More random pictures sent to us.
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Kevin,

I have been a fan of your site for years! Keep up the good work! I work for the American Forces Network South in Vicenza Italy. We provide American Radio and Television services to troops and families in Europe. The photo was taken at a port in Livorno where I was covering the arrival of the U.S.S. Bob Hope on it's way home from Afghanistan.

SGT Eric Shadowens

P.S. Real Men Use Tri-Pods!

Here is Branwyn trying out her boyfriends work camera, maybe she will decide to shoot one day.

She didnt realize that the cameras weigh this much.

The camera is 1/4 of her total body weight, shes a tough little chic!

From: Elias Yacob, Orlando, FL

From NBC15 in Mobile, AL.

A shoot in St. Croix! What could be better? Well, mabye a little more down time to enjoy the beach. But I'm not complaining, because the "work" was pretty cool...and tough. Low level training (1000ft) with the Huricane Hunters based out of Biloxi, MS and St. Croix, USVI. Plenty of sudden dips on these C-130 flights which made the camera fun to hang on to. Also, a pleasure to work along side Will Rembert from The Weather Channel, who had to one man band the entire trip (as in no producer or reporter!) He had his hands full.

Casey Nolen News Photographer, Editor

July 19th is the anniversary of the Sandinista victory over the old dictatorship. It's a national holiday for the country. One the Sandinistas use to make a bunch of political speeches in front of almost a hundred thousand supporters. The plaza in Managua was a sea of red and black (the party colors). It's always a nut house for those of us in the news media.

My main latin network client wanted us to satellite a story to them for that nights newscast. That means we have to have a complete story all ready by three in the afternoon. Daniel Ortega was supposed to talk at eleven but didn't show up to give his speech until almost 1:30. Talking with our client, we explained it didn't look like the speech would be over in time for the feed but they said they needed the story anyway. We shot the first ten minutes of the speech and then swam our way through a drunken crowd full of pickpockets and gang kids in a mad race to edit and feed the story.

One of my still photog buddies took a picture of me up on the press platform surrounded by the crowd. Note the classy umbrella taped to my camera handle. More for the camera than for me. It was a long hot sunny wait. I buy these cheap umbrellas for a US buck and treat them like a throw-away item.

We couldn't believe how many thieves were working the crowd. People were packed like cattle. Pushing and shoving just to stay upright. Several had small infants on their shoulders. These poor babies were crying with fear as their parent would try and work their way to a safe spot. The people closest to the platform Ortega would speak from got there spot early in the morning. Most spent the time drinking and making four-tier human pyramids that sent those on top (usually the drunkest and waving a big flag) crashing into the tightly knit crowd.

One of the camera guys got his wallet stolen. I felt bad for the guy because it had all his money for the month in it. We had made sure not to have anything on us. No money, jewelry, even wallet or purse. It was a "light" trip in with the gear from what we normally take but I was glad we had thought ahead. Every ten minutes you'd hear the cry of some victim hopelessly chasing a thief while a few of his drunken friends would play "blocker". There were no cops around. Just Sandinista party security (think teenagers in black shirts and berets), standing side by side with their arms locked in a human chain. Were strained just trying to keep people from rushing the speakers position. It's one of those times you understand what people mean when they talk about mob mentality. The only way to survive was to be mean and never stop moving.

There was Sandinista party security on our press platform who kept grabbing and tossing drunks back into the crowd only to have them climb right back up again. To be honest we never felt threatened. The only time I had some minor second thoughts were when Ortega started yelling about the Yankee imperialists in the US who were causing all the trouble in the world. By the way...he also made sure to say the Sandinistas would never pick up arms again and were committed to "using votes instead of bullets". Our client was thrilled we made the feed in record time. It was one of those days I felt like I'd earned my paycheck!

John "Lensmith" DuMontelle, Managua, Nicaragua, www.latincam.net

William Quinn, Photographer, WTKR-TV3, Norfolk, VA quinnwr@peoplepc.com

This is Mehmet Caglayan, Chief Photographer at WSAV in Savannah, GA. Just came back from Kandahar. It was a 14 day trip packed with massive amount of experiences that I will never forget.

You asked for some tips.. here they are...

If you are going to stay with the military, than you do not have to worry about the power. It is 110 Volts. Power surge protector and regulator is recommended.

