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November 21, 1998
Sometimes, things just have a funny way of working out and fate joins
your side for a bit.
When sudden rain and high winds hit the northern part of the California
central valley, I got up on Saturday monring with that feeling that I
just “had to make pictures.” Sometimes after a long, rough day
I feel like I never want to see another camera again. This morning, however,
just called to me. WIth no assignments on the schedule, I went out to
enterprise. I had no leads, no direction, just the feeling that I wanted
to make some pictures. I took Fair Oaks Blvd. (the “main drag”)
in from the east part of Sacramento (where I live) towards downtown and
hoped that something would jump out at me. I don’t own a police scanner,
so I had no leads.
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My
first attempt: A downed tree cuases a private security car to
manuver around the limbs.
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My first stop was at a downed tree on a frontage road
to the main thouroughfare. There was nothing spectacular about it,
just the fact that it was big, and down, and in the middle of this
street which wasn’t
particularly busy. After making a few frames of cars driving around
the obstruction, I headed back out onto Fair Oaks Blvd. As I went
west-bound, I saw a fire truck driving the other direction. Since
I had
no other leads, I figured I would just follow it and see where it
took me. Its sirens weren’t on and it didn’t appear to
be in a big rush, but I pulled a u-ey and followed it anyway. |
The firetruck lead me to one of the most affluent areas in Sacramento.
Surrounded by huge homes and beautiful yards, I started to wonder just
why the truck was here. As it lead me around a bend and pulled over to
the side of the road, I immediately saw why firetruck was here. I grabbed
my cameras, made sure I had the right film (I didn’t so I had to
change rolls), and hurried up to where a group of neighbors were standing
on the driveway of this house, which was one of the smaller in the area
but still stately.
A large pine oak tree had been uprooted from the water-saturated
soil by the high winds and had destroyed part of this home. I immediately
looked for the owner of the home to try and get permission to stay,
but
she was inside. I started talking to the neighbors gathered outside
to get an idea of what happened. I learned that the spouse of the
lady inside wasn’t home from a jog yet, and he was in for quite
a surprise
when he returned. As the lady came out to talk with the firefighters,
I quickly introduced myself and asked if I could “shoot a few
pictures.” She was worried about more pressing matters, and
didn’t object to my
request. As a freelancer it can be tough to get permission like
this, because they don’t really understand “freelance.”
They want to know what paper you work for, where the picture is
going to be, etc., but all you can tell them is that you aren’t
sure, it depends who buys it. It also doesn’t help when you
are 18-years-old, as credibility is a problem for teenagers these
days. I try to be as polite as possible, and that approach often
works, as it did in this situation. Respect is the key. |
Nicki
White inspects the damage at her family's Crocker Road home after
a tree crashed through the washroom in Saturday's storm.
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Sacramento
City Fire Department personel asses the damage.
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I stayed for an hour, shooting many angles, with people
in the frame, trying to get the owner in the frame, the firerighters,
etc. just trying to make something interesting. The frame that ended
up the best was when I photographed her running back into the house,
with the distruction in the background. |
As a freelancer, shooting the images are really just
the beginning. Afterwards the photographer needs to market the images,
and quickly before deadline. My first call was to the Sacramento
Bee, who would be
most likely to run the picture since it was a regional/local story.
The edtior on the desk wasn’t the usual one that I deal with,
and he wasn’t able to get someone to process it right away
and wasn’t comfortable with
my suggestion that I could process my own film. Reluctantly, I left
the film there and wrote the best cutline information I could. The
only reason I hesittated was by the time they got it processed and
edited the
film, if they didn’t want to use anything it would be too late
for me to look for other customers. But the editor sounded confident,
so I left it there. I called later and sure enough, they wanted
to use a frame. |
Backup:
just in case the tree-on-the-house image didn't work, I took some
pictures of Sacramento Municipal Utility District workers servicing
power lines.
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The next morning I awoke to find my image 4-columns wide inside the “A”
section with a story about the storms. Aaahhhh, satisfaction.
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