Recharge & Voltz: Ramblings of Introversion "Recharge & Voltz" is about subjects on photography, videography, writing, tech gadgets, outdoors, family, and this thing we call Life. Feel free to contact me anytime. Thank you & Enjoy!

What can I say??? This rarely happens to us dedicated Wild Turkey Chasers ( I call us "Chasers" bc it's a more fitting description of what we really do) - a 55-minute hunt, all textbook. You know... opening morning, cool, crisp with that breathe of golden sun just beaming though the pines; the Crows and bird life almost seem deafening. The air is broken repeatedly by the thunderous drones of gobbles the Ole' Boy is belting out. You make some sweet seductive hen chords from your favorite calls, he answers solidly... he's on his way! He shows up gobbling, he presents himself.... BOOM -  he's down for the count.... your heart is racing, wondering if this is real or a dream. YES, it is real, you've just harvested a legal wild turkey on opening morning of the 2011 Mississippi Spring Season in under an hour.... wake up, run after him now! WOW!
What a great experience this was for myself and good friend Byron Styron of Harahan, LA. This could not have happened to a better Guy. Byron has been trying to harvest his first bird for 3-years now, he finally sealed the deal here. With an invite from him to video his hunt, I was able to document and present his outstanding hunt/experience to you. I hope you enjoy!

Scout Pro Media plans to bring a unique video podcast based on both today's multimedia gear and photography trekking. What's unique or different about this Podcast?? Well, we are not high profile professionals by any means; no Philip Bloom, Steve Huff, or Steve Weiss (plug-plug for a few of my hero's here). We are working folks with families as well as a passion and dedication for photography, videography, & basically all things multimedia based. We have no real money to blow on high-tech gear, so we adapt and work with what we already own or items we create, etc. We all have some level of experience & expertise here, but primarily do not make our living based off our multimedia talents. The Earth Roamer Series - Walk-a-bouts Podcast came to be from myself and good friend Fernando Cundin of Cundin Photography, as we had both been working way too hard for way too long and just needed a recharge, you know - a breathe of fresh air. I told him, "Let's load the cameras and get out of Dodge!" We did just that and now after about four Walk-a-bouts under our belts, we determined that the daily outings of exploring and shooting either photo or video were a necessity to keep all cylinders pumping throughout the year. The trips proved to be very therapeutic while also being a great "just go out there" learning experience for the both of us. Our Walk-a-bouts include one to Mt. Olive, MS - an old stomping grounds for myself and my wild turkey education days, Bear Island Bar at Bear Island, LA, Hattiesburg, MS, and Des Allemands, LA; many of which are showcased here on the Recharge & Voltz Blog as well as my associated site ScoutPro Media Photography and my Scout Pro YouTube page SPP YouTube Channel. The Podcast will showcase many aspects of production, how to's, documentation, photographs, editing, etc of our excursions out in the world. Our first show is planned for shooting on January 14-16, 2011 with a release date soon after editing here at the blog. The first installment will most probably be in Happy Jack, LA in the back marshes & bays of Port Sulphur with best buddy Roy Taylor Jr. (plug, plug, Roy-boy). We are currently hunting up several photo locations for shooting an early morning sunrise, dead trees bayou, and many others. Panasonic's & Nikon's amongst this group of geeks; myself using the new unobtainable Panasonic GH2, Fernando on the Nikon D300 and Roy-boy sporting the new highly sought after D7000. It ought to be a great "mix-mash" of multimedia for all photo/video geeks to enjoy. Stay tuned for further information or contact me anytime. Thanks for your time & consideration, SJO.

