In nearly 14 years behind the camera I've seen many good and bad events. This one was not a good one. The events I describe were random and uncalled for. No names will be mentioned though I personally know the female involved.
I was out doing a nightlife photography outing on Broad Street in Augusta. I ran across a group of people looking like they were having a good time, among them was a couple I happen to know. We had fun in front of the camera, and nothing occurred to me anything was a miss.
All of the sudden one male in a white shirt nutted up and punched the young couple from behind as I was preparing to photograph them. I was looking through my aperture so I had only tunnel vision. At first I'm thinking someone was just cutting up, but the young lady takes off like a deer after him and they even leaped over the wall bordering the broad street parking lot in the middle of the street. This happened in a matter of 3-5 seconds, a pointless assault of a young couple. It seemed to take about 10 minutes for Richmond county to arrive and confusion only thickened as I realized this guy was friends with the others who were posing for me seconds earlier. Making this a very random attack.
The results was no arrest and a lot of confusion I'm still not quite sure about today. But I wrote this just to discuss how pointless some events are and reflect. I have never had a subject attacked right in front of me, this was very shocking.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Thursday, March 15, 2018
10 Years ago the Valley was slammed by a Tornado
On this day 10 years ago beware of the ides of March gained new meaning. It started as any typical day. I had just wrapped up a bicycle trip to Graniteville. I pulled into my Bath SC home and my now deceased mom was thinking dinner. It was junior year of high school for me on the weekend. On weekdays I was known as the Midland Valley Yearbook Photographer. My weapon of choice was my Fujifilm Finepix S5200. I still have the camera to.
We set off on SC 421 South bound for Clearwater McDonald's when the sky turned dark and started raining. We didn't think anything of it, it was normal for spring, but then the sky suddenly turned black turning on the street lights and we knew this was bad. We pulled off 421 onto Belvedere Clearwater Road and it got real bad with high winds and heavy rains. My mom made the decision to pull off into the Clearwater First Baptist parking lot. Once there we had to ride out the storm. Mom was flipping out, but I was thinking more like if I am going to die here at least I'll get interesting footage. So I peaked my camera out the window of our Dodge Dakota and snapped a few photos of the storm in progress.
It was a light show of lightning and transformers blowing up. The above photo I snapped right after seeing this tree fall out the corner of my eye.
Turned across to the old Siminole Mill and caught these power poles leaning over.
That is a power pole broke in half with the upper half hanging from existing power lines, you're seeing this right.
The storm blowed over and we tried to leave via Belvedere-Clearwater South but were blocked by downed power lines, still one idiot came flying through there, luckily nothing came of it despite him running over the lines. We turned towards McDonald's and Bi-Lo, to find out that they were hit hard to.
Debris makes an obstacle course for this late 90's Chevrolet Lumina LTZ.
This shopping cart return looks more like a pretzel now!
We left the shopping center and arrived home to find our home had been spared except a few shingles, our neighbors at the corner however and a few up the street did not get so lucky.I did what any photographer would do and went to see what had happened. The photos are from the 15-17
First Wall street was blocked off by this giant downed Cedar tree. I was able to get around it on foot.
The owning on this house was downed pretty good, on a special note I believe this is the house that later caught fire many times in 2014.
The top two from loop drive still exist amazingly the bottom house still exist and is still a residence.
But as soon as I got to Cherry street there was a more dangerous situation, downed pines blocked me and I saw live power wires still sparking. I decided to leave this alone.
My neighbor's Mazda was destroyed when this tree was dropped on it.
Harrison Caver Park also got hit pretty hard as well, my dad happened to also be driving saw the bricks from the dugouts blowing in the wind.
One tree downed but it was spared the worst
A residence on 421
Tasty Freeze Ice Cream shop, once a popular hangout.
Peeled the garage around from the car, suprisingly the car does not look harmed.
But when you see this photo the carnage looks even worse.
Another 421 residence damaged.
The town's water Tower was also damaged Roof taken off and thrown in a nearby yard.
This was the premises of the Midland Valley Fire Department, then known as Bath FD. In the above photo you can see a trail of destruction leading to the water tower. There was fears this structure would collaspe but it didn't and was saved and strengthened.
Nobody died on that fateful day but it could have been much worse as the tornado was an EF2 capable of winds from 111-135mph. I did hear reports of injuries which wouldn't surprise me but never a round number. I know had I turned in from my bike ride a few minutes later I may not have lived to write this.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Using strobes or Speedlights to freeze moving trains, (Operational info)
Let me be frank I am not the best at this and don't claim to be, but that said there's a lot for you to learn from me. First of all here are my tools.
Required on my outings
2x Ailen Bee 1600 (rated at 640 watts)
1x Promaster 300c (300 watts)
2x Neewer C300 (300 Watts) (Rarely used but can be good cheap strobes)
*All my strobes are softboxed, or umbrellaed, explanation will be later on.
Puresine Ion inverter
*Battery powered speed-lights can be substituted for strobes.
