We had to prep for the storm just as Galveston did, cause you never really know till the last minute where that sucker is coming in. Naturally, the press crew was one of the first groups to bail out of Dodge while photographers were headed in the opposite direction.
We reported on what was happening in Port O’Connor, Pt. Lavaca, Edna, Port Alto and Victoria. The coverage may not have been as exciting and dramatic as ground zero, but we tried to bring home stories and photos that were going on locally so that residents who had evacuated, could keep up with conditions in their neighborhoods. It was a little nerve wracking driving into Port O at 3 pm Friday, but everything went pretty smoothly. I was really looking forward to a cool drink at the Speedy Stop, but even that was closed. Oh well better safe than sorry.
The Advocate photographers stepped up to the plate and shot stills, video and even sent messages via twitter.
 
Felt weird shooting with my Moto cell. Hope my editor doesn’t take away my Canon EOS Mark lll away.

Ms Wanda Shafer, I’m truly sorry that the Fatal Funnel series offends you on Sunday mornings while having your coffee, but the fact remains that daily, immigrants still place themselves in peril for the simple purpose of achieving a better life.

Yes they are entering the country illegally, but everyone one of God’s children deserves charity and forgiveness. The fact that they are willing to sacrifice so much, even to the point of death, to find grace in their existence, speaks volumes about the human culture. I feel that the photos and stories of the “19” continue to serve as a reminder that there is much suffering and poverty in the world which for some is so unbearable
they have to make a dangerous choice.

Where is the humanity in our culture? We have been blessed with so much without even realizing the extent of our material wealth, while at the same time we are blissfully ignorant about our spiritual wealth.

God calls upon us to help the poor and share our blessings, to serve our community while serving God.

The photos make you feel uncomfortable while sipping your third world coffee beans grown on farms where the workers get a pittance of the profits, unless you actually buy Fair Trade brands, <http://www.fairtrade.net/co...

As a culture we have become so desensitized to death especially tragic events, that our daily lives and routines are disrupted by “seeing” the haunting images.

How can you so casually sip on your coffee and brush away 19 individuals and their immediate families as an inconvenient occurrence so casually while reading your paper on Sunday no less?

How about becoming involved in a solution to the problem?

This series takes an extensive look into the immigration issue that affects our state and our community. Have pity and become proactive. Pray for the souls that died that day and for the ones that will continue to perish in the future.

“ Every man has his faults and each one has his burden. Men ought to bear with one another, help one another, console one another and warn and instruct one another. Treat others as you want me (GOD) to treat you at your judgment.”*

 My Daily Bread: Confraternity of the Precious Blood

Frank Tilley
Advocate Photo Editor

Editorial use of bodies in newspapers and magazines has been the subject of an ongoing dialogue since the civil war when Harper’s Weekly extensively used sketches from Mathew Brady photographs from the battle scene. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem...

Are photos of men lying dead on the field near Gettysburg disturbing? Most certainly they are, but tragedy by its nature evokes an emotional response. As he himself said, "From the first, I regarded myself as under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of its historic men and mothers." He became one of the first photographers to use photography to chronicle national history. * http://memory.loc.gov/ammem...

The tragic death surrounding the trafficking of human lives underscores the global issue of illegal immigration. What value do we place on human life at home and abroad? God created us with free will to decide our geo social laws and those rights transcend artificial borders.

Newspapers are a for profit business like any other enterprise, however editors recognize that they have a social obligation to serve their community built upon truth and bound by ethics.
Traditionally, the Advocate does not publish photographs of deceased individuals from news scenes. There have only been two exceptions in the 30 years that I have been a photojournalist. The first was the original breaking news story about the 19 immigrants who died five years ago, followed by the Fatal Funnel series published on the five-year anniversary. There were several conversations among editors about the value of running a photo that surely would be seen as controversial in our local community.

My professional view is that the value of documenting the truth and presenting it serves a greater purpose and that is to share with the world the truth surrounding human trafficking.
Dignity of life is too valuable to be lost in the rhetoric of illegal, unnecessary and forgotten in time. Death is an undeniable aspect of our life journey- always present but never dwelled upon. How the families perceive seeing the images is unknown to me but as a father, husband and man of God their deaths represent a moment in history that can serve a higher purpose- to influence a culture to honor life without borders
* Reference: Civil War photographs, 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge, Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1977. No. 0298

A news editor called and dispatched me to the memorial site for the 19 immigrants. There were three gentlemen from Houston who are part of a support group for immigrants from the Potosina Region in Mexico. They were giving the memorial site much needed cleaning, as weeds buried the site from view. They were very gracious with their time and efforts and we exchanged information about the five-year anniversary coming up on Wed.

My Civic was running on fumes so I pulled into the old Chubby's to fill up and get a drink. The clerk saw my Advocate ID and inquired into whether we were doing a story on the site. I replied that were doing a multi-series on the tragedy and following up on the 5-year anniversary.

Obviously he was not in a good mood and remarked that, the place is a mess and forgotten about. I mentioned that most of the family's connected to the memorial lived in either Houston, or Mexico and couldn't maintain the site on a regular basis. When he then said, "they only come around when they want a story,” that comment really touched a nerve in me, because w are all children of God and each individual is responsible for serving our community, regardless of race, ethnicity or country of origin. I told him that anybody that anyone near Fleming Prairie Rd. especially someone that passes the site everyday could surely keep it neat and tidy.
 As I collected my change and began to walk out I looked him firmly in the eyes and said, "any good Christian could do it."