Bring lots of can air. I can't express how important this is.

I went to NTC once and made the mistake to ride in one of the Humvees that was in the middle of a convoy. This time I told the driver to go up front.

The dust is so thin, almost like powder, that even if you have a class A rain cover for your camera (which I have a great one) it will get on your camera.

I never took my rain cover off. Camera is fine. Lap Top editor stayed in it's box. I only took it out when I needed it. After I used it, it went back in to the box.

Now the weather is getting better. When we were there, during the day time it was 75, at night it dropped to 28. I made the mistake and brought too many heavy clothes, not so many T-shirts... Big mistake.

No hot showers... bring baby wipes. It is not only for you but for your camera too. We hauled 400 pounds of equipment with us. It was not fun. Also my reporter got sick from the food he ate at the NBC compound in Kandahar city. Do not eat the local food. Do not eat anything that is not boiled or cooked. Salad is a no no... do not use the tap water.. MRE's are life savers. One tip.. buy a camel back. It is great when you are out in the field for long hours.

The picture in front of an Apache Longbow is with Crl Johns in Camp Doha, Kuwait. The other one is at Kandahar Airport with Reporter Michael Jordan and 92nd combat heavy engineering battalion. The last one is just to show that I do use my tripod... :D

Also to show how important is the rain gear. Not perfect ..., but better than nothing. If you have any question please be free to E-mail me at mcaglayan@wsav.com.

Denise Agent and Jason Thomason were in Unit 29 when a front tire blew out on a curve. The live truck careened off the road and ended up high centered over the CSX railroad tracks in Jackson County near Stevenson.

Mere minutes after the live truck came to a full stop on the tracks a train began rounding the corner. Denise was on the phone with 911 and Jason was salvaging gear when they were alerted to the train by a Stevenson police officer. They stepped away from the vehicle and watched in horror as the locomotive plowed into the left side of Unit 29 tossing it off the tracks like a toy.

Clearly, this terrible accident could have been so much w orse. Thankfully Denise and Jason walked away without a scratch. After the shock of the accident dissipated, they both kicked into work mode. Jason shot video and Denise did a phoner at 10pm and interviewed people at the scene. They covered the accident like a couple of pros.

Losing a live truck is tough. Losing a life would have brought unspeakable sadness to us all. Even in light of a freak accident, luck was on our side. Luck, seatbelts and cool heads brought us all back home at the end of the day.

The driver of this van was wearing his seatbelt. He walked away without a scratch. It was weather related and he was going about 35-40 when he hit some black ice and ended up on the side after rolling 1 and 1/2 times.

From: KOAT, Albuquerque, NM

I've been meaning to share a picture with you, so here it is...the next generation in television news. I'm a college sophomore, not yet sure if I want to go into news (a passion of mine) or production (which I also enjoy), but as you can tell, I freelance and have had my footage used as b-roll nationally. Right now I have my own company (whose website is listed below). I mainly do video production work including commercials and some b-roll but I would like to get more involved with news and documentary style shooting/editing. That's why I joined the NPPA.

Forgot to mention, I am a freelance cameraman, almost 20 years in the business shooting documentary, news, corporate, etc. worldwide. More photos from me. Some stills from a documentary I shot in Vietnam last year for Japanese TV; me at the Ho Chi Minh memorial in Hanoi.
Joseph McCarthy, New York City jmprod@att.net

Phones in the city are down, cellphones too. An editor's best friend works in the towers, a photographer has family there as well.

Thank God, my wife is able to leave me a voicemail while I'm running around saying she's alright in uptown. I use Yahoo Messenger to list me as "Am okay, wife okay, cellphone on."

Bridges, tunnels closed. No access for us to the city, but we know the best skyline spots from our Jersey turf.

Things settle down at night, I crank a couple still shots of the eerie scene we're in, waiting for updates at Liberty Science Center. 7:30am rolls around so it's time to get some shuteye. I'll be needed again in a few hours...

Henry Ramos

Hello,

This is Blagoy Momchilov. I work in the Bulgarian private national television bTV. It is owned by News Corporation.

I am a cameraman with the News Department. I am 27 years old and have 8 years experience in photojournalism.

You can find me at bgm@b-roll.net.

Regards,
Blagoy Momchilov