*On my lights it's important to note that the watt ratings, this is really important as you know what you can run off your power source. It's a very fat chance there will be an electrical socket conveniently located near your shoot location, so an inverter is important, but make sure your inverter his not too limited. Ideally you want to have an inverter attached to every strobe, but if you can't you can run extension cords and run them off one inverter. This said my Pure Sine inverter has a 1000 watt limit and that usually limits me to using one Ailen Bee and my Promaster 300c. In a few weeks I should have my new inverter that plugs into my vehicle and inverts 12 volts into 4000 watts of power. That should run not only all my strobes but my laptop to. Also watt ratings are important in deciding which strobes to work where as some are just simply more powerful. Ideally it's best to have the same model for all your strobes, but I don't.
Sturdy Tripods, and weights to tie to them prevent wind gust from blowing them over.
Nikon D5300
*I have 3 DLSR cameras but my Nikon D5300 is my favorite for this operation because it has an ISO capacity of 12800 this allows me to softbox my strobes. It's a fat chance that any train crews stare directly into them and get blinded, but with the magic of high ISOs I am able to still get decent lighting with my strobes softboxed. When a train rolls passed me it's just like they rolling into a studio. In my last blog I mentioned the blinding myth and how the odds of it are slim.
Other options are slaves, remotes, and other things I may not mention or use. I have some slaves and remotes in repair so currently I don't use them, but it is ideal to have them. I usually use slave mode to activate all my lights with my camera's main flash.
Another piece of equipment that is not required but surly nice to have is a scanner, if you can listen in and get a good read, you might can set up and have minimal wait time for the train you're after.
Location, Location, Location
Important, when you're doing this to pick a good location. Setting up in the woods in the middle of nowhere probably is not a good idea. Nothing attractive and the chances of scaring the crews are high. You also want to set up on public land, or maybe privately owned land that you have permission to operate on. But a good rule of thumb is obviously avoid trespassing on the railroad. If you cannot tell where railroad property begins and ends a good rule of thumb is stay 15 yards away from the track. Usually if you end up in a situation I call a grey area, you're not going to have an issue, but getting too close or on the tracks will get you into trouble. It also helps if your first time doing this, is on a crew you know well. Maybe you know a railroad crew, that you hang out with. For me I knew NS E13's crew well and my first outings were all on 6th street in Augusta. It gives you a little first timmer leeway to make your first timmer mistakes. You will probably look far from O. Winston Link on your first outing, but it's just like your first kiss, you probably won't do it right but if you never do it you never improve.
General set up, really there is no general set up. First and foremost be ahead of the train so you can set-up in a timely manner and get test shots in. The test are crucial so you know if you got any malfunctions. One strobe not firing can ruin the entire shot so keep that in mind. So the test are important, and then you can set up your light layout accordingly. A rushed set-up very rarely yelds any good results. I think I'm batting just over .250 when I have to rush in there. 25% is not good odds.
Set up your lights according to how you desire the shot to come out. You got to develop a little psychic ability to foresee what you're perusing and what effect you want. Is there any interesting background you would like to light up? Also make sure you do not blow out the ground, which is a common mistake I make. Then you got to adjust your camera's settings to optimal settings to allow the right amount of light in without it being too dark or bright. There is no one size fits all here, you will have to figure out these settings pretty much no two nights shots have the same settings unless you're trying to dupe yourself or somebody.
Another important shop tip is, make sure you know what the dew point is. Do not let your camera's temperature drop the Dew point. This will cause your lens to immediately fog up as as the train approaches your set-up as the locomotive's lights reflect off your camera and 75% of the time your outing is ruined when this happens. Not only that but obeying the dew point rule adds more life to your camera as this dew can damage it.
Next it's show time power on all appliances, as the train is approaching focus in your lens good and swap it to Manuel focus, this is important because Autofocus on a moving train at night has a tendency to select the wrong subject and will sometimes roll out of focus. Fire a final test dump to notify the crew that they are about to get a flash of light, this way it does not surprise them of your presence as bad. Then be patient and try and get the shot at the perfect moment.
I like the results of this photo only thing I didn't like was how the pavement got blown out. But other than that everything else went as planned and next time I use this location at night I will angle my strobes a little higher.
Required on my outings
2x Ailen Bee 1600 (rated at 640 watts)
1x Promaster 300c (300 watts)
2x Neewer C300 (300 Watts) (Rarely used but can be good cheap strobes)
*All my strobes are softboxed, or umbrellaed, explanation will be later on.
Puresine Ion inverter
*Battery powered speed-lights can be substituted for strobes.
*On my lights it's important to note that the watt ratings, this is really important as you know what you can run off your power source. It's a very fat chance there will be an electrical socket conveniently located near your shoot location, so an inverter is important, but make sure your inverter his not too limited. Ideally you want to have an inverter attached to every strobe, but if you can't you can run extension cords and run them off one inverter. This said my Pure Sine inverter has a 1000 watt limit and that usually limits me to using one Ailen Bee and my Promaster 300c. In a few weeks I should have my new inverter that plugs into my vehicle and inverts 12 volts into 4000 watts of power. That should run not only all my strobes but my laptop to. Also watt ratings are important in deciding which strobes to work where as some are just simply more powerful. Ideally it's best to have the same model for all your strobes, but I don't.
Sturdy Tripods, and weights to tie to them prevent wind gust from blowing them over.
