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Oldprof
Guest
Good luck Bubba. Be safe.
Newbee Wanabee
- Thread starter Bubba
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Peter
Guest
Just read about hurricane Frances in Florida. Do take care and please do not take unnecessary risks to take hurricane photos!
I thought I would bump this up in hopes of hearing some good words from Bubba or anyone else caught in this storm's path.
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Peter
Guest
I sincerely pray that Bubba and his family is alright.
Bubba
Still learning
I'm Back!!!! Thanks to everyone for the warm wishes.
Well, shortly after my last message the power went out. We have had electricity for a couple of days, but no internet access. We weathered the storm very well. As I mentioned earlier, we rode out the storm at a friend’s house on the mainland. My house is on a barrier island and we were forced to evacuate. The house we rode the storm out in (me, my wife and another couple) did marvelously. A little shingle damage to the roof and a lost ridge vent, but other than that no real problems. Most of the trees around the property were significantly damaged. One tree, a large ficus, fell and missed the house by about a foot. Unfortunately, the house is on a well system, so we lost running water when the electric cut out because the pump is electric. We figured that the winds blew at least at tropical storm strength for more than 30 hours. We really don’t know how long the hurricane force winds blew. We had a couple of significant gusts that got our attention very quickly. We spent most of the night in a safe room in the center of the house. The wind never let up during this entire time, because the storm's eye passed south of us. Thus, we caught the nasty north and northeast side of the storm. For the first twenty hours (or something like that, we lost track of time) the winds came predominantly from the north and northeast. Then, as the eye passed south of us, the winds shifted to coming from the east and eventually they came mostly from the south. The winds from the northeast quadrant of the storm were by far the worst. In spite of going stir crazy in the dark with only a radio for information updates, we survived quite nicely. I'm kind of sick of peanut butter sandwiches right now.
Our house, that we were forced to evacuate, survived with very minimal damage. We are extremely fortunate. We got a little water in our living room. We have a few holes in our screen patio and our pool looked like a slimy green lake, but other than that, no problems. All of our plants suffered pretty badly. We have a very mature ponytail palm that bloomed for the very first time this year. They don't bloom until they are between 15 and 20 years old. Frances snapped the tops off of all of the heads. The damage around us is very sporadic. Some houses have significant damage and other show no signs of damage at all. All of the traffic lights were blown down and so every intersection is now a four-way stop. A lot of sand blew up onto the street from the beach. The city has pushed the sand into piles at one popular boardwalk. The piles are more than 15 feet tall. Some houses and businesses were completely destroyed. Overall, though, the damage is not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. As a community, we have been very fortunate.
Our church suffered some significant damage. The roof over one building was completely peeled off and another roof suffered significant shingle damage. I have spent the last week cutting and hauling trees that have fallen, repairing roofs, and doing general cleanup. We basically have been working from sun up to sun down. Our house's electricity came back pretty fast. But many of our neighbors are still without. Since we have electricity and, more importantly air conditioning and hot showers, our house has been a bevy of activity with neighbors and friends using our facilities.
Now, for the important stuff, I finally got to play with my new Bessa. Unfortunately, the fastest film I had was 200 speed. So, taking pictures in the safe house without electricity was not possible. I did manage to take a few shots through a 6 inch opening in the storm panels during some of the bigger winds. When I get things sorted out, I will post them. With all of the repair and cleanup work, I really haven't had much opportunity to take pictures of the damage. Since this is my first rangefinder, there was a bit of a learning curve. Bottom line, I really like this camera. The best way I can sum it up is that “it is neat”.
Take care and thanks again for the warm wishes.
Bubba
Well, shortly after my last message the power went out. We have had electricity for a couple of days, but no internet access. We weathered the storm very well. As I mentioned earlier, we rode out the storm at a friend’s house on the mainland. My house is on a barrier island and we were forced to evacuate. The house we rode the storm out in (me, my wife and another couple) did marvelously. A little shingle damage to the roof and a lost ridge vent, but other than that no real problems. Most of the trees around the property were significantly damaged. One tree, a large ficus, fell and missed the house by about a foot. Unfortunately, the house is on a well system, so we lost running water when the electric cut out because the pump is electric. We figured that the winds blew at least at tropical storm strength for more than 30 hours. We really don’t know how long the hurricane force winds blew. We had a couple of significant gusts that got our attention very quickly. We spent most of the night in a safe room in the center of the house. The wind never let up during this entire time, because the storm's eye passed south of us. Thus, we caught the nasty north and northeast side of the storm. For the first twenty hours (or something like that, we lost track of time) the winds came predominantly from the north and northeast. Then, as the eye passed south of us, the winds shifted to coming from the east and eventually they came mostly from the south. The winds from the northeast quadrant of the storm were by far the worst. In spite of going stir crazy in the dark with only a radio for information updates, we survived quite nicely. I'm kind of sick of peanut butter sandwiches right now.
