Lance's Chance

Lance Witt is a 6-year-old that never got to be like the other kids. He was born with a congenital heart defect that caused him to be sluggish and sick most of his short life. This summer his condition worsened and he had to have a heart transplant. His new heart has given him a new life.
I arrived at the Witt home one day right after he and his older brother Emory had gotten home from school. I followed the boys around as they got down to the business of play. Lance took off on his scooter up and down, up and down his driveway with erupting giggles. He then took off down the hill towards a trampoline. I saw the opportunity for a cool photo and climbed underneath to shoot up as the sun filtered through. He made a game of peaking at me through the cracks and trying to move before I could photograph him laughing all the while. Finally his grandmother Judy coaxed him back to the house where the boys brought out their pet hermit crabs to play on the back porch. I left shortly after their mother arrived home. It was inspiring to see Lance enjoying life so much after what he has been through and a joy to photograph all that fun.


Lance Witt, 6, enjoys the breeze in his face as he scoots by on his razor in the driveway of his home Wednesday Dec. 3, 2009, in Winder. The first-grader was born with a congenital heart defect and had a heart transplant this summer that has given him a lot more energy.




Lance Witt, 6, runs circles around a trampoline outside of his home Wednesday Dec. 3, 2009, in Winder.


Lance Witt, 6, left, and brother Emory, 9, play with their pet hermit crabs on the backporch of their home.


Lance Witt, 6, jokes around with his grandmother Judy Witt with brother Emory, 9, looking on at his home Wednesday Dec. 3, 2009, in Winder.


Lance Witt, 6, left, and brother Emory, 9, greet mother Christina as she arrives home Wednesday Dec. 3, 2009, in Winder.


Lance Witt, 6, walks open the front door at his home Wednesday Dec. 3, 2009, in Winder.

The Cattleman Can

I recently spent some time with 95-year-old Cliff Ward. He has lived quite a life and spent most of it working with cattle. It was the second assignment I had in one week that I felt called for an audio slideshow. It was also one of those assignments that wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be.

My photo request told me that Cliff Ward, who sold his own farm 3 years ago, was still very active helping his son Albert who has cancer on his farm. I went to his house the night before the assignment to collect audio. I found out that Cliff's health started deteriorating two years ago leaving him unable to do much of the hard labor he has been doing his whole life. Then once out at the farm the next day there just wasn't anything going on to photograph other than Cliff and his son standing in the field with the cattle. It was plenty of material for the newspaper, but not enough for my slideshow. Albert now hires most of the work done since both his and his father's health have been bad. I had already told Cliff I was making the slideshow and I wanted to see it through. I just shot my heart out trying to get as many different images as I could with so little action. I also photographed lots of old pictures and some of Cliff's awards to fill it out. Luckily a beautiful day and an interesting subject can go a long way which saved it. That is the thing about audio slideshows, just because the story is compelling or it sounds interesting the number one priority is having enough visually compelling material to work with. Otherwise you are left trying to make something out of nothing much which can turn into a big waste of time for you and the readers.

Read the story here.

Check out the slideshow here.

A Life ReStored

Every once in awhile I meet someone really special on an assignment. A few weeks ago I went to photograph a man named Mr. Lee Green who restores broken furniture at the Habitat for Humanity thrift store called ReStore. I found him in the back corner of the building in a caged in area that is his shop. He was soft spoken, warm and quick to laugh. He had a quiet pride about him that reminded me of my Papaw. I spent about 2 hours photographing him at work and talking with him about his various projects. I decided his story would make for a great audio slideshow so I came back the next day to record him.
Mr. Green, 56, has worked most of his life as a carpenter, but a stroke in 2006 left him unable to work. It wasn't long before he was homeless. He lived out of the Salvation Army for awhile before his life turned around. He started collecting a check which he saved and was able to move out into an apartment of his own, but this wasn't enough for Mr. Green. After the fallout from his stroke he felt down and out, like he wasn't any good to anybody anymore. Then he found out about an Athens Community Council on Aging program that created a job for Green at the ReStore working as a carpenter refurbishing broken donated furniture. It is his own little slice of heaven. He said he waited 36 years for a shop of his own and wouldn't trade it for nothing.
Watch the audio slideshow here. (for some reason this won't play on my firefox browser, but works on others)

Street Artist

Michael Davenport lost his arms when he tangled with an electrical wire while climbing a tree at the age of 13. He almost didn't make it. Now 30-something years later he can be seen several days a week outside of the Broad Street Bar & Grill in downtown Athens doing drawings of University of Georgia mascot "Uga" with his mouth. The ABH has done a few stories on him throughout the years. We received a call recently tipping us off that he would be appearing on the Oprah show. I photographed and did video of him over 3 or 4 visits at his regular spot just 2 blocks from the paper. I talked with him about his desire to be a good role model and inspire people not to give up on their lives. His story touched my heart. I let him in. He told spectator after spectator that we were doing a story on him, that he was going to be on Oprah. He was so proud and it made me feel good to have a small part in it.

Michael Davenport, who lost his arms in an electrical wire accident at 13, works on a drawing with people looking on Saturday Aug. 8, 2009, in downtown Athens.

Then I got the word. It wasn't true that he was going on Oprah. He had told me and several others all the details down to the day he was flying out to Chicago. He had asked me to please bring him copies of the paper and my video so he could take it to show Oprah. I felt like a fool for believing it all. We were in so deep at the paper that we ran his story anyway just omitting the Oprah stuff and focusing on his tragedy and triumph. We had already put in so many man hours and he still has an amazing story. I wasn't finished with the video when I got news of the deception. I didn't even want to finish it, but I did anyway. I spent hours on it. Somewhere in all those hours of editing, listening to his voice, watching him draw, I decided to see past the deception. He is still an inspiration.






Street artist Michael Davenport works on a drawing outside of the Broad Street Bar & Grill Saturday Aug. 8, 2009, in downtown Athens.

Cage Fighter

I recently spent an afternoon at a training session of World Extreme Cagefighting fighter Brian Bowles at the the Hardcore Gym in Athens. The Hardcore Gym is also where former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin got his start. Soon Griffin might not be the only local fighter to make it to the top of mixed martial arts. Bowles is taking on defending champion Miguel Angel Torres for the WEC Bantamweight Championship Aug. 9, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nev. That's tonight on VERSUS!

I've been watching MMA here and there for a few years, mostly following a few seasons of Spike TV's reality show "The Ultimate Fighter." I remember a time when I thought of cage fighting with distaste. Now, I respect it as a sport that gets to the essence of physical competition more than any other. That shit is intense!

I went all out with this one. I got photos, video, sportraits, you name it!
Read ABH writer Jeff Cochran's story here.

UPDATE: Bowles beat Torres in the first round by knockout and is now the Bantamweight Champion of the world! Watch the fight here.




























Brian Bowles listens to coach Adam Singer during training for the WEC Bantamweight World Championship fight Wednesday July 29, 2009, at The Hardcore Gym in Athens, Ga. Bowles will take on defending champion Miquel Angel Torres Aug. 9, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nev.


There is a gallery with more pictures here.