Nikon D5300
*I have 3 DLSR cameras but my Nikon D5300 is my favorite for this operation because it has an ISO capacity of 12800 this allows me to softbox my strobes. It's a fat chance that any train crews stare directly into them and get blinded, but with the magic of high ISOs I am able to still get decent lighting with my strobes softboxed. When a train rolls passed me it's just like they rolling into a studio. In my last blog I mentioned the blinding myth and how the odds of it are slim.
Other options are slaves, remotes, and other things I may not mention or use. I have some slaves and remotes in repair so currently I don't use them, but it is ideal to have them. I usually use slave mode to activate all my lights with my camera's main flash.
Another piece of equipment that is not required but surly nice to have is a scanner, if you can listen in and get a good read, you might can set up and have minimal wait time for the train you're after.
Location, Location, Location
Important, when you're doing this to pick a good location. Setting up in the woods in the middle of nowhere probably is not a good idea. Nothing attractive and the chances of scaring the crews are high. You also want to set up on public land, or maybe privately owned land that you have permission to operate on. But a good rule of thumb is obviously avoid trespassing on the railroad. If you cannot tell where railroad property begins and ends a good rule of thumb is stay 15 yards away from the track. Usually if you end up in a situation I call a grey area, you're not going to have an issue, but getting too close or on the tracks will get you into trouble. It also helps if your first time doing this, is on a crew you know well. Maybe you know a railroad crew, that you hang out with. For me I knew NS E13's crew well and my first outings were all on 6th street in Augusta. It gives you a little first timmer leeway to make your first timmer mistakes. You will probably look far from O. Winston Link on your first outing, but it's just like your first kiss, you probably won't do it right but if you never do it you never improve.
General set up, really there is no general set up. First and foremost be ahead of the train so you can set-up in a timely manner and get test shots in. The test are crucial so you know if you got any malfunctions. One strobe not firing can ruin the entire shot so keep that in mind. So the test are important, and then you can set up your light layout accordingly. A rushed set-up very rarely yelds any good results. I think I'm batting just over .250 when I have to rush in there. 25% is not good odds.
Set up your lights according to how you desire the shot to come out. You got to develop a little psychic ability to foresee what you're perusing and what effect you want. Is there any interesting background you would like to light up? Also make sure you do not blow out the ground, which is a common mistake I make. Then you got to adjust your camera's settings to optimal settings to allow the right amount of light in without it being too dark or bright. There is no one size fits all here, you will have to figure out these settings pretty much no two nights shots have the same settings unless you're trying to dupe yourself or somebody.
Another important shop tip is, make sure you know what the dew point is. Do not let your camera's temperature drop the Dew point. This will cause your lens to immediately fog up as as the train approaches your set-up as the locomotive's lights reflect off your camera and 75% of the time your outing is ruined when this happens. Not only that but obeying the dew point rule adds more life to your camera as this dew can damage it.
Next it's show time power on all appliances, as the train is approaching focus in your lens good and swap it to Manuel focus, this is important because Autofocus on a moving train at night has a tendency to select the wrong subject and will sometimes roll out of focus. Fire a final test dump to notify the crew that they are about to get a flash of light, this way it does not surprise them of your presence as bad. Then be patient and try and get the shot at the perfect moment.
Using Strobes and speedlights for moving trains
In 2014 I started a new era in my photography. I had seen others do it, and I was always on the sidelines thinking I would never have the budget to do this. Around October I acquired my first strobes and now am able to do something previously impossible for me. Freeze moving trains at night. Among railfans this practice comes up as con-traversal, but most who criticize it are not railroaders or photographers for that matter so I want to touch base on a few things and debunk some myths.
"Strobes blind crews."
False, the strobes and speed-lights are designed for photography purposes on human subjects. Usually softboxed, but if not under a softbox or umbrella, staring directly at them is really the only way they can blind you. I made a dumb mistake on a setup day back in my Lifetouch Church Directories days where I plugged in an un-boxed Paul Buff 800, my hands were at the back of the strobe so I accidentally hit the dumb button. Blasted myself in the face and had a little bit of a headache and the image of the flash bulb sired in my eye for about an hour, lost a little eye sight for a short period of time, but I had stared directly at it. Train crews will not be staring directly at your strobes. or close enough to get this result. It's not good for your eyes to have this many incidents, but you're probably an idiot if you have this many incidents where you've rendered yourself blind as a result. I operate with a Nikon D5300 at max ISO of 12800 so I can get away with using softboxes and umbrellas as my ISO compensates for the small loss of light.
"Strobes scare crews"
This is partly true, but only on a rare occasion and depends on the circumstance and who is on the crew. To minimize the chance of one of these rare incidents. I fire a test dump as the train is approaching the crew sees the light and is not surprised by my presence usually. I would also be careful about which location I chose. Setting up in a pine wooded area that is always isolated ether day or night will scare crews much more likely than inhabited areas.