Our house, that we were forced to evacuate, survived with very minimal damage. We are extremely fortunate. We got a little water in our living room. We have a few holes in our screen patio and our pool looked like a slimy green lake, but other than that, no problems. All of our plants suffered pretty badly. We have a very mature ponytail palm that bloomed for the very first time this year. They don't bloom until they are between 15 and 20 years old. Frances snapped the tops off of all of the heads. The damage around us is very sporadic. Some houses have significant damage and other show no signs of damage at all. All of the traffic lights were blown down and so every intersection is now a four-way stop. A lot of sand blew up onto the street from the beach. The city has pushed the sand into piles at one popular boardwalk. The piles are more than 15 feet tall. Some houses and businesses were completely destroyed. Overall, though, the damage is not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. As a community, we have been very fortunate.
Our church suffered some significant damage. The roof over one building was completely peeled off and another roof suffered significant shingle damage. I have spent the last week cutting and hauling trees that have fallen, repairing roofs, and doing general cleanup. We basically have been working from sun up to sun down. Our house's electricity came back pretty fast. But many of our neighbors are still without. Since we have electricity and, more importantly air conditioning and hot showers, our house has been a bevy of activity with neighbors and friends using our facilities.
Now, for the important stuff, I finally got to play with my new Bessa. Unfortunately, the fastest film I had was 200 speed. So, taking pictures in the safe house without electricity was not possible. I did manage to take a few shots through a 6 inch opening in the storm panels during some of the bigger winds. When I get things sorted out, I will post them. With all of the repair and cleanup work, I really haven't had much opportunity to take pictures of the damage. Since this is my first rangefinder, there was a bit of a learning curve. Bottom line, I really like this camera. The best way I can sum it up is that “it is neat”.
Take care and thanks again for the warm wishes.
Bubba
Bubba
Still learning
Here is a picture through a small opening at the top of one of the storm shutters. This was probably around 60mph winds. We got gusts as high as 90mph.
back alley
IMAGES
glad to hear that you are ok!
sounds like quite the adventure you've been through.
the news is full of pics and people talking about the damage.
keep in touch when you can and if possible get a few pics of your own.
joe
p.s. - if it makes you feel better - we had our first snow of the season already!
sounds like quite the adventure you've been through.
the news is full of pics and people talking about the damage.
keep in touch when you can and if possible get a few pics of your own.
joe
p.s. - if it makes you feel better - we had our first snow of the season already!
R
Rich Silfver
Guest
Good to hear you're safe.
Looking forward to seeing some Bessa photos
Looking forward to seeing some Bessa photos
GeneW
Veteran
Bubba, what an ordeal! I'm glad to hear you're safe and that your house was relatively undamaged.
Looking forward to your Bessa pictures once you've had time to get things sorted out.
Gene
Looking forward to your Bessa pictures once you've had time to get things sorted out.
Gene
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Peter
Guest
Good to see you back!
Bubba
Still learning
SNOW!! Yuck!!
I haven't had to deal with snow for a very long time and, honestly, I really don't miss it. Hear in Florida we refer to days off due to hurricanes as our version of "snow days". I have been extremely fortunate that most of the hurricanes that have hit since I've lived here have missed my area or have not been too powerful. Frances was not so much powerful as it was big and slow. It seemed like it would never end.
I'm going to scan in some negatives from my last roll of film from the Bessa and see if any of them are worth sharing. I'm still learning and I'm seeing a little improvement in my exposures. So far I've only had opportunity to run 2 rolls of film through it. Hopefully that will change soon.
I haven't had to deal with snow for a very long time and, honestly, I really don't miss it. Hear in Florida we refer to days off due to hurricanes as our version of "snow days". I have been extremely fortunate that most of the hurricanes that have hit since I've lived here have missed my area or have not been too powerful. Frances was not so much powerful as it was big and slow. It seemed like it would never end.
I'm going to scan in some negatives from my last roll of film from the Bessa and see if any of them are worth sharing. I'm still learning and I'm seeing a little improvement in my exposures. So far I've only had opportunity to run 2 rolls of film through it. Hopefully that will change soon.
SolaresLarrave
My M5s need red dots!
Bubba,
Let's hope Ivan doesn't interrupt you again...
Now, this hurricane naming has kept me chuckling... My wife's name is Frances, and Ivan is the name of my dissertation advisor.
See you later and good luck!
Let's hope Ivan doesn't interrupt you again...
Now, this hurricane naming has kept me chuckling... My wife's name is Frances, and Ivan is the name of my dissertation advisor.
See you later and good luck!