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.
Grant Jefferies, a native of Palmetto and chief photographer at the Bradenton Herald, has been capturing moments in the lives of Manatee County residents for over 25 years. Images from the streets of Cuba and Haiti to the clay fields of the Little League World Series and beyond have been captured through the lenses of Jefferies' cameras. Jefferies can be found on his sailboat when his feet are not on land.
Tiffany Tompkins-Condie is in her 13th year as a photojournalist at the Bradenton Herald. Through the years she has covered crimes and carnivals; feasts and floods. Her postings will vary from events in Manatee County's back yard to the work of photojournalists covering the stories of our times from around the world. 
Paul Videla has been a staff photographer with the Bradenton Herald since 2002, when he made the move from Detroit, Mich. When he's not working,
he enjoys hunting for unique LPs at the area's plethora of thrift stores and continually works to improve his baking chops(as the records spin and his dog waits for handouts).
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