Hello Blog Viewers,
This is the last installment for 2008. If I remember correctly, this past year has been my longest continuous employment in my life as a photojournalist. It will be a year in February at the Houston Chronicle. All previous employment in photojournalism has been punctuated by soul-searching careers in completely unrelated fields, grad school and multiple three-month internships.
In the past year, I’ve watched my co-workers go out on hum-drum assignments and come back with pretty spectacular work. I have to remind myself that while I was off living on a beach in California driving a milk truck and watching the sun set into the Pacific, these folks were honing their craft on a daily basis.
I’d like to think after a year that I’m starting to hit some kind of groove in my daily work. Once in a while in the past year I would come back with a pretty good photo and then go months without anything decent. Time will tell. There is still plenty of room for improvement.
I think in the next year, my photo journalistic resolution is to bag some projects. Everyone is different, and while I’ve attempted projects outside of school at different internships, they’ve always felt rushed and usually fell short in some aspect. I wanted to give myself time to get settled in, let the city enter my blood and find a story organically.
A few ideas have since lined themselves up. In the recent past, the ideas seemed forced and more focused on the academic concept of what makes a good story – almost like listening to a robot play a concerto instead of a musician playing with emotion.
I hope everyone had a good year. Until the next post…
Cheers,
Eric Kayne
Former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams leaves the north side GOP headquarters Oct. 29, 2008 in Houston, TX after speaking to supporters along with other GOP candidates. Williams is the current chairman of Texas Victory ’08.
Ed L. King, 79, has been shining shoes at the Houston Police Department’s Central Patrol Station since 1990. Photographed Nov. 21, 2008 in Houston at the HPD Central Patrol Station.
Houston firefighters battle a blaze at a decommissioned train trellis in the 100 block of Yale south of I-10, Dec. 29, 2008 in Houston, TX. Three engines responded to the fire.
Members of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office deliver an eighteen-wheeler full of Christmas gifts to the Children’s Assessment Center Dec. 9, 2008 in Houston. All of the gifts were purchased and donated by members of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in an effort to share Christmas with less fortunate children. This is the 13th year that Sheriff’s Office employees have donated gifts to the Children’s Assessment Center. The Children’s Assessment Center is a multi-agency collaboration of public and private entities that have pooled their resources to provide a broad range of social and investigative services to children. Over 2,000 toys were delivered for 509 kids.
Darlene Tucker waits for a downtown bus as cold weather hit Houston this afternoon, Dec. 15, 2008 in Houston. Tucker was downtown for an appointment and had been waiting in the blustery chill for 30 minutes.
General surgeon Dr. Jason Balette prepares to laproscopicly remove a patient’s gall bladder through a port in the patient’s belly button Nov. 24, 2008 at Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands, TX. The procedure leaves only a tiny wound with minimal recovery.
Urban styles are in vogue at the Clipper Joint, one of many independently owned businesses lining Fulton Rd. between Quitman and Cavalcade, Dec. 5, 2008.
About two years ago, John Kane and Elizabeth Asher, a couple, started Rescue Bank, a non-profit that supplies small animal rescue operations with pet food in much the way that the Houston Food Bank supplies food pantries. The operation has grown. Over the first two years, Rescue Bank delivered about 250,000 pounds of food. In the last several months, a major pet food manufacturer, Nutro, donated 600,000 pounds of food. Dec. 23, 2008 in Houston, TX.
Quarterback Cody Green greets fans as the Dayton High School football team, which plays the Class 4A state championship Saturday in San Antonio, celebrates a sendoff Dec. 19, 2008 in Dayton, TX. The festivities started at 8:30 a.m. at the high school with a pep rally. After the pep rally, the team traveled to each of the district’s schools for a sendoff.
As seen through metalwork in the balcony, the first Christmas mass at the Co-Cathedral is ready to begin, Dec. 24, 2008 in Houston, TX. During his sermon, Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza mentioned that over 2,000 people were in attendance during the service.
Gloria Carrion makes the sign of the cross during the conclusion of the first Christmas mass at the Co-Cathedral.
Christian Wilson, 10, center, and David Hill, right, pray for Tania Davis as the Thousand Hills Church in the Park conducts a service for the homeless at James Bute Park Dec. 25, 2008 in Houston, TX. “I had a feeling today I was going to get saved,” Davis said. Davis has been coming to the church off and on for six months. She currently lives in an abandoned house with her partner. Differentiating from other churches, Pastor Marcus Wilson said, “We do this everyday. We touch people 365 days a year.” The church holds services and serves food twice a day, seven days a week.
Ricardo Rachell poses for a portrait, Dec. 30, 2008 in Houston. In the background is first cousin Anthony Sims. In 2003, Ricardo Rachell, who was severely disfigured by a shotgun blast to the face in 1992, was wrongly convicted in the sexual assault of an 8-year-old in Houston. DNA testing, however, exonerated Rachell early this month of the crime and he was set free. This week, he got some more good news thanks to Congressman Al Green who has arranged for world-renowned Texas surgeon Dr. Joseph Agris to rebuild Rachell’s face for free. Dec. 30, 2008 in Houston, TX.
Ricardo Rachell, left, is brushed off after a $10 haircut by Richard Miles of South Acres Barber Shop. It was his first haircut in freedom since being released from prison.
Dr. Joseph Agris pulls a polaroid picture of Ricardo Rachell, right, during an examination in Agris’ office Dec. 30, 2008 in Houston, TX. Agris said at least three different doctors will be needed to reconstruct Rachell’s face, but if all goes well, Rachell procedures should be healed and complete by the end of 2009.
Dr. Norman H. Rappaport examines Ricardo Rachell’s an examination in Rappaport’s office Dec. 30, 2008 in Houston, TX. Rappaport said a team of doctors would be needed to repair the damage to Rachell’s face, including an ophthalmologist for his right eye.
Jan Albers, a member of the Red Hat Starlets of southwest Houston and Missouri City, visits The Grand 1894 Opera House during the landmark’s 114th birthday and reopening celebration Jan. 3, 2009 in Galveston, TX. 
Gale and Mary Jane Rogers dance to “New York, New York” backstage at The Grand 1894 Opera House during the landmark’s 114th birthday and reopening celebration Jan. 3, 2009 in Galveston. The couple, who said “New York, New York” is their song, have been dancing for as long as they’ve been married – 51 years. 
Throwing Candy 
