Fire! Fire! Fire!

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my station, in my office, when I suddenly looked outside to my left and saw something peculiar.  Smoke!  Dark, black smoke was billowing from what seemed like a block or two away.  I knew immediately that something was happening.  Somehow, I managed to overcome my own curiosity and set back to work.  But inside, my curiosity was burgeoning.  I couldn’t hold out, especially, when I started to hear multiple sirens and helicopters hovering above.  I could see them through the huge glass wall/doors.  That did it, but not without more resistance.  You see, I was about to travel the next day and I had so many things to do, including satisfying a client and fulfilling my quota of stock imagery for the month, since it was the end of the month and I didn’t want to leave too much work piling up to come back to

To make a long story short, after about a half hour or so, I eventually grabbed a camera, which was already fitted with a 80-200mm f2.8 nikkor lens, and an extra wide angle zoom and went running down the stairs.  For some reason, when events like this happen in my neighborhood, I generally feel shy about being a photographer on the scene, since I know that the event might involve real casualties and I still have reservations about seemingly, capitalizing on someone else’s tragedy.  And I am also well aware that on such scenes, a heavy police presence can mean friction and always the possibility of getting hassled or arrested on the scene.  In my city, this past year alone, I have been harassed by the police for simply making snapshots as I passed through the streets and I have come to realize that post 9-11 will not be an easy time for photographers who have a penchant for making images in public spaces in and around the New York metro area.  This particular moment, however, my curiosity overcame me and so off I went.

On the way to the scene, which turned out to be two perpendicular blocks away, I stopped to make a quick image of a Halloween pumpkin, wearing a black fedora hat, painted with a really glum face, sitting on some beautiful granite steps, highlighted by broken sunlight, streaming in through the tree leaves.  I thought to myself, at least, if I miss all the action at my destination, I will have already gotten this shot, which would be quite enough for the day, since I didn’t really plan on leaving the office anytime soon.

The uneasiness followed me all the way to the next two blocks, which was already lined with fire trucks and a growing crowd of people.  I began to slip my camera behind me as I approached, with trailing thoughts of shyness … I am already nearly twenty years into my photography career and I still have not arrived at a place of feeling comfortable with this type of ambulance, crime-scene-chasing style of photography.  Somehow, I don’t feel cut out for it.  My approach has always been more calculating and deliberate, but somehow, I always felt like that fear was something that I have to find a way to overcome.

Once on the scene, I realized that I was not the only person there with a camera–there were journalists, video folks and photo enthusiasts alike, all onboard.  It took me a while to feel comfortable moving in, so I used my long lens and staying at a distance, picked off quite a few images, before moving in closer for the real intimate shots.  I am glad that my reservations kept me at bay for a while, because from where I stood, I was able to capture some very interesting moments before the fire was completely extinguished. One of those memorable moments was of a fireman in the church window, being drenched with spume of water, as he axed away at something inside. Another was of a tired fireman walking out to be relieved and cascading water dropping all over him, as he walked out onto the street where the others gathered

Prior to leaving my office, I had dashing thoughts of taking a second camera body, but opted to leave it, which I found bothersome while on the scene, because I dread changing lens on location — the reason why I mainly work with just two lenses:  the 18-50mm f2.8 Sigma, Nikon mount; and 70-200mm f2.8 nikkor lens.  I find that for most situations, these two lenses are enough to get me the shot and so through time, I have really streamlined the amount of equipment that I carry on location.

My instinct to go to the scene of the fire paid off.  The situation was a really historical moment because the fire burned a turn-of-the-century Baptist church, which had served our community for well over a hundred years and it meant so much to so many people, some of whom gathered on the scene and held a fire circle in the midst of fire fighters putting out the blaze.  It is these sorts of moments that living in a close-knit city afford me.  The excitement never ends and there is always something noteworthy happening and many opportunities to grab special moments.  Being a fulltime travel and stock photographer calls for being ready to go at a moment’s notice and to always be equipped to get the shot, no matter what it takes.  It is this instinct that has helped me keep my photography fresh and exciting through the years.  So, for those of you out there who aspire towards a career in photography, remember to never lose your hunger and hunting instincts and always be equipped for the job.  Always be fearless, if you want to get that special and memorable shot.

