“You Only Need Six Pictures…. And There’s Nothing To Do In Everglades City”
by Michael Blake Lott
© 2020 (All rights reserved)
Those were part of my operating instructions, as the New Photographer and Website Creator for the Redfish Tour. Our old friend Grady, who was as fine of a model of enthusiasm and optimistic promoter as ever there was one, had a basic grasp of the internet, and he didn’t care too much about the details.
He listened to me going on about content, lighting, photographic effects, and such. Every event, without fail, I’d have to go to lengths to get the results, prizes, points, to go with my photos.
Such was the beginning of my work with the Redfish Tour. Some people think I’m joking when I say I literally wrote my own job description, saying “this is what I can do, and what about this, and this?”
At one point when The Tournament Director was asked to help me promote the Venue and their business, his answer was “You Only Need Six Pictures…. And There’s Nothing to Do in Everglades City.”
This story has many pages, plot twists, sweat, work, successes and heartbreaks along the way. Many Years of message boards, website updates, planning, scoring, writing, and more. I wore out vehicles, cameras, and computers, all purchased out of my own pocket. After 19 years I’d say “I’m still waiting on a lot of things”.
My BFF Lee Causey and I worked hand-in-hand together through hundreds of challenges and critical situations, and handled them all one way or another.
Do you think anything interesting happened in the first 300-400 Tournaments? There are lots of great stories to be told. Somehow, I think there’s an audience.
That was 19 Years ago, and I thought that I would make TWENTY.
But WOW, that isn’t going to happen.
Today, without Notice, my job ended.
Happy Holidays.
Michael Lott
