Haiti – god’s littlest angels orphanage evacuation
On our final day, Oregonian reporter Kimberly Wilson and I made a trip to the mountains outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was here we met up with Joe Wilkins of Beaverton, Oregon who was in the middle of the adoption process when the earthquake struck Haiti. God’s Littlest Angels orphanage was in the middle of evacuation a group of more than 80 children, including Wilkins’ new son Samuel from Haiti to Miami, Florida.
It was a great way to end our coverage in Haiti. The most memorable moment of the trip for me would come from our caravan through the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince. As the as the 7 vans filled with more than 80 children rolled through town with the windows down, they were singing songs – and although they were singing in french, they were all familiar tunes. Many of the people on the streets that were standing amongst the rubble and it was a touching moment as many of them stopped and turned their heads to see where the music was coming from. It was a bit of beauty amongst massive amounts of destruction.
Bruce,
I’ve been a fan for a while. I’m the campus photographer / videographer at Warner Pacific College in Portland, so I notice photo captions more than your average Oregonian reader.
What camera did you use to capture your HD footage in Haiti? Are you using the Canon Mark 5 or D Mark 7? It’s out of my range, but I have found the Nikon D300s real convenient on days when I don’t want to lug both my still camera kit and video kit. It can shoot HD well enough, although nothing like those Canons.
Also, out of curiosity, do you shoot with strobes at the Blazer games or just the ambient arena lighting? I’ve wondered how all of the sports photographers on the sidelines coordinate the use of flash, because I see more than a few Pocket Wizard transmitters on the top of cameras at games.
Thanks for the blog. Keep up the great work.
Scott Alan Thompson
Thanks for the note Scott.
I used a 5D MkII camera to shoot the bit of video in Haiti.I don’t shoot much video for my job, but sometimes it is obvious time to use it … such as when those kids were singing.
As far as the Blazers go … once in a while I will use the strobes that The Oregonian has mounted in the arena. I actually prefer to use available light though. There are 4 sets of lights there in the arena. They are owned and run by the NBA (x2), Sports Illustrated and The Oregonian. The photographers ether hard wire (connect directly) to the strobes or use wireless transmitters called Pocket Wizards to fire them remotely.
hope this helps.
- bruce
I attended Linfield with Joe and Jill, and although they don’t know me, I’ve been following their journey to bring Samuel home. This is a beautiful, stunning, priceless tribute that you have created. It has me in tears, both of awe and happiness for the Wilkins Family. Your photography is brilliant.