On Travel Photography

Of late, I’ve been traveling a lot to Caribbean destinations and needless to say, photography is the reason for all this trekking. So, for that reason, I always consider the availability of photographic resources that I might be able to take advantage of in each location, or the lack thereof. This helps me to determine what to bring and what not to bring with me. This is quite a critical moment in my planning scheme. Traveling light is a premium to me but having what I need for any situation, is also of equal importance and damned if you take too much and don’t use it or too little and end up needing what you left behind.

To prepare myself for each trip, I get on the web or visit the bookstore. I generally, research as much as I can about the place I am visiting and study a map to see places that might be of interest to me, ‘must sees,’ etc. Then I plan an itinerary for each day and try to hit as many sites as possible on each day, starting as early as daybreak, to catch the sunrise and see places as they wake up to daylight. Even before the eve of my trip, I start to plan my equipment load; I usually agonize over what to take and what not to take. It can really be a headache to take too much and a bust if you take too little. I cannot say this enough. So, it is essential that you have a good idea of what sorts of images you are looking to make.  You can take something and not use it and then decide to leave it next trip, only to find that you made a mistake by omitting that piece of equipment, so it is absolutely important to know what types of images you will likely be concentrating on the most and pack accordingly.

I find that a good bag is one of the most critical pieces of my gear. A good bag should be well padded and just the right size for your traveling style. It must be able to fit your cameras, lens and accessories, with room for your notepad and even pocket releases. Model releases are essential, if you intend to market your images for commercial usages. So, I make it a point to make my releases the same way I do my letterheads, and upload a blank copy online that I can retrieve remotely. That way, I can make sure that I have both a pocket release and the more complicated form of the release available at the same time. So, it is also important for me to determine if the location I am traveling to will have an internet café or a printer that might be able to help me retrieve the forms.

My gear usually includes: two digital bodies (Fujifilm S3pro, Nikon D2Xs). Four lenses: 18-50mm f2.8 Nikon mount Sigma; 80-200mm f2.8 nikkor; 35-70mm f2.8 macro nikkor; and 70-300mm f 1:4-5.6 nikkor; Nikon speedlight SB800 with SC-29 cord to take the flash off the body and still retain ttl capabilities; a Lumiquest Promax softbox for softening the light. I also take along an assortment of 2gb, 4gb and 8gb CF cards and cases to carry four in each set, usually three sets of four, rechargeable batteries (usually about 12 rechargeables and 2 extra batteries for the D2Xs) and a rapid charger. I never go anywhere without my mini maglite, fine point pens and sharpies, which just about rounds out my gear for carry on baggage. Oh, I almost forgot my 17” Powerbook, which I find to be a bit cumbersome to carry, unless my trip will be an extended trip over two weeks or so and I need to edit and upload images or work with a client on location.

My most recent trip to St. Maarten/Martin was fun but because on previous trips I have had unfulfilled intentions and ideas about shooting models on the beach, in resorts and in other situations, I thought very hard about taking studio lights and travel stands for that style of shooting. In the end, I gave in to my whims and ended up regretting it, because I lugged along a case that just barely fitted in the overhead cabin, loaded with 1 JTL 300 watts second strobe head with three batteries, two Sunpack 120J’s with 2 batteries, softbox ring for medium softbox, a pair of Pocket Wizard Plus 2 slave triggers, three empty sandbags with extra medium sized Ziploc bags, to hold the sand. The stands, small, silver umbrella, flexfill silver/white sided reflector and softbox, were small enough to fit into my suitcase — my one piece of send on luggage, which made weight, with all this in it.

Clothing is usually held at a bare minimum, since I end up wearing the same thing over and over again. The extras, I figured, might do well as a makeshift wardrobe for any would-be-male model. In the end, this extra carry-on took the place of my laptop, which I was glad not to carry. Instead, I ran out to B & H at the last minute, to replace it with the Epson P-5000 multimedia device, which I found extremely useful on this trip. The thing is so compact and fast that I may never take my laptop again on trips, not unless it is critical. The speed of my downloads were impressive, five cards downloaded faster than it would have taken one to download on my computer and I cannot say enough how much I am loving this new toy.

I found so many things interesting about St.Maarten/Martin on this trip: the mixture of cultures and peoples, the topography of the land and the fact that you can travel across the island in one day and access Anguilla, Saba and St. Barts quite easily. The place is relatively inexpensive, due to the fact that there is no tax, but they sure made up for it with doubling and tripling the prices of everything. I am only happy that making pictures comes at so low a cost, because If I had to pay, it would sure render me broke as fast as I got there.

I find that this time, my pictures mainly featured a very touristy vision of the island, so I consider this my reconnaissance trip. There were pictures of resorts and many scenic images of the varied landscapes and beaches of both the Dutch and French sides of the island. I did not use the lighting equipment that I lugged along and in the future, will opt to only take such equipment with me, if I made definite plans to do sessions with models ahead of time. I count this as a good lesson learned, once and for all.

On another trip, I might want to do a more intimate portrait of the place, to show what life is really like on the island. But at least, this time, I was able to tour and get a sense for how difficult or easy it might be to do that next time and what my approach may be. I made ties with some locals with whom I am staying connected and I got a great history lesson from a local real estate guide, which divulged the sort of information that would be good to write in any article about the place.

So, overall, I am quite satisfied with what I was able to find as I traveled around lovely St. Maarten/Martin. I definitely look forward to returning to this exciting Caribbean destination soon.

Hello World!

Well, this being my maiden voyage into blogland, naturally makes me excited and nervous all at once. What do I say? How do I reserve to keep it simple and clean? How will it come across to the viewing public, etc., etc.? And more intimidating, how do I keep up with the blog? It seems that once you breathe life into the monster, you’ll have to keep the heart beating and that takes a lot of time and work. I feared I can’t manage it and will end up causing more raucous than I intend to. Anyway, with the prodding of my great friend and supporter, Annette, in Toronto, I finally coaxed up the courage to take the plunge.What excites me about blogs, must be the same for many others as well: a world of ideas from like and unlike minds can find an audience/readership out in netherland and have the canny effect of bridging the divide between peoples and culling out synergy where it may be, often times in disparate worlds … the web is simply a marvelously, wondrous world. I am so happy to be able to participate in it.As I say this, it reminds me of a discourse I have had with a good friend of mine recently. He, being an erudite, was lamenting the fact, in his view, “that people do not read or write as much as they once did … before television and other advancements, etc …” But I sharply disagreed, and he quickly cited the fact that many newspapers are now going belly up.Well, in my view, this could not be any more false. What has happened in recent years with the advent of the internet and emails, has had exactly the opposite effect. Besides a still hearty population of nay sayers and luddites who will not go near computers and digital equipment, the internet and email has caused a virtual writing explosion. True, the way of snail mail and person-to-person letter writing has all but been made obsolete, but more than ever, folks are writing. Due to the relatively cheaply available apparati for desktop publishing, more books than ever are being published on a yearly basis. People are reading and writing more than ever. Book sales are soaring and person-to-person letters now take on the form of email, text messaging and instant messaging (IM) online. Blogs, too, are becoming a good way of getting information out and many people rely on them for their daily dose of gossip and research.That being said, my interest as a photographer has brought me to this place. I stay abreast of the marketplace that I am in through several subscriptions to some popular periodicals: PDN, Picture, Communication Arts and American Photo, mainly. It is always pertinent to the success of my business for me to keep abreast of new developments, movements in technology and trends in the marketplace through reading these periodicals. It has recently come to my attention, that blogging is now one of the ways in which many photographers are drumming up new business and getting on the radar of potential buyers. I, too, feel it is time to step up my marketing game and play in the same pool as my peers, to get the same results.