all parties involved, and most importantly, reduces the overall stress of a diagnostic trip for the feathery patient.
To learn more about their company, visit http://provizionoptics.com

For information about Save Our Seabirds, visit
http://www.saveourseabirds.org

Lastly, here's a parting shot of another rescue, an Australian Rainbow Lorikeet:

Puddle jumping

Ferris wheels and bumper cars are one thing; but who can resist the lure of a puddle on a drizzly day if you’re sporting the perfect footwear for the occasion? Not Libby Nader. Libby took a break from working one of the booths at the Manatee County Fair a couple of weeks ago to engage in puddle-jumping paradise. As a friend snapped pictures, Libby leaped and jumped and laughed aloud-no tickets required for this drizzly fun.

--Tiffany Tompkins Condie

The Duet

In an age where technology has put a cell phone or video device in the hands of people of all ages, it is refreshing to see a child’s mind at work creating a priceless memory out of something simple.

Using a small orange plastic cone, Marycate Mustaine, 3, and her dad, Chris Mustaine, were drawn away from the action of a Saint Stephen's Episcopal School girls' soccer match and funneled into their own little concert, singing to each other through the conical shaped microphone.

The acoustical sounds were no doubt angelic and the lyrics inspired by the heart, a moment of joy for this father and daughter. Chris is the Saint Stephen's Episcopal School varsity boy’s basketball coach and Marycate is a Fledgling at the school.

Oh Say, Can You See!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of playing the bit part of the, "fly on the wall," for McKechnie Field's annual open tryouts for the Spring Training national anthem performances. It was great fun.  We put together this video of some clips of the performances - enjoy!

PS be sure to hit pause to let the video buffer a bit - it seems to load very slowly