rbiemer
Unabashed Amateur
Tonight was kind of slow at work because the fire dept had taken over all of Main Street to put out the fire in the building acroos the street from my work.
No one was seriously hurt, the lower two floors are day-time businesses and only one person was home in the apartments on the third floor--he got out before things got too bad.
I had my Bessa w/21mm with me and was the first photographer on the scene(not counting the 8 or 10 people with cel-phone cameras). Got some shots of the smoke billowing out of the 2nd floor windows and the fire fighters setting up.
I was trying to nicely elbow my way to the front of the crowd--or at least to get in front of the tall people blocking my view. Made it, shot one or two more frames when suddenly the glass front door(leads directly to the staircase going up) "popped" and blew glass, smoke, and the doorframe all over the street between me(and the restaurant I work at).
I discovered that I'm not especially cut out to be a journalist: my first reaction was to duck and run away from the action. I'm hoping that when the door went and I was startled(won't use the real expression for my reaction but I didn't have to change my pants at least) that I clenched my hand and the finger on the shutter--won't know until tomorrow afternoon when I get the C-41 BW film back from the local one hour place.
I took altogether 15 or 20 shots from various spots and had time to change the 21 for the J-9(the other lens I had with me).
When the local newspaper photog got there I offered to give him the film with only two conditions: I wanted the negs back after they were done with them and I wanted a photo credit if anything proved usable. He thanked me for the offer but declined as the paper has gone "completely digital."
I had time to do this as what few people we had in the Restaurant were too busy watching the spectacle to sit down and eat so I don't think I cooked for more than 10 or 12 folks all night. We gave away a lot of coffee, though.
OK, I'm still too wired to sit still for very long so I'm off to get on the outside of a few beers and relax abit before bed.
I'll post some pics tomorrow if I got anything decent. I suspect the building will have to come down(I hope I'm wrong) and I hope the two small businesses were insured well so the owners can at least think about starting up again.
Tomorrow,
Rob
No one was seriously hurt, the lower two floors are day-time businesses and only one person was home in the apartments on the third floor--he got out before things got too bad.
I had my Bessa w/21mm with me and was the first photographer on the scene(not counting the 8 or 10 people with cel-phone cameras). Got some shots of the smoke billowing out of the 2nd floor windows and the fire fighters setting up.
I was trying to nicely elbow my way to the front of the crowd--or at least to get in front of the tall people blocking my view. Made it, shot one or two more frames when suddenly the glass front door(leads directly to the staircase going up) "popped" and blew glass, smoke, and the doorframe all over the street between me(and the restaurant I work at).
I discovered that I'm not especially cut out to be a journalist: my first reaction was to duck and run away from the action. I'm hoping that when the door went and I was startled(won't use the real expression for my reaction but I didn't have to change my pants at least) that I clenched my hand and the finger on the shutter--won't know until tomorrow afternoon when I get the C-41 BW film back from the local one hour place.
I took altogether 15 or 20 shots from various spots and had time to change the 21 for the J-9(the other lens I had with me).
When the local newspaper photog got there I offered to give him the film with only two conditions: I wanted the negs back after they were done with them and I wanted a photo credit if anything proved usable. He thanked me for the offer but declined as the paper has gone "completely digital."
I had time to do this as what few people we had in the Restaurant were too busy watching the spectacle to sit down and eat so I don't think I cooked for more than 10 or 12 folks all night. We gave away a lot of coffee, though.
OK, I'm still too wired to sit still for very long so I'm off to get on the outside of a few beers and relax abit before bed.
I'll post some pics tomorrow if I got anything decent. I suspect the building will have to come down(I hope I'm wrong) and I hope the two small businesses were insured well so the owners can at least think about starting up again.
Tomorrow,
Rob
