For several years now, around the start of spring, I have ventured out into the “wilderness” near Creekwood in East Manatee County to photograph sandhill chicks.
Each year the little fuzz-ball chicks have provided cute opportunities. Last year I photographed the chicks peeking out from their mother’s wing. It was a nice moment. Now, how do you top that with something different this year?
This year the chicks surprised even me. While laying on the ground holding a 300mm 2.8 lens, I was watching the little innocent chicks waddle through a patch of flowers, a nice touch I thought, a moment of sibling rivalry erupted and a sword fight ensued. Little beaks were clicking. One chick got a shot to the eye and the other retaliated with a poke in the face.
In my mind, this is cool…work through the itchy grass, focus, exposure, there is something crawling on me… Quickly the hostilities ceased and off they went, another bug meal from mom.
Grant Jefferies
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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