SANTIAGO, D.R. — There’s nothing quite like witnessing an open heart surgery.

Seeing a human heart beating and a pair of lungs expanding and contracting is absolutely incredible.

You can also view photos from Pricile’s surgery. Keep in mind that many photos may be considered disturbing by some due to the nature of surgery.

I don’t have a whole lot of inspirational thoughts to share today because we’ve been going full-speed for a few days. In lieu of words, today I’ll just share some photos and a few updates.

Isenadaire was the last to arrive of the four kids we we able to take to Santiago so far. He's older than the others. His health problems are noticeable when he has to walk a lot, especially up and down stairs when he gets very fatigued.

Erin Brenner prepares the instruments in the OR before Pricile's surgery.

Dr. Rodrigo Soto was our chief surgeon for Pricile's operation and he should be performing all the kids' surgeries when they are scheduled. Most of them should happen next week.

The following photos are from Pricile’s open-heart surgery and contain material that may be considered graphic to some due to the nature of the operation. They are tasteful, but display internal organs, blood and other subjects that may not be of interest to some. View at your own discretion. Continue Reading

The final heat of the 2011 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. began with more drama than any men's heat in the last 31 years. Denison had to finish within two spots of Kenyon to retain its lead and unseat the only overall champion the sport had seen in 31 years.

The full slideshow of photos from the event is located at the end of the story.

I remember showing up at my first UT football game as a photographer. Not a fan, student or band member, but with my mind focused on my goals for the next few hours and working to learn and accomplish those goals.  I was impressed with how nice the facilities were, but it didn’t come as a surprise to me–this is Tennessee, an FBS (Division I) SEC program with a top-10 all-time winning percentage.

Neyland Stadium is known for being one of the largest stadiums in America--over 100,000 in capacity, but after the multimillion dollar renovations to its interior and exterior, it is one of the nation's most beautiful as well.

Money goes to what people care about most, and Volunteer football is a big-revenue operation. Neyland Stadium is one of the oldest, finest and largest stadiums in the country for a reason–people are fanatical about the cleated brethren that don the orange and white jerseys and hit the wooden sign that says “I will give my all for Tennessee today,” as they leave the locker room.

The Tennessee football locker room has been compared to the quality of NFL locker rooms.

That locker room, by the way, was recently renovated and named for Peyton Manning after he made a $1 million contribution to the Neyland Stadium renovation project. According to UT’s website, Phase II of this plan alone was an estimated $27.4 million.

The media rooms that I’ve worked in on field level and in the press box are beautiful and spacious areas. They serve a pre-game meal, halftime meal, and snacks and pizza after the game to working members of the press. A similar routine occurs at men’s and women’s basketball games in Thompson Boling Arena. In addition, all media get parking passes near the venue, a storage area for gear, work space for writing/editing/uploading and dedicated athletic department personnel to help them solve problems and accomplish (most of ) their needs.

None of that exists at the Division III (DIII) level. Continue Reading

Today I finally got some good film in the can at a clinic we ran in a town up the north coast in Haiti.

We setup a full clinic with two general doctors, an optometrist and some nurses to go along with a semi-full service pharmacy. Continue Reading

Open your eyes to the world. Obey God’s word. Occasion not to miss.

These were the three points at Pastor Jude’s Haitian church service this morning. The associate Pastor Jeanim delivered the message in Creole and Jude translated the main points in English at the end.

Worshiping in another language was very unique, and though I’d done it in spanish before, this particular morning was very different. We weren’t leading a group of people in praises like my previous experiences. I was amazed at how the congregation, band and church leaders wer so passionate about each word they sang and each note they played. Continue Reading

We arrived in Haiti early this afternoon.

Haiti is gorgeous. It saddens me that there is still rubble everywhere, but the people have great spirits here.

Here are a few pictures I took today. I’ll start filming and really taking pictures tomorrow in the epicenter of the earthquake here in Port Au Prince. Continue Reading

In December 2010, I spent two days on an HDR photo-shoot of a Civil War battlefield in Murfreesboro, TN. I have shot some HDR images before this, but it’s safe to say that this was still one of my early forays into the HDR (High Dynamic Range) field.

If you’re not familiar with HDR photography, here’s an excerpt Continue Reading