"It's illegal"
Totally false! The only time it is illegal is if trespassing or harassment is involved. Of important note though there is always a chance a train crew can call you in even if you're not violating the law. These cases are rare. I do my best to make sure I am not trespassing anytime I perform this operation. Sometimes it's hard to tell where railroad property starts and to date none of my strobe operations have involved trespassing, I plan to keep it that way. Even still there have been incidents where a crew calls it in to the dispatcher and the operator was breaking no laws. I keep a scanner clipped to my waist so if a crew does call me in for a legal operation I will hear it and prepare an exit from the area. Most law enforcement are reasonable, but I prefer to avoid the confrontation completely as their response time will usually be over 20 mins and by then I can leave the area. The practice has been around for years but as technology gets smaller and cheaper more people can now do O. Winston Link style photography. The practice will only become more common in future years.
I also want to combat a elitist snobbish attitude where people say if you're not producing O. Winston Link quality don't do it at all. Stop it right there, everybody starts somewhere, if you think your first image with strobes is going to be flawless and epic no matter what the subject is you're delusional.
On more unrelated thing that often comes up is yellow vest so the crews can see you better. Yeah, don't be that guy, that's technically crew impersonation may be perceived as a threat and may scare crews worse than use of strobes as they were not informed of any crews out trackside and might cause panic for crews and the dispatcher. Not only that, but when I am doing any night photography operation don't matter if it's rail related or not, I usually DON'T WANT TO BE SEEN! I'm carrying thousands of dollars of equipment, and it's not so much a law enforcement reaction that bothers me as much as a more likely run-in with a thug. I am very anti-social on night treks especially solo ones and I often prefer not to communicate with anybody I may see or encounter. So wearing a bright vest is the last thing I want to do when you never know who might wanna rob me, beat me or whatever you can imagine. Less a person sees the less chance of any confrontation.
The above photo is one that "almost" got published in Trains magazine. This is the site of the 2005 Graniteville train wreck, on the 10 year anniversary in 2015 I staked out the location to catch Norfolk Southern train E13 passing the crash site. It was not my best work, but I'm OK with the result.
"Strobes blind crews."
False, the strobes and speed-lights are designed for photography purposes on human subjects. Usually softboxed, but if not under a softbox or umbrella, staring directly at them is really the only way they can blind you. I made a dumb mistake on a setup day back in my Lifetouch Church Directories days where I plugged in an un-boxed Paul Buff 800, my hands were at the back of the strobe so I accidentally hit the dumb button. Blasted myself in the face and had a little bit of a headache and the image of the flash bulb sired in my eye for about an hour, lost a little eye sight for a short period of time, but I had stared directly at it. Train crews will not be staring directly at your strobes. or close enough to get this result. It's not good for your eyes to have this many incidents, but you're probably an idiot if you have this many incidents where you've rendered yourself blind as a result. I operate with a Nikon D5300 at max ISO of 12800 so I can get away with using softboxes and umbrellas as my ISO compensates for the small loss of light.
"Strobes scare crews"
This is partly true, but only on a rare occasion and depends on the circumstance and who is on the crew. To minimize the chance of one of these rare incidents. I fire a test dump as the train is approaching the crew sees the light and is not surprised by my presence usually. I would also be careful about which location I chose. Setting up in a pine wooded area that is always isolated ether day or night will scare crews much more likely than inhabited areas.
"It's illegal"
Totally false! The only time it is illegal is if trespassing or harassment is involved. Of important note though there is always a chance a train crew can call you in even if you're not violating the law. These cases are rare. I do my best to make sure I am not trespassing anytime I perform this operation. Sometimes it's hard to tell where railroad property starts and to date none of my strobe operations have involved trespassing, I plan to keep it that way. Even still there have been incidents where a crew calls it in to the dispatcher and the operator was breaking no laws. I keep a scanner clipped to my waist so if a crew does call me in for a legal operation I will hear it and prepare an exit from the area. Most law enforcement are reasonable, but I prefer to avoid the confrontation completely as their response time will usually be over 20 mins and by then I can leave the area. The practice has been around for years but as technology gets smaller and cheaper more people can now do O. Winston Link style photography. The practice will only become more common in future years.
I also want to combat a elitist snobbish attitude where people say if you're not producing O. Winston Link quality don't do it at all. Stop it right there, everybody starts somewhere, if you think your first image with strobes is going to be flawless and epic no matter what the subject is you're delusional.
On more unrelated thing that often comes up is yellow vest so the crews can see you better. Yeah, don't be that guy, that's technically crew impersonation may be perceived as a threat and may scare crews worse than use of strobes as they were not informed of any crews out trackside and might cause panic for crews and the dispatcher. Not only that, but when I am doing any night photography operation don't matter if it's rail related or not, I usually DON'T WANT TO BE SEEN! I'm carrying thousands of dollars of equipment, and it's not so much a law enforcement reaction that bothers me as much as a more likely run-in with a thug. I am very anti-social on night treks especially solo ones and I often prefer not to communicate with anybody I may see or encounter. So wearing a bright vest is the last thing I want to do when you never know who might wanna rob me, beat me or whatever you can imagine. Less a person sees the less chance of any confrontation.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Banning cameras from events and businesses: the double standard!
I want to hit this right on the head here. There's a trend where people get kicked out events or businesses for having a camera in their possession. In reality trying to ban photography is about as productive as prohibition these days.
I've seen video of infamous events like the 1992 Riverport riot touched off by Axl Rose and recently Queen's of the Stone age's Josh Homme kicking a female photographer in the head. I myself have had some bad interactions very few thank god. But those few make you realize how a camera can make you a target.