Truly amazing from a Geographic stand point as well as coming from the type of background I work in - Geospatial Information/Data. Enter Wikipedia, we all know it, we all probably one time or another have even used it, but what is GeoHack? Still fresh here and to put it mildly, I'm not yet positive on what exactly it is; but can interpolate that it is a very powerful tool if you think like I do. Put simply, it is easier to instruct you with this basic tutorial of sorts on how to use it rather than explain what it is; I'll do my best here - GeoHack is a culmination of geographic information that has been organized in a "One-Stop Shop" for users to access. For example, head over to Wikipedia and type a known location; in the graphic above, I used Port Sulphur, LA. Once at the result page for Port Sulphur, LA you will see a coordinates link at the top right-hand side of the page; click on the actual Lat/Long coordinate link. This link will redirect you to Wiki's GeoHack page; once here you will see an organized list with links to everything possibly related to this geographic location distributed from many Federal, State, Local, & Private entities, etc. Fore fun, click on the "Satellite" link from "GeoNames" listed under Global Services section as seen below:

Do you see some potential in this tool? Can you imagine what this can be used for? For many Geospatial related industries... hell, even Planners, Engineers, the list goes on and on - this culmination/wealth of Geo- information/data that Wikipedia has organized and made available to the general public, truly is a work of art. Plug in some cool cities/towns from anywhere on Earth and have fun with Wikipedia's GeoHack and all it has to offer!

The technology of "Geotagging" imagery has come across my brain and I have to say it is very intriguing. What is Geotagging? Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs, video, websites, or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata. These data usually consist of latitude and longitude coordinates, though they can also include altitude, bearing, distance, accuracy data, and place names. It is commonly used for photographs, giving geotagged photographs. How is this intriguing or even helpful?? Let's say you are are a Shrimper contracted by BP to patrol the Gulf waters in search of any oil plumes and report the findings. Simple, take a photo of the image, Geotag the image, and Email, MMS, SMS the info to Headquarters for use with additional mapping aids, reports, etc. Simple and effective. How is it fun? Well, take for example you are a Field Journalist for National Geographic Explorer and you have been sent out to study & document a rare plant species in the rain forests of South America. You have planned for the trip and have a good idea of the general areas you will be in, etc. Head out with camera in hand, find the plant species, GPS the waypoint, Geotag the image and move on within the study area. Once back at the office you can then construct a route based on the geotagged photos & GPS data; plot them on a map such as Google Maps, Google Earth, etc. add field notes, descriptions, and you now have a viable, documented, & proven geographic tool which can tell a story or figure out a problem, etc. 


EveryTrail.com is just one service out there amongst many. Geotagging can be done several different ways, one, is to use a GPS and set waypoints with names of the images in which you take. Two, Companies are now making what is called Geotaggers; a small GPS gadget that records waypoints and routes differently from conventional GPS devices. Once all the images are taken, you can sync both the GPS data from the Geotagger and the images via the time stamp, as both have recorded data fixed within, third, you can enter coordinates in manually by visiting say Google Maps, drive to the actual location where you took the photo, copy and paste the coordinates and set the images. I have done some extensive research on "Geotagging" and the process of which; if you would like consultation on a system & workflow to best fit your needs and experience level, shoot me an email, I would be happy to help.


Here is my first and very quick attempt at a Geotagging Project. Many of you have seen my images of the Mt. Olive Photo Expedition, but not with the Geotagging spin on it. I chose to us the third route mentioned above, manual plugging of the coordinates; as I did not have a GPS that day, nor had I known about Geotagging yet. Two of the images I could not find precisely. Once at the link given below, Check out the options in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. The application uses a flash-based slideshow, as each image changes, you can see where the image was taken on the map as the push pin highlights. You can also pause the slideshow in the bottom left-hand corner and manually click on either the images or the red push-pins. You can even change the Google map view in the top right-hand corner of the screen and zoom in and out. Give it a try by clicking on the text below!

Mt. Olive Photo Expedition

Well, after 5-months and 6 - Orthopedics, it seems #6, Dr. Richard Meyer, MD (www.drrichardmeyer.com) finally sees things in terms of "Total Patient Care/Quality Of Life!" Visited him today and will have THR on the left hip first on October 12th, 2010. I have a busy September ahead of me as I need to visit my Primary Care Physician to get an "OK" for the surgery, an appointment at Touro for basic Pre-Op Testing (i.e. Cardio & Blood tests, etc.), plus a Pre-Op Class. Looking forward to getting my life & mobility back!

Dr. Meyer will be using the newer Anterior Hip Replacement procedure (Anterior Approach). With this approach recovery times are drastically reduced as there are no cutting of the muscles, etc. I am still waiting for the Doctor's office to confirm the actual Hip Prosthetic name, but I know that the "Cups" used will be the Pinnacle Hip Solution Cups seen here:
The actual Hip Stem may be the DePuy  Tri-Lock^® Bone Preservation Stem seen here:
More info to come soon, so stay tuned!

It has been one month since I reported last on my AVN condition and many things have changed since then. At last post I was seeing Dr. Chimento at Ochsner and a Core Decompression  (CD) procedure was in order. Now, I have yet again gotten an alternative opinion with another Orthopedic from the Pontchartrain Bone and Joint Clinic, with Dr. John Burvant. Outlook with Dr. Burvant was less than hopeful, in fact it was downright negative. Although Dr. Burvant was very cordial and stayed to answer all my questions, his prognosis was that a CD would only be about a 30% chance of success with the fluid build up he observed from my MRI scans and thus I was advised to simply wait until my hips deteriorate enough at which point a Total Hip Replacement (THR) can be done. Until then, it's a waiting game, leaving me with considerable pain and the lack of mobility to really do anything that requires the use of my legs and feet - pretty much everything! Anti-Inflammatory drugs I am taking do not appear to be aiding the day-to-day pain associated with my AVN. Common tasks we all take for granted have begun to be an extreme chore for me such as bending over, cutting my grass, holding & playing with my kids, walking, marital relations and many more. With this news I am bumbed out to say the least, but I have snapped back and have been busy again writing to Doctors and Specialists all over the U.S. One of which are the Specialists at Alabama Orthopaedic Clinic (AOC) located in Mobile, AL. These guys "spoke" to me in the form at which their website is represented, arranged, and worded. I have an email sent off to both Dr's. Michael L. Granberry & Suanne White-Spunner. You can read about them and the Clinic in Mobile, AL: here at this link: Alabama Orthopaedic Clinic.

Second, I have gone back to the Dr. that has helped me so much through this ordeal and continues to respond to every email I send him, Dr. David S. Hungerford, now retired (about Dr. Hungerford). In his last email he relayed to me that his son, Dr. Marc Hungerford also specializes in THR and that he would aid in setting up a meeting for me with him. I decided to research Dr. Marc Hungerford and found that he too, like his Father, is well respected and highly sought after for his abilities in THR Surgeory. One of which is the "Anterior Hip Replacement" method; so what is it:

The direct anterior approach utilizes a muscle interval in front of the hip joint in which muscles and tendons are not cut for exposure of the joint. Because exposure can be more challenging, special instruments and a custom operating table are used to assist in performing the surgery.
Patients who have undergone Direct Anterior Hip Replacement surgery report that the post operative pain and discomfort is markedly less than traditional approaches. In addition, their recovery is expedited. Most patients are discharged from the hospital by post op day #2 and are off of all walking aids (cane/crutches) by the 2nd week from surgery.
The Direct Anterior Approach is not applicable to all patients. Most patients who are undergoing Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty will be better served by more traditional approaches. Those patients who have hip deformities from childhood also, on occasion, are not candidates for the direct anterior approach. Read more on Dr. Marc Hungerford & his Practice here: Dr. Marc Hungerford,MD

Click below for a video-model on this alternative method:



Now that we know what it is, let's see it done in reality; this made me "CRINGE" while watching it:




Let's hear from patients who have had this procedure done:



Sounds all well and good, but that surgical video is ever-weighing heavy on my mind... Ouch!! With these new findings it is safe to say that my ordeal with AVN is far from over and only getting more challenging for me as time passes. For me -  continued education, networking, and a positive outlook keep me going for now.

Thanks for reading.