Michael Vick's Fighting Pit Bulls

Okay, I know what you're all thinking, "I've seen this already!" I know, I know, but I had to get it up on the blog! For those of you who haven't seen these yet, this was a story I worked on for The New York Times (it never gets old saying that) on the rehabilitation of Michael Vick's fighting pit bulls at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. I'm still getting several nice emails from people all over the nation about the photos; I'd like to thank everyone for all the kind comments, and I'm still trying to reply to each and every one of your emails. Be sure to check out the multimedia piece I did for this story, which you can find here, at nytimes.com.

Here's the layout, including a shot on the front page:



This photo got the most attention by far, it really shows the connection these dogs have with their caregivers:


Here's a caregiver taking a nap with Georgia:



Here's Lucas, Vick's champion dog:



Lucas was also one of the sweetest dogs you'll ever meet. Here he is licking the face of Jeff, one of the caregivers:



Lucas, once again looking for attention:



Meryl, peeking out of his igloo:



Handsome Dan, with a caregiver:

Monte Carlo Catches Fire

What a weekend! We had one objective when we made the trip down to Las Vegas on the last weekend of January, and that was to follow Miss Utah Jill Stevens as she competed in the Miss America pageant. But, as any journalist will tell you, it doesn't always work out that way. The morning of Friday, Jan. 25 we were on our way to Planet Hollywood to meet up with Jill and her family....that was before we saw black smoke coming from the Vegas strip. It turns out the Monte Carlo hotel and casino was engulfed in flames, so I parked my car in the median of the strip and grabbed my camera. Here's what I came back with:

Monte Carlo employees walking away from the casino:



Smoke rising from the casino:



Monte Carlo guests watch from the strip:



A crowd gathers on the strip to watch the fire:


A few of these photos were picked up by USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and other major newspapers. Right place, right time I guess....