Posts Categorized: Photography
Morning Lineup – January 21
Unless you have been buried under a snowbank for the last three days, you have heard or read somewhere that Kodak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday.
Read More »
Morning Lineup – June 29
What popped up was the old bit of advice to carry a smoke detector with you when you travel so that you can set it on a tabletop in your hotel or motel room at night.
Read More »
Fire Photographer Assaulted
THE OFFICIAL FIRE DEPARTMENT PHOTOGRAPHER for the Uxbridge Fire/EMS Department in Massachusetts was physically assaulted Thursday morning while at a fire.
Read More »
Saturday Shopping Tip
Marked down for clearance, the Canon PowerShot A490
Read More »
Adios, Kodachrome – Part 2
THE END CAME TO A PHOTOGRAPHIC ERA THURSDAY as the last photo lab to process Kodachrome film developed the final roll.
Read More »
What’s in your PIO or PAO “Go To” bag?
I’m interested to see what you guys travel to incidents with. I am in the position of being both a PIO and Class A firefighter. I have to be prepared on numerous fronts to have “go to” equipment in a number of places.
Read More »
How do you keep your Department Press Archives?
At one time in public relations, scissors and glue where two mainstays of the job. You would get press, either cut the article out of the publication yourself or get it pre cut from a clipping service, glue it and place it in a scrap book with all the PR for the year. At the end of the year you would file the book with others from years gone by and have another volume of archival material. Electronic media would be obtained from a broadcasting monitoring service and also be archived in neat rows of VCR tapes. Times have obviously changed though.
Read More »
The First Kodak Moment
Kodak has just released a video clip of some of their early trials and what makes this especially interesting is the date that they were doing this, 1922.
Read More »
Another Use for Shutter Timers
WHEN JOHN AND KATHARINE MYERS, AND THEIR two young children, traveled from New Jersey to Madison, Wisconsin, last week they had no inkling of what was about to happen to them.
Read More »
A Little Kodak Workhorse
I do a lot of photography work for my Department and wish I had the budget to purchase a really good SLR digital like the Canon EOS 50D. Unfortunately two things are in my way. First is the price. At over $1,000 I would have to baby the camera at a scene which would not allow me to get the aggressive pictures I want. Secondly, with the dynamics of the fireground an “injury” to the camera must always be considered.
Last month we had a barn fire. It was muddy and smoky on the fireground. My poor Canon Powershot S90 got hammered with smoke and a shower of debris and water from a deuce and a half. I mourned this LODD because this camera had done me great service for more than a year.
Read More »
Morning Lineup – August 17
I want to use this morning's time to publicly thank our good friend Mike Legeros for all that he has done for us since the inception of this blog/website.
Read More »
A Photo can Speak a Thousand Slanted Words
A couple of years ago one of the guys at the firehouse was showing me how to use Photoshop. I needed to learn some simple skills - specifically how to erase license plates from MVA photos I wanted to send to the press. As a result of boredom over the lesson the famed “sock on fire” trick photo shot was created.
It’s pretty funny when you look at some of the altered images people create with programs like Photoshop, but it is no laughing matter when the press or a news source uses these tools to create something that isn’t really there.
Read More »
Good Generic Photo’s help your Department’s Outreach
I was contacted a few weeks ago by a free distribution children’s magazine that was doing a story on what kids wanted to be when they grew up. Obviously, as it has been for generations, becoming a firefighter ranked right up towards the top.
The editor did not need the Departments input into the story but instead wanted me to e-mail a series of photo’s that depicted what we do both in the firehouse and at a scene without being too graphic for children to look at.
Read More »
Add some Creativity to your Staged Photos
Many PIO’s also serve as their department’s photographer. In my department I take hundreds of photos a year along with another firefighter who also handles camera duties.
We both do pretty good work at a scene and many of our photos are used by the media. I am much more comfortable and talented at snapping the action at a fire then shooting a group photo at an awards ceremony. I always feel that the way I ask a group to pose is the same way it has been done since the camera was invented.
Read More »
Stock Photos can increase your PR value
Towards the top of my “to do” list is a push to increase the number of generic photos in my files. Generic shots would include all of our apparatus, photos of Chiefs, training and fireground shots etc.
As any editor will tell you, a release with a photo has a much higher chance of being used and could elevate your story from a few column centimeters on an inside page to a more prominent position and possibly the front page. This just happened to a story about a member in my department.
Read More »
A recent Post plays Out
Talk about timing. Just yesterday morning I posted about the three quick decisions I have to make as a firefighter/PIO when I arrive at a scene. They were, perform the duties of a firefighter if manpower is lacking, perform my normal duties as the PIO, or watch to see the scene unfold to determine where I can best serve. I also mentioned that I occasionally go behind the lines to interact with bystanders. Little did I know that just a few hours later I would have to use all three options when we were toned out to a fully involved house fire.
Read More »
You must constantly upgrade your PIO digital media skills
When I teach Probies in my departments internal fire school, I always tell them that they already know more than many veteran members. Because of the most up to date tactics that they are learning, they already have one up on the older guys who become complacent and are hesitant to constantly upgrade their skills to be on the cusp of today’s standards.
The same is true for PIO’s. If we do not constantly stay up to day on the latest trends and tools we are always taking a step backward.
Read More »
Is the Media taking a Free Ride?
I understand that news organizations have their resources stretched by budget constraints, and we as PIO’s want to assist them to get the news out, but over the last year or so I am beginning to feel like we are serving as their adjunct news team.
Read More »
Blink free group Photography
In my duties as PIO I also serve as photographer and videographer. Strange how the powers that be assume that a solid knowledge of public information also comes with a degree from a school of photographic arts. I truly enjoy taking action shots at run scenes but staged group shots are sometimes a challenge.
That being said, I did go to photography school in a way via Art Leonard.
Read More »
Saturday Fire Photo Treat
fire photographer Larry Shapiro was on the scene and it's always worth taking a few minutes of your time to view his unique photos of any incident.
Read More »
Where’s Waldo the Firefighter?
But it occurred in a neighborhood where a lot of firefighters from around the Chicago area live, and most of the off-duty guys turned out to help
Read More »
A Fire Photo Treat
Larry always has terrific photos and a lot of our regular readers always enjoy viewing his extensive galleries of his fire coverage.
Read More »
deja Bridge
After returning home from the accident scene, Larry had a sense of familiarity about the location, so he started checking back through his photo archives...
Read More »
Morning Lineup – October 17
In the twelve days since then, they have added another 55 fire stations to the archives, and 18 of them are Chicago FD stations.
Read More »
What A Reunion! 40 Years
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT .....
The five surviving members of the infamous Monty Python comedy troupe gathered last night (Thursday) on the stage of the Ziegfield Theater in New York to celebrate the 40th anniversary marking the found…
Read More »
