20070729 woork week

had a couple things from the week run today....

i blogged a few from the first glimpse of the story last week, but today an update published on the people affected by HUD ending the contract with the buena vista springs apartment complex owner in north las vegas, that will displace 800+ people, 95% women with children, to find new housing using section 8 vouchers....oh, by this wednesday.

we ran pictures of the place in an earlier story so this was really to talk about the people being affected. the story is here

and this is how it looked in the paper today...




my photo column this week was on a feral cat spay/neuter clinic that happens once a month. in addition to the one picture and copy that ran in the paper, i did an audio slideshow for the website. you can hear and see more about the clinic in that, here

20070728 RUSH

i've been dying to start playing drums again and i finally picked up my kit from a friend's house yesterday morning, where it has been for the last six months or so since i moved. then last night, ironically, i finally got to see one of my all time favorite bands, love 'em or hate 'em, RUSH! it was all rock and i'm still pumped. going to set-up my drums here in a few. yes!

so these are from my point and shoot camera. go canada!

20070721 bert and kobe

day off on saturday, mostly, except for a run down to the wynn hotel to lend a hand to usa today photographer and sportsshooter founder, bert hanashiro. bert had a portrait shoot with kobe bryant who is in vegas this weekend practicing with team usa. i mostly made pics of bert as we set-up, and one frame of kobe during the 10-12 minute portrait session.



portrait of bert as a portrait artist as he breaks his own rule and adds a grid to the softbox at the very last moment:



portrait of bert as a wwII veteran. i swear almost every portrait of the dying generation is like this.



and my one frame of kobe....

20070720 week rewind

friday night. was 7:30pm, now 11:23pm. no time wasted from vacation to get back to the las vegas I love this week. i'm exhausted and in terrible need of a long run but pretty fulfilled as a photojournalist by the lives and experiences i shared with so many this week. i learned much and am looking forward to sharing these new stories from this diverse *community* in the near future. most of the week was work on projects so I can't post too much in the way of pictures yet, but here are a few as a glimpse.

MONDAY

we found out mid-afternoon that in what federal housing officials called the biggest enforcement action of its kind ever carried out in the las vegas valley, more than 200 housing and urban development (hud) funded apartments are being shut down because of unsafe living conditions and up to 800 tenants will be moved during the next two months.

of course these are all low-income residents who now have to apply for section 8 housing and deal with moving costs, deposits they don't have and finding a new place within the next few weeks. i hustled up to buena vista apartments in north las vegas monday night to make a few pictures before deadline to go with tim pratt's article to break the story on tuesday.

these were the first people i met. yes, the children. seven of them belong to a 25-year-old woman and there were several other real youngins who i couldn't figure out who they belong to. much more on this story to come....




MONDAY NIGHT

an outtake from another new story....tracy is a youth minister at a downtown baptist church. one hint, he's got rhythm.



TUESDAY

reporter joe schoenmann and i were pounding the pavement in the middle of the day, 110 degree heat, just off the strip in a seedier area of vegas for a story on the area where a new arena is being proposed. as we picked our way around a dumpster, conversation turned to the constitution of homeless people that can survive in the las vegas summer, withstanding the brutal heat and dryness with no relief.

at just that moment we decided to turn into an alley where we met three homeless people who were waiting to score heroin. two of them, fresh out of jail, were web and kitty. they have been together three years and she recently miscarried their twins while in jail......for starters on their story.

aside from their striking openness about their situation, addiction and how they got here was the obvious adoration they have for one another.



the photo ran prominently with the jump of the story on the arena proposal and all the people and businesses it will effect. nobody had talked about the street residents of a shady off-strip commercial neighborhood.

the story and the pages:




WEDNESDAY

finally got out in the people basket on the arizona side that goes down to the base of what will be the largest arch bridge in north america...in 2010. the hoover dam bypass project.




for mom, dad and wj....



the above photos were taken from the crane basket lowering down to the base of the arch in the below picture.
this is the arizona side of the project:





THURSDAY

day off. can't barely remember what i did.

FRIDAY

spent the day at the city of las vegas housing authority with buena vista residents following the process of how they will deal with monday's evictions news. about to download pics from the day...more to come soon....gnight.

20070716 farewell to the new frontier

the new frontier casino, the oldest casino left on the las vegas strip, closed last night / early this morning. a party ensued with some tears and a rat pack era band. people drank, reminisced and danced and yet another place of vegas history was ushered out.

for being the oldest casino left on the strip its ending was very different than the stardust's late last year. it was much less of an event, seemingly planned as such. but still, odd to see so many people that had spent so much of their life in the place, just sort of walk out for the last time.

i adore the old vegas casinos and am sad to see the new frontier go, but i'm always up for an implosion party!! no date has been announced for the new frontier yet.

20070711 citizenship fair

Alex Siharath talks with an immigration attorney at the Culinary Union's citizenship fair on Wednesday. Siharath is from Laos and has lived in the United States as a permanent resident for 26 years, working as a card dealer at a strip casino in Las Vegas for 10 years. "There is freedom here. They let me work to take care of my family and take care of my life. It's no problem. You can't even compare (Laos) and here," he said on the importance of becoming a citizen.

Everyone's trying to beat the July 30 price zoom in citizenship fees from $330 to $675 and lots of groups are doing citizenship fairs -- including the Culinary Union.

20070704 idaho vaca

time to catch-up a bit....i spent last week, my big 3-0 bday, the same place i spent five of them in my 20s, the wonderful rivers of southwest idaho, the payettes, and crouch, idaho, with my two bestest girlfriends, annie and traycee.

we have paddled together since we met in college and our lives have had us living near and far at different points since. now annie lives in guadalajara, mexico and traycee in northern utah/oregon, and of course me in little 'ol vegas....so we converged for a touchdown with sun and whitewater after almost a year and a half since we had all been together.









we always paddle this amazing 15ish mile canyon section (south fork of the payette) on my birthday. these pics are from a disposable water camera. i swear next round i'll take a decent camera on the river!









we ran into this guy and his brother about 8 miles in where we stopped for lunch. poor dude fell and dislocated his finger while portaging big falls. he lucked out with a, t and me all emts...and annie in the process of becoming the doctor her mom always wanted her to marry! grabbed one snap before annie re-located it.



our put-in after lunch....









crouch, till next time! xoxo....

20070701 denver sundown....

after three days of shooting in denver on a long-term project for the paper, i said good-bye to my peeps and ended up down at the river in downtown denver as the sun went down saturday night. it was just me kicked back until this guy came down and started belting out his singer songwriter originals about love and a war that won't stop. him and the sound of the water were just what the doctor ordered for my trip debrief......that and good times with the one and only mr. matt slaby, of denver, that followed later.