But the big problem now days is Cellphones. One would think that if they ban the use of DSLR and bridge cameras that they would also ban cellphones to. This is the double standard I am speaking of. Cellphones cause many problems for this rule.
First of all they are easy to conceal, and anybody really wanting to do something real malice like up-skirt would likely use one. Second of all, you never really can tell the intentions, I've had some instances where I was being videoed and didn't find out until months later. That event was not malice or upset me but the same thing can happen.
Now provided some establishments do actually ban cellphone photography to, but not every establishment that wants to ban photography has caught on to modern times yet and realized the issue.
So, I've had a few of these events.
I attended a Goo Goo Dolls concert in 2010 at First Tee in Augusta. Nothing bad really happened and I had a good time, the problem is this, they tell you straight up my camera is not allowed on grounds they don't want recordings of the event. I respected their wishes and most my friends were disappointed when I came in without my camera. I look in the crowd and see cellphones raised, check on Youtube and Facebook and what do I see? The exact thing That the staff of the event said they were trying to prevent. So while I was not allowed to use my camera for the reason they didn't want any recordings, seemed like everybody else did the exact thing and got away with it.
Another story I want to tell you comes from the Augusta Mall and the Rent-a-cops. So I'm sitting in the food court with my Nikon D3000 and eating my sub, when I see a bird flying around the complex. I wanted a photo of the critter and I got one. I'm immediately confronted by a mall cop he approached me like Barney Fife, I could swear I could hear the dramatic music used in the Andy Griffith Show episode "citizen's arrest" playing. He tells me this is private property and I need to cease and desist. The people seated near my table saw it and thought he was being a jerk just like I did. I bet he won't tell this to all the cellphone selfie people to. I reckon he was just bored because there was not fight or shoplifter. I'm glad he is not a real cop, with his attitude he just might have been one of the minority of cops you hear about in horror stories. If that really is a rule there, they are only hurting themselves.
I even once had the muscles of authority flexed on me at my own high school Alma-matta in 2013, where ironically in 2009 I won awards for my work as yearbook photographer. It was a new assistant principal who told me photography was not allowed unless you have a media pass. Seemed she was the one who made this rule, as nobody else had a problem, and still a good bit of the staff there knew me from my days as a student and knew about my work behind the camera. After getting the embarrassing sendoff I log onto Facebook and see hundreds of Cellphone photos from the same game. Still do see them til this day as well. Did all those people with cellphones have media passes to? Where is their embarrassing send off? I probably should have filed a formal complaint, but on a somber note my mom's cancer battle that she would eventually lose was determined to be terminal and at the time pushing back and winning a personal battle was not as important as my mom's health.
I also often try to avoid all hangouts that enforce this double-standard rule. It's probably best to boycott any business or event that enforces the double standard, because even if you do not have your gear strapped to you if you're known as a photographer just your title can cause you problems in extreme cases. Bottom line is, if my camera is not allowed cellphones better also not be allowed.
I've seen video of infamous events like the 1992 Riverport riot touched off by Axl Rose and recently Queen's of the Stone age's Josh Homme kicking a female photographer in the head. I myself have had some bad interactions very few thank god. But those few make you realize how a camera can make you a target.
But the big problem now days is Cellphones. One would think that if they ban the use of DSLR and bridge cameras that they would also ban cellphones to. This is the double standard I am speaking of. Cellphones cause many problems for this rule.
First of all they are easy to conceal, and anybody really wanting to do something real malice like up-skirt would likely use one. Second of all, you never really can tell the intentions, I've had some instances where I was being videoed and didn't find out until months later. That event was not malice or upset me but the same thing can happen.
Now provided some establishments do actually ban cellphone photography to, but not every establishment that wants to ban photography has caught on to modern times yet and realized the issue.
So, I've had a few of these events.
I attended a Goo Goo Dolls concert in 2010 at First Tee in Augusta. Nothing bad really happened and I had a good time, the problem is this, they tell you straight up my camera is not allowed on grounds they don't want recordings of the event. I respected their wishes and most my friends were disappointed when I came in without my camera. I look in the crowd and see cellphones raised, check on Youtube and Facebook and what do I see? The exact thing That the staff of the event said they were trying to prevent. So while I was not allowed to use my camera for the reason they didn't want any recordings, seemed like everybody else did the exact thing and got away with it.
Another story I want to tell you comes from the Augusta Mall and the Rent-a-cops. So I'm sitting in the food court with my Nikon D3000 and eating my sub, when I see a bird flying around the complex. I wanted a photo of the critter and I got one. I'm immediately confronted by a mall cop he approached me like Barney Fife, I could swear I could hear the dramatic music used in the Andy Griffith Show episode "citizen's arrest" playing. He tells me this is private property and I need to cease and desist. The people seated near my table saw it and thought he was being a jerk just like I did. I bet he won't tell this to all the cellphone selfie people to. I reckon he was just bored because there was not fight or shoplifter. I'm glad he is not a real cop, with his attitude he just might have been one of the minority of cops you hear about in horror stories. If that really is a rule there, they are only hurting themselves.
I even once had the muscles of authority flexed on me at my own high school Alma-matta in 2013, where ironically in 2009 I won awards for my work as yearbook photographer. It was a new assistant principal who told me photography was not allowed unless you have a media pass. Seemed she was the one who made this rule, as nobody else had a problem, and still a good bit of the staff there knew me from my days as a student and knew about my work behind the camera. After getting the embarrassing sendoff I log onto Facebook and see hundreds of Cellphone photos from the same game. Still do see them til this day as well. Did all those people with cellphones have media passes to? Where is their embarrassing send off? I probably should have filed a formal complaint, but on a somber note my mom's cancer battle that she would eventually lose was determined to be terminal and at the time pushing back and winning a personal battle was not as important as my mom's health.
I also often try to avoid all hangouts that enforce this double-standard rule. It's probably best to boycott any business or event that enforces the double standard, because even if you do not have your gear strapped to you if you're known as a photographer just your title can cause you problems in extreme cases. Bottom line is, if my camera is not allowed cellphones better also not be allowed.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Quarterbacks are both important and overrated.
Every time I turn around I see media sources often treating Quarterbacks like they are the only payer on the team. Yes they are team leaders, and yes they are offensive drivers. However, not including special teams there are 21 other guys on the field starting as well.
I was recently in the locker room at my local Gold's Gym in North Augusta between workouts. Colin Cowherd was on the TV. He was talking about how he's never consider certain position players for MVP in basketball and football. He took a stab at centers in the NBA, pretty much saying no center can be a MVP versus a forward. I'm guessing Mr. Cowherd does not believe in defense on the Basketball court. Then he compared NFL defensive ends in the same light. Mr. Cowheard has a history of making dumb remarks like this though.
My first thought was James Harrison. The huge defensive end for the Steelers. Remember Superbowl XLIII anyone? MVP was wide receiver Santonio Holmes. However let's not forget the true turning point. If this play had not happened. The Steelers would have lost the Super Bowl. They eventually won 27-23, that's a 4 point margin. The situation was like this, 1st and goal the half time clock was winding down. Steelers up 10-7. I still question why they did not run the ball instead. Maybe the coaches thought it would have been too predictable. We saw the Same thing happen to the Seahawks against the Patriots in 2015.
The play in question was extremely rare. Not only did the Heavyweight, Harrison intercept a pass, but he hauled it all the way down the field. Keep in mind he is a heavyweight so he is far from the fastest person on the team. He made use of the stiff arm, juke, and hurdled a few people in this 100 yard run. Something you would never expect from a defensive end. Now let's imagine this didn't happen. Whether or not the Cardinals scored the halftime clock would expire with the score still being 10-7 or 10-13 or even 10-14 if they went for a two pointer it would be 10-15. Imagining all the other drives in the game still occurred as they did the closest the Steelers would have got to victory would have been a 4 point deficit. The James Harrison interception really made the difference for the Steelers. I think he was the real MVP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEIyUBf0X8E
As somebody who can't stand the Patriots, Superbowl XLII is my favorite. The MVP was Eli Manning, he did put up a good game, but defense anyone... For those who don't remember the 2008 Patriots were threatening the first perfect season since the 72 Dolphins. Tom Brady had a stalwart offense with many weapons that benefited his pocket passer style. To defeat the Patriots the offense needs to be shut down. The final score was 17-14, of special note is these two teams met before the playoffs that year and both teams scored in the 30s with the Patriots only winning by a field goal. Both defenses stepped up their game. However, Tom Brady was sacked several times by a strong blitz by defensive players like Michael Strahan and a forced fumble did not help matters for the Patriots. Most people look at the helmet catch as the most important moment and let's not take away from it, but let's not forget that the strong defense shut the Patriots down. Eli Manning and Tom Brady's QB stats nearly mirrored each other. It came down to which defense gave their quarterback a better situation. By smothering Brady the Giant's defense limited him from his true potential of 30+ points against them down to 14. In essence I think just about any defensive player deserves MVP before Eli Manning did.
Now to also play devil's advocate, and say what if. The offensive line is important. So what if there was a game where the backs were totally untouchable because the line let nobody by? Most successful Quarterbacks, like your Bradys, Mannings, Rodgers, Rothelsbergers, and many more are not known as duel threat quarterbacks but pocket pocket passers. Because their lack of hustle and scrambling ability, escaping the sack is tough, so it's very important to have a great offensive line. Many of these star quarterbacks are on the list of active leaders in the times sacked category. I want to stress they are smart passers but they often have more than enough time to stand in the pocket and scan the field for an open receiver. However when the line collapses they are most often sitting ducks. A strong blitz can smother a pocket passer much easier than a duel threat quarterback. John Elway and Brett Farve, both greats in many categories but both are the top two sacked Quarterbacks of all time. Their least successful games were games where they were sacked multiple times. Let's remember that when a quarterback is sacked it is not usually his fault, that is a failure of the offensive line.
