My wife and I spent the better part of last week houseboating on Lake Ouachita in Arkansas with our parents, my sister-in-law and her kids. The houseboat was provided by Dreamchaser Houseboat and Water Toy Rentals, which is owned by my wife’s aunt and uncle. This was the second year in a row I have been able to take part in her family’s tradition. It was a great bookend to what has been a summer full of fun – and highly visual – trips for us. The summer started with a road trip West and concluded with a week on the houseboat. I brought my DJI Phantom 3 4K drone along to capture the trip, but I don’t know if any camera can do the lake justice when it comes to capturing the beauty and serenity of the place.
I drove out to Spencer, Indiana this past Sunday afternoon to capture drone footage of the White River cresting for The Herald-Times. According to the paper, the river crested at 23.22 feet, the worst flooding in the town since 2008.
Mallary Toner shares a laugh as she looks through a songbook filled with original compositions she wrote when she was younger on Friday, July 19, 2013, at the family’s home near Walkerton, Ind. Mallary’s parents claim their daughter was not offered appropriate special education services by the John Glenn School Corporation after she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. (James Brosher/South Bend Tribune)
During the past couple weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to pursue an idea staff photographer Robert Franklin and I came up with a few months ago: bring musicians into the South Bend Tribune to perform – and film the entire thing. We were inspired by NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts and a couple other similar projects. It was/is a crazy idea, but we are now rolling full steam ahead on it thanks to the support of a great group of editors at the Tribune. In my two years at the Tribune, this is the most excited and creative I’ve ever felt about a project. Here is the first video I edited together for the Press Play series:
