In The Spotlight

As the world and the national media gather at the Duval County Courthouse for the Michael Dunn trial, once again Florida takes center stage. Michael Dunn is facing murder for shooting Jordan Davis for playing loud music at a Gate gas station on Southside Blvd. and Baymeadows Rd. in Jacksonville Fl two years ago. This location is up the street from my apartment. The case is very similar to the Trayvon Martin case about a gun used where the defendant is using the Stand Your Ground law. My station is covering the trial gavel to gavel and in my honest opinion i hope this case will not have the same results as the George Zimmerman case. For all my updates and behind the scenes follow me on twitter at @ThomasDBradley and on facebook.

I'M A HUMAN FIRST A NEWS SHOOTER 2ND

Nothing I can say can ease the pain of what the parents of the victims in CT. Later this year I was given the task to cover a school shooting here in Jacksonville FL, it was my first school shooting I might add. My heart race as me and my reporter raced to the scene. Once I arrived I was met by worried parents, gun carrying cops and a traffic nightmare at the school entrance. Yes my job requires me to capture every moment of the developing story out there. Although no kids was ever hurt or killed in the whole situation only two people died, the gunman and the dean. Last night I've posted this on my twitter page : " I remember this past year I covered my 1st school shooting at #Episcopal. As a news photog I wish this on NO ONE just for ratings.#Newtown ".

Pain with No Gain

Being healthy almost all my life and of course the every now again cough I've never had pain like this ever. Two days ago Wednesday while at work around noon i began feel pain in my stomach area. I continue working as nothing happened but the pain became greater. My reporter and i stopped by a drug store for aspirin but the pain became greater after completing our 5pm live shot. Thank God the live hit was one of the top story. While driving back to station from GA I kept telling my reporter my stomach hurts. I quickly put up all my gear and went home and rested then took more aspirin  it didn't work. I picked up the phone and called my mom and she told me to go to the hospital. In very great pain I drove to Memorial Hospital on my own power. After 20min i saw the doctor, they ran test and told me the news that they have to remove my appendix via surgery. Yes your's truly went to twitter and Facebook to make the announcement  Thanks to all for your well wishes. The surgery was successful and the staff treated me very nice. Thanks to the people who called me and my chief photographer who came and got my phone charger as well took me home from the hospital. In all the joy out weighted the pain. Thank you Jesus once again for sparing my life. Pain will never will have no gain.

Debates

For obvious reasons I'm keeping my opinion on tonight's debates to myself. My vote will do all of the talking on November 6th.

All Is Forgiven

Monday was a very good day cause for the first time I got to see WWE Raw live and in HD. I did had to work that day but not on night side cause the desk call me in early. This week I'll give it a grade of a B- so you say why, well let me explain. It's been a month and a couple of weeks since joining my new shop I'm still going through "grown pains". Me and my reporter got in and started to log and edit my package. I went to set up my live shot the desk called and informed me that the video was cut in SD instead of HD. I realized that i clicked on the wrong project settings in Eduis. The story did run in the ten but not in the eleven. Indeed I was freaked out that my ND, EP, and chief photog will get mad at me but I had e-mailed them as soon I got back to the station. Later in the week I shot a package that dealt with snakes. Yes I was freaked out but kept my cool and did my job. I got a chance to speak with the chief photog at WGCL-TV in Atlanta and I did not know he knew my chief photog. Can you say small world? I just talked to him about me and a possibility to work there in a couple of years. Over all the week could have been better but I lived to fight another day. Next week I'm back on day side and let the breaking news come. Till next time "Chance favors the prepared mind."

My Thoughts Of This Week

I got word this week that I will be starting to work weekends mainly on Sunday nights. Usually on Sundays I like off due to it's the seventh day, rest, I will like to attend church, NFL football, and once a month watch WWE pay-per-views. The light at the end of the tunnel is that I will be working Sunday- Thursdays with Friday and Saturdays off. That's good because I can finally watch my WWE Friday Night Smackdown in HD on Fridays. On Saturdays I can see my favorite crime show Americas Most wanted at 9:00pm on FOX and I can see the replay of WWE RAW at 10:00pm in HD on Universal HD. The reason for this change is because we just hired a new photog that will be on the weekend shift as soon he gets up to speed with the operations here. I made two mistakes this week when editing news packages. I guess I'm to fast for my own good as I missed one voice track on a package I did Tuesday and on other time this week i missed sots. I was not totally my fault due to me not having a day off in almost two weeks but I got to pay attention when I'm editing. The latter days of this week I had some breaking news to attend to a lady who was riding her bike on the street was hit by a car but later died of her injuries. Why I'm I the only one always shooting fatal accidents? I hope to pray this upcoming week will be an easy one. The boss is back in the office so time to shape up. Till my next rant "Chance favors the prepared mind".

Where I've Been...But back blogging.

Well it's been a long time since I've been here but I'm back but only will have a weekly blog. Since I last blogged on this site I been thorough a lot. I resigned my freelance gig from Ga. Dome Productions to focus on getting a job in another market. I finally got some interviews one in Knoxville, TN and Jacksonville, FL. WTVM went through some changes and that really sent me off to pursuit jobs. Speaking of jobs I did not get the job in Knoxville but I did get the photojournalist job in Jacksonville, Fl though. Spending three years at WTVM prepared me for this environment here in J'ville. This week one of the saddest stories I had to cover was when an Amtrak train hit this family car and they died. For more of that story look at the video I posted on my YouTube page below:

In this very tragic breaking story I ever shot and edited this package shows what happened when an Amtrak train his this car killing a mom and her two kids.

as I stated above due to my schedule I will posting a weekly blog instead a daily blog so look for that. If there's time I be post a daily blog. Till next time "Chance favors the prepared mind."