Need anymore proof that a quarterback cannot win it all. Look no further than the Browns. They have been through nearly 30 QBs in a span of 17 years. Some could have very well blossomed into stars, however unlike Brady, Manning, Farve, Elway etc, these poor QBs had no team around them. Their front office pretty much looked at obtaining a QB as the holy grail and a turning point. At times they were not even smart in choosing their QB like when they got Johnny Football or when they drafted then 28 year old Brandon Weeden, a QB with only maybe 4 years shelf life at the most. Instead they could have drafted now 28 year old Russell Wilson. Good results not guaranteed of course because Wilson has a team with the Seahawks. The Browns put together such awful teams that I'm not convinced they could win if they cloned Bart Starr and made him their QB, looking at what he would have to work with.
I urge readers to think outside the pocket when considering a game MVP.
I was recently in the locker room at my local Gold's Gym in North Augusta between workouts. Colin Cowherd was on the TV. He was talking about how he's never consider certain position players for MVP in basketball and football. He took a stab at centers in the NBA, pretty much saying no center can be a MVP versus a forward. I'm guessing Mr. Cowherd does not believe in defense on the Basketball court. Then he compared NFL defensive ends in the same light. Mr. Cowheard has a history of making dumb remarks like this though.
My first thought was James Harrison. The huge defensive end for the Steelers. Remember Superbowl XLIII anyone? MVP was wide receiver Santonio Holmes. However let's not forget the true turning point. If this play had not happened. The Steelers would have lost the Super Bowl. They eventually won 27-23, that's a 4 point margin. The situation was like this, 1st and goal the half time clock was winding down. Steelers up 10-7. I still question why they did not run the ball instead. Maybe the coaches thought it would have been too predictable. We saw the Same thing happen to the Seahawks against the Patriots in 2015.
The play in question was extremely rare. Not only did the Heavyweight, Harrison intercept a pass, but he hauled it all the way down the field. Keep in mind he is a heavyweight so he is far from the fastest person on the team. He made use of the stiff arm, juke, and hurdled a few people in this 100 yard run. Something you would never expect from a defensive end. Now let's imagine this didn't happen. Whether or not the Cardinals scored the halftime clock would expire with the score still being 10-7 or 10-13 or even 10-14 if they went for a two pointer it would be 10-15. Imagining all the other drives in the game still occurred as they did the closest the Steelers would have got to victory would have been a 4 point deficit. The James Harrison interception really made the difference for the Steelers. I think he was the real MVP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEIyUBf0X8E
As somebody who can't stand the Patriots, Superbowl XLII is my favorite. The MVP was Eli Manning, he did put up a good game, but defense anyone... For those who don't remember the 2008 Patriots were threatening the first perfect season since the 72 Dolphins. Tom Brady had a stalwart offense with many weapons that benefited his pocket passer style. To defeat the Patriots the offense needs to be shut down. The final score was 17-14, of special note is these two teams met before the playoffs that year and both teams scored in the 30s with the Patriots only winning by a field goal. Both defenses stepped up their game. However, Tom Brady was sacked several times by a strong blitz by defensive players like Michael Strahan and a forced fumble did not help matters for the Patriots. Most people look at the helmet catch as the most important moment and let's not take away from it, but let's not forget that the strong defense shut the Patriots down. Eli Manning and Tom Brady's QB stats nearly mirrored each other. It came down to which defense gave their quarterback a better situation. By smothering Brady the Giant's defense limited him from his true potential of 30+ points against them down to 14. In essence I think just about any defensive player deserves MVP before Eli Manning did.
Now to also play devil's advocate, and say what if. The offensive line is important. So what if there was a game where the backs were totally untouchable because the line let nobody by? Most successful Quarterbacks, like your Bradys, Mannings, Rodgers, Rothelsbergers, and many more are not known as duel threat quarterbacks but pocket pocket passers. Because their lack of hustle and scrambling ability, escaping the sack is tough, so it's very important to have a great offensive line. Many of these star quarterbacks are on the list of active leaders in the times sacked category. I want to stress they are smart passers but they often have more than enough time to stand in the pocket and scan the field for an open receiver. However when the line collapses they are most often sitting ducks. A strong blitz can smother a pocket passer much easier than a duel threat quarterback. John Elway and Brett Farve, both greats in many categories but both are the top two sacked Quarterbacks of all time. Their least successful games were games where they were sacked multiple times. Let's remember that when a quarterback is sacked it is not usually his fault, that is a failure of the offensive line.
Need anymore proof that a quarterback cannot win it all. Look no further than the Browns. They have been through nearly 30 QBs in a span of 17 years. Some could have very well blossomed into stars, however unlike Brady, Manning, Farve, Elway etc, these poor QBs had no team around them. Their front office pretty much looked at obtaining a QB as the holy grail and a turning point. At times they were not even smart in choosing their QB like when they got Johnny Football or when they drafted then 28 year old Brandon Weeden, a QB with only maybe 4 years shelf life at the most. Instead they could have drafted now 28 year old Russell Wilson. Good results not guaranteed of course because Wilson has a team with the Seahawks. The Browns put together such awful teams that I'm not convinced they could win if they cloned Bart Starr and made him their QB, looking at what he would have to work with.
I urge readers to think outside the pocket when considering a game MVP.
Monday, March 20, 2017
The Accident: December 2007
Later this year a notorious accident I had on bicycle will be 10 years old. The hit was so hard I can still feel it today.