While driving back to the office I realized that the message in Sunday's Gospel, the language of love, the Lord calls upon each of us to Love one another, give aid to the needy and help our fellow man.

 Hey God, I'm catching on.

Suddenly a thought flashed into my feeble brain and right then and I decided that I would keep the site maintained the best I could. Why not me? Why should I think like the store clerk, that it was someone else’s responsibility?

So made a promise to God, the victims and their families, that I would watch over their heavenly ground.

 

I'm always open to learning new photoshop tips and if your interested here is a site that has some pretty cool tips and tricks.
http://pshero.com/archives/...
Check it out!

I took some vacation time for R&R and wound up power washing everything in sight for 2 days, Patio and side walks looks great , but my back is killing me. JUst for comic relief I had to try a a photoshop tip that i read about several months ago.

Can you imagine entering a convent at the age of 14?
It’s difficult enough to get teens into the church on any given Sunday but thanks to God, there are teens who attend and actually look forward to Sunday.
A life dedicated to serving God and community is an incredible commitment and those who choose the path of vocation are truly blessed and the world is made better by their presence. I recently had the opportunity to visit extensively with the sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, while on assignment for the Victoria Advocate Multimedia Department. Personally, as I journey along my path of spirituality, it is a blessing to be in the presence of such awesome women who have dedicated their lives to serving God. In a country that is becoming increasingly morally bankrupt, the contrast in cultures between the “Sisters” and the iGeneration are nearly incomprehensible.
For a closer look into the life of a nun, see the video Sisters of the Incarnate Word in the multimedia section.

Saturday April 20, 2008 Day 2 with XH-A1:

4 assignments.
10:30 >>Funeral for Robin Rubio. Interesting. First assignment shooting in full sun, but of course I’m shooting into –3 stops under the tent.
Skin tones are a bit Magenta.
Noon >> Plant sale. Pinch me, am I having a bad dream?
Still/photo mode is not photo user friendly, especially after using an EOS 1D
1 PM>> e-waste collection day. Wow, I went to UT for this!
Well at least it’s outdoors, but watch the highlights.

Sony Mini DV Recorder breaks down.
Plan B>> download from camera to laptop. Did I say laptop? S-L-O-W top is more accurate.
30 minutes to render 1:30 minutes of a Premiere 4 project. It’s 7 PM and I already told the wife I would be home soon. 1 hour later I finally call it quits and head home. Salary is a nice way of saying bondage!

Somewhere around 11PM I finally figure out how to export to flash in P4. Who decided to rename EXPORT to SHARE? Please this is a windows machine not a MAC. We don’t need no stinkin’ fancy names and pretty backgrounds.

I sure hope tomorrow goes better.
 

Location: 311 E. Constituion, victoria, tx 77901

Friday April 19, 2008 Day 1 with the Canon XH-A1:

Off to a scary start. No time to read the manual I’m flying by the seat of my pants. Keep it simple. Shooting on AUTO mode (A) Auto focus is a little slow and doesn’t seem to snap in all the time.

Dope, figured out what the third ring was> Iris.

OK Premiere 4 what’s up with the new menu. Help, I’m on deadline. I don’t have time to figure out how to export to Flash. SHARE? Give me a break.

Ok, after a very long frustrating day, I get to go home and cry in my beer. My beautiful wife prepares a great dinner and I kick back to relax. Yeah right! Esther falls asleep on the sofa so I whip out the manual. Hey guess what, you can stills with a Canon flash in any mode but MANUAL. What? @*%+^#**%

11PM, and I have to work the weekend. I sneak into my cubbyhole and begin to actually carefully begin to read the manual after a 12-hour day. Custom function #80 >> shooting stills to the card while in tape mode. Great, but wait. The custom function grid only goes up to 20. &%#@ !!!!!

Go to bed, Saturday is going to be a very long day.

I was at Faith Family Church Monday night covering Joel Osteen for the Victoria Advocate. I have seen him on TV before but this was my first close encounter with him. I found him to be a true gentleman and a man of God. The evening began with plenty of singing, praise and worship, which I believe you can never get enough of.
Joel’s message  was inspirational and sincere. However, as a Catholic I couldn’t help notice the lack of familiar religious icons, such as Jesus on the Cross, the Blessed Virgin Mary and most importantly an alter with the presence of the Holy Eucharist. Worship and positive comments from scripture are great and inspirational; however the presence of God was missing.

(Greek eucharistia, thanksgiving).
The name given to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in its twofold aspect of sacrament and Sacrifice of Mass, and in which Jesus Christ is truly present under the bread and wine.
*The Catholic Encyclopedia

Apostle Paul in Chapter 11 of his first letter to the Corinthians
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

So although I can appreciate my experience at Faith Family, without the gift of the body and blood of Christ present in the church, Joel has only delivered a small part of the message of God, and not the complete Word of the Lord, or his presence on Earth sent down through his mystery of the Holy Eucharist. In the Catholic Church during Adoration, God and the Holy Spirit are present in the Monstrance, and a little piece of Heaven is also present on earth in that moment within the chapel.

With all due respect to Joel, Faith Family and other denominations, the focus of faith isn’t about ‘ME’ but rather, it’s about reaching out to God and making him the center of our lives. His most precious gift of humbling himself to be present in the Eucharist extends his heavenly kingdom to earth as the presence of the Holy Spirit descends upon us.