Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

What a pitiful looking pair. This is the not so glamorous side to TV news. Here Carson and I are trying to find someone to interview for the story on the murder in Albertville the day before. We spent about an hour, in the 95 degree heat, trying to find someone to talk to us. One question we get quite often is how we choose the people we interview for our stories. Well, sometimes that is easy and is dictated by the story we are doing; for instance a police chief or county commissioner. But for other stories we have to find the "man on the street", or the person who knew someone who is the subject of the story. And its not always, or hardly ever, easy. Most people just are not interested in being on television. So this process can sometimes take a long, long, long time. In these two pictures we are very frustrated. And did I mention hot? Really hot?

Riding The Wave

Most of the time, Sand Mountain is a pretty quiet spot. But from time to time, stories like murders, plane crashes, things like that seem to just start coming one after the other. We call that "Riding the Wave". One wave after another of news starts pouring in and you just have to ride it out. Seems like that is happening right now. I got called out late night for a murder near Section in Jackson County. A man was found dead on a field road, his body dumped there. I was called out at 10 pm, finally got the info on name and what happened around 2 am, then head back to the bureau to edit and feed video back to Huntsville. Normally, its time to go home and catch a few hours of sleep. But not tonight. We have our Tools for Schools drive starting, and I have to be in at 4 am for shots for the morning show. So, thats means your friendly neighborhood photog blogger will be pulling an all-nighter. And then an all-dayer. Sleep is highly overrated......

Wicked Wednesday

First a murder, now a plane crash. Right after getting back to the office from the scene of the murder, we heard about a plane crash on the scanner. A light plane called a Ridge Runner had crashed right after taking off from a grass airstrip in the Asbury community near Albertville. An Altoona man was trying to take off when the plane wouldnt climb and he crashed into some trees in a field. Pilot suffered a couple of broken legs and was taken by Med-Flight helicopter to Huntsville Hospital. Also, seems it was his first flight in this airplane and his first solo flight. We were close and got to the scene right after the ambulance and sheriffs deputies. Cant wait to see what the rest of the day holds.

Early morning murder

Woken up this morning to go out and cover a murder in Albertville. A 23 year old woman shot in the head with a shotgun while in her truck. Police were first called in to an accident only to find the woman had been shot. Oh, and police say she may be as much as 8 months pregnant. Right now, they aren't sure what happened, but seems she was driving when she was shot or took off after being shot because she drove through a fence and across a pasture before winding up in this yard. Albertville is normally pretty quiet, so this is very unusual. Best we can remember it has been about 3 years since the last murder in town. Stay tuned for more details.

Discovery on its way!!

Man, isnt this a beautiful sight?? I am so glad to see the shuttle back where it belongs. Seems that so far everything is going well with this mission, now if we can just get it back on the ground safely. As an interesting sidenote, I was working the Kids Count expo back in '03 when the Columbia disaster happened. I was running live shots for the morning show and called the producer at the station to make sure we were through. She sounded harried, and told me she couldn't talk just now because NASA had lost the shuttle. I remember asking, "They LOST it?", not quite sure what she meant. Then I ran inside the VBCC and found Carson and our news director and told them the news. The rest of the day was busy listening for updates and doing stories about the disaster. They say you will always remember where you were, and I'm sure all of you have the same kind of story.

Shuttle Discovery Liftoff

Good Tuesday morning! Going through the pictures I had and thought I would post this one of the newsroom. The desk in the background of the photo is the assignment area, thats where all the police scanners are. The empty square of desks in the middle is the producers area. Producers are in charge of putting the shows together, picking what order the stories are in, etc.
Sitting here this morning watching the coverage of the shuttle liftoff. We have a crew down there covering the liftoff and to tell you the truth, I wish I was there. Hopefully one day I will get to see a liftoff. My grandfather worked at Redstone Arsenal and I have always been very interested in the space program. I'll tell you someting about me; If NASA called right now and said they needed me to go up in the shuttle, I would be down there in a heartbeat! Maybe one day, I'll be the first TV photographer in space.

Live shot, 101

This picture is from last Friday. Carson is doing a live shot from Joppa, thats near Arab. Basically this is what I do during the live shots, stand behind the camera and make sure Carson is framed right and that he doesnt move out of frame. And try to make him laugh right before he goes on live, other than that this part is all about the reporter. By the way, it was about 105 degrees out there in the sun on Friday. Carson said to be sure and take this picture so nobody could tell he was wearing shorts. How did I do, Carson?
Anyway, I am off work today, taking a much needed break from the grind. Spending a little time with the family before school starts back. So I'll try and get some more pictures on a little latter today.

More kids photos

Well, morning is starting out pretty slow so I thought I would add on a couple more of the kids pictures. Yes, Jemma's hair really is that curly, but not that red. And I just really liked this picture of Forrest at the beach. Man, are these guys really growing up quick.

Trip to Huntsville

We had to go to Huntsville today for a staff meeting, so I thought I'd take a few photos while there. The top two are my Really, Really Good friends Amy George and Jerry Hayes. They are hard at work writing stories about kids and animals for the news tonight. The other handsome fellow is the real brains behind the operation, Keith Lowhorne. He is the man to go to when you have a problem or need some supplies (OK, Keith I mentioned your name, can I get some more tapes now, please!). Keith is a really great guy, and has forgotten more about shooting news that I will ever know.

Water, water everywhere!

Just talked to the plumber. Have a water leak at my house, noticed the back yard was flooded. He came out today and said that it was so flooded under my house he couldnt get under there. So, turn off my water for today and tonight, hopefully he can come out tomorrow with a pump and get the water out and get to work. So, guess I have to go out and turn the water on everytime someone wants to flush the toilet or brush their teeth. I may just go swimming under my house instead of a shower.
May just live here at the office for a couple of days.

News of the day

This is Nannie Jackson. Nannie is 99 years old and works every day in a little grocery store in Horton, outside of Albertville. She will be 100 later this year and says she plans to take the day off. This fine lady looks nowhere near 99, and probably has more energy than I do. This is the story of the day here on Sand Mtn. I was planning a story on CAFTA and its effects on the sock mills of Fort Payne, but this is vacation week for the mills and they are closed. Otherwise, things are very slow here, no "real" news to report.

Well, here you go. This is for those that wanted to see new pictures of the kids. Here is Forrest and Jemma at the Zoo in Florida. The big guy is 7 now, and my princess is 4. Man, do they ever grow up fast.

Carson is off again today, so that means its all on me again. Just checked in with one of my main sources, Zach Cannady, and the word is that all is quiet in Marshall County. Looks like I'll have to head to DeKalb County for news today.

My story today was on an animal shelter in Jackson County. Normally, I work with Sand Mtn. bureau chief Carson Clark, but he is off today so I'm on my own. If you have never visited an animal shelter before, leave your checkbook at home when you go because you will want to take every dog and cat there home with you. Just look at these cute faces!! It is really hard to walk out of there without one when they look at you with those cute little eyes.

I was on vacation when Tropical Storm Cindy came to town. These are waves thrown up by Cindy. We were staying in Navarre Beach and had to cut the stay short thanks to Hurricane Dennis. What a vacation, sharks, a tropical storm and a hurricane!

Hello

Hi! This is my blog. My name is Brad Hood, and I work as the Sand Mountain photographer for WHNT Newschannel 19. There are a lot of reporters out there with blogs, so I thought a photog should get in on the action. I'll try and fill this spot with thoughtful insite into the world around us, as well as put up pictures from all the fun and interesting places we go. Today, that looks like it will be Jackson County. Check back later for the photos.