December 4th, 2007 started like almost any typical Tuesday, except I left home early that morning, because I had some extra duty as yearbook photographer to perform. For those of you who don't know at the time I was a junior at Midland Valley High School at the time. I didn't own a vehicle or hold a driver's license. Therefore, in order for me to get where I needed to be on time, I was my own transportation. My morning and afternoon commute normally consisted of a 2.7 mile trek that would almost always place me on Anthony Drive, Duncan Road, and Mustang Drive. I very rarely deviated from this route.
I remember waking up before 5AM. I had hit the shower hand cleaned up ate breakfast before 6AM. I was on the road by about 5:50. The morning was a cold one with temps in the upper 20s to lower 30s. I had a coat on with a hood. The weakness of this was the hood was on so tight that my neck could not swivel like usual, it created a bit of a blind spot. Riding in the cold was nothing new to me and riding like this was also nothing new. I eventually swapped to a ski mask following this accident. I also had a camper's back pack that had about 15 pounds of text books, good for about half my full text book load. If it hadn't have been for lockers and I had my full 30 pound load I would have been hurting even worse. The book bag was fastened to me by a harness with two cross straps. One around my waist, and one around my chest to prevent load shift. Strapped under these cross straps was my camera satchel. My Fujifilm Finepix S5200 survived this and many accidents in my padded camera satchel and I still own it today, just don't use it a lot.
After stopping at a convenience store on SC. hwy 421 commonly referred to by locals as the depot, I cruised down Anthony Drive to head for the school. After crossing the railroad tracks near Railroad Street Anthony Drive drops off down hill. It's not the steepest grade in the valley but on a bicycle you can pick up some speed. I was capable of good speed on a bicycle even then. My flat ground speed with no load was around 38mph. I had blazed fully loaded past the school resource officer who clocked me at 20, which was impressive for the fact my book bag was loaded. So, to give you an idea of what y impact speed would have been around 38-40mph. I was aggressively pedaling as I started to descend the hill, and even with a 15lbs load, I could easily make that speed on a down hill grade with my 21 speed mongoose mountain bike.
The route includes a bridge that crosses Horse Creek. I was running wide open as I approached the bridge at this point an unknown vehicle approached my blind side. I was aware of was behind me and moved over to give him room to pass. The incident happened so fast. As he passed somebody in the vehicle threw what I think was a half filled 1 liter Mountain Dew bottle out the window. The bottle hit me in the back of the head, knocking my coat hood over my face. Instantly after impact I was frantically trying to brake, but not even probably a hundredth of a second after impact, my bike hit the front of the guard rail. The guard rails are designed to collapse when hit by a 2 ton vehicle, however a 20 pound mountain bike with a 150 pound rider slamming it at the speed I was going was sure to make me hurt.
After hitting the guard rail, I was thrown from my bike airborne, for a brief second I remember seeing the tail lights of the perp's vehicle but couldn't make out anything else. I landed on the side of the guard rail opposite to the road. My bike landed not too far from me. I ended up in the mud. Because I was on the opposite of the guard rail nobody passing by could see me injured or knew of my presence. I layed on the ground for 10-15 minutes, pretty much shouting nothing but cusswords. The accident was about 6:30AM Eastern daylight time. I had just suffered the singled hardest hit I had ever taken.
I had been injured much worse than this in other accidents, but one thing that was key, was during this accident I was much more limber, due to the fact that I didn't see the hit with the guard rail coming. So, I didn't tense up like when I sprained my ankle in 2012 or contusioned my elbows in 2014. Had I saw it coming and panicked I likely would have been seriously injured if not killed. The amount of Gs I took in the incident were probably pretty impressive. The bottle strike was not what injured me, it was the collision with the guard rail.
Eventually rage would take over and I would pull myself up. I knew I had pulled several abdominal, arm and neck muscles. I knew the rational decision would be to turn around and go home. But after getting hit this hard, knocks the sense out of people, and I still wanted to go after this guy regardless of the odds of actually finding him. I had had an accident that was totally uncalled for and totally unnecessary. Don't get me wrong I never was somebody to get in fights, but this time was one time I was really wanting to find whoever did this and hurt him, good thing I didn't because I was in no shape to be fighting anybody. I highly doubted it was anybody who went to school with me, but I limped up there anyway to see if anybody knew anything and instantly regretted it on arrival. I had aggravated my pulled muscle injuries, and pretty much walked into the school looking like a drunk. My friends were trying to find out who was responsible for the incident but nobody ever found out. It all happened too fast for me to even get a description of the vehicle making filing a police report pretty much impossible. I had a suspect who didn't go to school with me, and had a run in with him before but never had proof he was the perp.
I lasted until 4th period English class before my mom picked me up. I spent the remainder of the day in bed and missed the next day of school. I would be off the bicycle for only 4 days. Though knowing what I know now I actually had no business riding bicycle for a month. I didn't know until a few years later I had suffered a grade 1 concussion. I was suffering from intermittent headaches for weeks following. It was nothing that made me nonfunctional, but having another accident would have definitely not been good for me. Worth noting is my head never took any direct hit other than the bottle strike, and the bottle strike was not hard enough to cause the concussion. The concussion was a result of impact force with the guard rail.
I wouldn't let this accident scare me from riding. People suggested I retire, but I knew I couldn't allow this one incident to terrorize me into giving up something I like.
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