Katrina Survivors Project

It was Monday August 29th 2005, I was driving down the highway. The roads were starting to get worse and it was still raining on and off. The clouds were letting off as they drifted further north.





Cars were smushed.



Traffic was at a standstill.



I hadn't seen an open gas station for over 100 miles, and cars were running out of fuel alongside the roads.



Even the trains were stopped in their tracks.



But after a while I came as far as I could go. For some reason I wanted so badly to get over that bridge, for on the other side was the city of New Orleans.



It must have been the journalistic instict that led me to come on this crazy adventure, at the time I was so dissapointed. All I wanted was to get into that city and document what was happening. Everyone wanted in, they wanted to return to their homes, after all the hurricane had passed and all was well in the Big Easy. But the way was blocked and I turned around and headed for home. It wasnt until the next morning that the levees finally gave way. The city was underwater, and I came to realized how lucky I was to have NOT made it across that bridge.

Fast forward to November 29th 2005, it was three months later and my jounalistic nature was still kicking. I wanted to return and this time I had a way in. My mom had been deployed by FEMA into New Orleans and I would get a tour of the devastaion first hand. In no way can I describe what I saw, there are no words and even pictures and news stories can hardly begin to show what happened. So instead of focusing on the negative, I decided to try and find a more positive way of deciphering these events.

I toured the costal lands, the streets the neigborhoods, the upper ninth ward looking for signs of activity. Searching for those people which were surveying their homes, cleaning them out, or even beginging to rebuild. It was these people that I talked to and some were kind enough to let me create portraits of them and what was once their homes.

Brandy Feaster of New Orleans, LA


Kenny Melvin of Slidell, LA


Rachel and Rebecca Weidenbacher of Abbeville, LA


Lorraine McDaniel of Violet, LA


George Cramer of Slidell, LA


Cheryl Reichert and Friends of Kenner, LA


Korey Williams, Franice Thomas, and Nakita Shavers of New Orleans, LA


And Others






Some of you might ask, why bring this up now almost a year later. The fact is that in return for letting me take these photographs, I promised to send each person a print. This last year has been extremely busy for me and week after week I kept procrastinating printing and sending the pictures. Well, this week I have stopped delaying and I am printing and prepaing to send them off to their rightful owners.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again next week,

Matt Read More......

This weekend was for the kids!

Well as some of you might know, I am an offroad junkie! Every year the 4x4 club that I am involved with makes it out to the annual Orphans Outing at the Fort Worth Anglers Club. Here, kids of all ages are treated to a surprise as tons of great folks come out to show them a good time. Fire trucks, clowns, hay rides, hot dogs, helicopters, 4x4's, and more are some of the things the kids can enjoy. The Texas Four Wheel Drive DFW chapter makes it out to this event every year to introduce these great kids to the offroading community. As the kids come by and admire the rigs they pick their favorite and are given a ride down to the lake and over some small hills. The kids get a kick out of it, but we get an even greater sense of satisfaction!







Read More......

Photoshop World Vegas!

Alright, well as promised here is another update for the pages of Pavel Studio's. This week it was time for some Photoshop training in the city of lights... not that I saw many lights as most of the time was spent in training seminars. But all is well as I have learned a ton of useful information to create better, more spectacular photographs.

My beautiful wife Hope came along to keep me company when I wasn't attending classes. This is her making a few calls home after we checked in and admired the view from our room at the Luxor.



The conference was just next door at the Mandalay Bay, however, just next door in these jumbo hotels was still a 15 minute powerwalk to the convention area. Here is one of the sights along the way.



Sorry, I couldnt resist. A spotlight in the room had this great affect at night and I just had to capture it... along with a little Mac promo of course.



Food options seemed a bit limited. One afternoon Hope and I stopped to eat at the Rum Jungle. It was quite an atmosphere, glass waterfalls, vivid colors, and swirling firey torches were the theme here!



While in the hotel room, a quick thunderstorm drifted by and I couldnt help but to take these!





On the last day, Hope went with me to the conference to learn some Photoshop skill. (I think she wants guru status like me). Here we are waiting for the tram outside the hotel.



Ooops! We went the wrong way...lets try that again.



And here we are in class learning some great tips on creating Photoshop effects. (somebody turn up the lights, I'm falling asleep)



The plane took off right at sunset and man was it beautiful. We had a great time but it still felt great to be coming home!



All in all it was a great trip, we did do a few other things besides the conference. One of the coolest things was Mystere by Cirque de Soilel. Cameras werent allowed or else I would have used up all of my memory cards, but if you ever get to see any Cirque de Soilel I would highly recommend it!

So I hope I suceeded in entertaining you for a few minutes and I look forward to seeing you again next week!

Until then,

Matt Read More......

Welcome!

Well, this is my first entry and I'm not sure how to do this but lets give it a whirl. I'm glad you came to check it out! Lets start with showing everyone what I've been up to for the last two weeks:
I have been assisting David Lyles with a commercial shoot for Lava Enterprises, A California based candle company. We have been photographing their new products for their upcoming catalog. At the camera is David Lyles, his assistant Kenny arranges the candles as Lava Senior Graphic Designer Aaron looks on.
David Lyles Website
Lava Enterprises Website
Here is Trinhy, David's Intern and fellow UTA student working hard at the computer. Allen, the Lava Rep is on set in the background.And This is me at my desk! I do the photoshop work, retouching, backing up, and disk burning.
And this of course is Gus the spotted set director!
And Demi, the feisty chipmunk chaser! (She occasionally stands in for me doing photoshop work.)
This is one of the sets for the Betty Crocker Candles. The sets are easily manuevered since almost everything in the massive studio is on wheels.


And here are a few sample photographs of what will be in the upcoming catalog. Read More......