You have a WHAT in your house?

"Aviation artist Rick Broome walks around in his studio which is home to a retired United Airlines Boeing 737 in his home in Colorado Springs, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. The airplane, bought from a movie studio in California, was lowered into place by a crane and his studio was built around it." JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE

You can chalk this one up to just another reason why I love my job. I arrive at my assignment today to photograph a guy and his neighbor who have a wildlife duck habitat in their back yard. However when I show up Rick wanted to show me something before we even took a look at the ducks. He starts to lead me through the kitchen and into a large room where I can see something huge but can't quite make it out. When I get all the way into the room I realize that there is half of a 737 sitting in his studio. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

I have seen some crazy things in my life but this HAS to be right up there.

At this point I can care less about whatever ducks he has in the backyard, I just want to shoot this plane. Rick took me inside the plane where he has a living room set up where the seats used to be. I also got to step into the cockpit where we talked for a minute or two. He then took me downstairs to show me another little work space he has set up underneath the plane. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw a can of coffee beans sitting on the landing gear.

Apparently we've already done a story on Rick and the plane so I didn't have anything that I could bring back to the paper and brag about but it was cool regardless. I'm thinking about going back on my own time to do a proper portrait of him.

So the next time you find yourself watching "Cribs" on MTV and Shaq is on there bragging about his custom cars, 26" dubs (read: Shaq feet), monster bed and the basketball court in his house just take a second to realize that he doesn't have anything on my man Rick Broome and his 737. Holla back two times!

-JCE

www.jcedmonds.com

P.S. I got a call from Kevin Martin from The Advocate in Baton Rouge letting me know that I was a finalist for their winter/spring internship but wasn't selected. I was obviously disappointed that I didn't get it because I really wanted to get the chance to work at a strong paper in a big city and experience the southern culture. However, the fact that Kevin even called to let me know I didn't get it was extremely professional. I haven't had any other editor call to let me know that he/she was impressed with my work but that I didn't quite make the cut. It shows that Kevin and The Advocate really care and that counts for a lot in my book. I'm going to push myself even harder to improve my portfolio and can't wait to apply there again in May. Thanks Kevin.