It's Better to be Fat Than be at Max Fitness

 Usually I like to keep this blog strictly about photography, but I also like to discuss injustice. Unrelated to my story about the incident at the gym I also now run a Youtube called Facebook Police Auditor and I would love to get more people aboard to bring up the failures of Facebook's automated algorithm system that bans or suspends users for unjust reasons.

 I'll start this by informing you I was a Gold's Gym member starting from March 2015. Sometime last year the Gym I was a member of changed over to the Max Fitness brand, it's a brand that is slowly growing around the South Eastern United States. I have used this gym to ether work out or clean myself up after my primary job at a car dealership in preparation for my other jobs. I am on the go so often times driving 30 miles back home to just get back to the same location after cleaning up don't make any sense.

May 4th, 2022, didn't seem like anything out the ordinary! I had just got my camper moved to my new residence in Jackson SC and was still wearing my tech uniform I sport at my dealership job where I work in the maintenance department. I am issued the same uniform as a mechanic, and often confused for one, but also get just about as dirty as they do. My intention was to transition from that occupation to Door Dasher and Door dash the North Augusta SC area that evening. But before doing this I needed to clean up and my water at my site was not yet functional thanks to some leaky pipes. So, I went to the Max Fitness location in North Augusta SC, spent some time in the suna, then took my shower and changed my clothes. It's worth noting that I wasn't too picky about my hair or my clothes appearance as I was only looking to make myself comfortable and hardly ever directly interact with customers on deliveries anyway. It may also be worth noting that the vehicle I drove that night was a 1997 Silverado that well, looks like a 25 year old project truck, it has a primered front end and a non-functional driver-side door. This was due in fact to my daily driver, a 2018 Chevy Cruze being down at the time due to it's transmission being damaged by a road blunder from a construction company. Those two factors maybe have been used to stereotype me as a bum or would-be thief.

It's worth noting that I take grave offense to the events that occurred after this because of many factors. In addition to being a photographer I do multiple occupations, what I am accused of here and believed to have done by the accuser is something I would have had absolutely no motive or reason to think of doing. I push myself to make nearly $1,000 a week. I have staved myself through bad financial times very rarely even needing friends to help me. In fact many friends came to me for help recently from 2020 to the present. Anyone who knows me knows this! The people who ran this gym knew me for years and I would've been surprised if they ever took issue with it as it was nothing out the ordinary.

Approximately, 8:30 I exited the gym, nothing seemed a miss, but I decided to call my sister, I called her to discuss the sell of my old Play Station 2 and a few other things, we went off topic and talked for a while to catch up on life and work. Whilst talking on the phone I paced around the parking lot a bit, I could see how maybe this could cause a minor misunderstanding, because I did get carried away not even thinking about how others precieved it, but I think the upcoming reaction was a little excessive. Aside from this it was nothing out the ordinary for me to linger a bit if I was on the phone or even to get out my laptop and knock out some business, so I thought nothing of it as I had done this for years, and nobody had an issue or said anything about it. Then I saw a post on a classic NASCAR page on Facebook and got in conversation about a driver named Dave Marcus, I'm a fan of old style NASCAR so I tend to get involved in conversations and can drag on for a while. during this time I leaned on the right front of my truck.

If my timing recalls correctly I talked to my sister for 45 mins and was chatting on Facebook for maybe 15 when a North Augusta Public Safety Chevy Tahoe pulled in closely to my truck but passed it and pulled up to the gym's front entrance. I kind of knew the Gressey haired movie star looking cop was staring at me. The Karen alarms were ringing but I opted to believe that if he wanted to talk to me it was just a minor misunderstanding and if he came to talk to me it would be smoothed over. Surely gym management didn't call the cops on me and wasn't too scared to talk to me if my actions were upsetting someone right? After 7 years of membership? Also none of this is to take a stab at the police, I understand they got a tough job, one I could never do and have always had respect for anyone who can do that job the right way, and the right way may not be something I always agree with.

The next thing I know two more officers pull up and they confront me. The Gressy haired officer takes my ID and walks to the gym where his Tahoe is while the other two talk to me. The female officer actually knows me, and shes pretty cool, in fact we have a friendly conversation about photography while the Gressy haired officer is discussing with the complainant. I had been reported for peaking in or scoping out cars by some woman and possibly a spouse. It is worth noting that I do not have many enemies except maybe one known, that had a boy friend arrested following an incident in 2020 where I was driving on Lyft and hit a deer, subsequently the police ran his ID and he went to jail for a warrant which was not any my doing, but I get blamed for it anyway. So, if anything weird happens that's my first suspicion is it may be a revenge attempt for that incident. Still the complainant is faceless to me at this time. Management was scared to even talk to me so I don't know.

After about 15 mins the Gressey haired cop approaches me with a piece of paper and my license, and tells me I've been placed on trespassing notice and my membership has been revoked. The management was so scared to communicate with me they'd rather place me on trespassing notice than smooth over a simple misunderstanding, imagine that! I am to this day not even convinced anybody reviewed any camera footage and if they did they likely assumed my intentions judging by my vehicle's and physical appearance at the time. Whatever it was there was no need to call the police, all they had to do if they had an issue with any my activity was tell me about it. By the way this paper work was unprofessional, it didn't even contain the name of the issuing officer. He suggested I call management in the morning before I left if I wanted to smooth things over.

Meanwhile I didn't know this but a co-worker of mine, who I won't name for the same reason they do not want to show me valid evidence I did this, saw this incident and the BS alarm sounded. I drove back to Jackson full of rage knowing I had to work in the morning, but struggling to sleep with heart palpitations and stress keeping me awake. Never in my life had I ever experienced anything this embarrassing, and for something I didn't even do none then less. Little did I know that while I was trying to sleep and stressing, I had more support than I knew.

I get a call around 7:30 in the morning from my old manager and she was asking if I had went to jail. This of course was false but somehow a rumor was spread that I was arrested! Overnight the one person who had seen it and knew the truth had stirred up a fire storm of support for me. Many believed I was arrested though. I went to work full of rage and only two co-workers talked to me about it and it was revealed they had called the gym in anger on my behalf. Who their names are will not be revealed, since the gym management had no courage to even discuss anything with me or show me any footage.

I reached out to gym manager, who would not return my call. It would've been an ethical conversation but they didn't want it. A former employee who I will not name gave me General Manager's number. He had at least the courage to talk to me via phone. He said he had footage of me doing said deed but did not have the courage to show me what he was talking about. Was he judging me on head direction? I mean what was the grounds? He however was more worried about head hunting the person who gave me his phone number probably to terminate them, than anything but if he's too scared to talk to me about my issue he's not getting that info ever! Retaliation is impossible anyway as they no longer work for him anyway. Totally unprofessional! When you take a management position you shouldn't hide from complaints!

I went out to my favorite hang out and got nothing but support and hugs over the issue, which should be embarrassing to Max Fitness. I also still get asked by gym regulars why I never come and this is why. The North Augusta Gym has regressed so much in quality that they used a photo of another location in their own ad, I'm guessing because it looks better than their real location, when I posted comments on Facebook calling them out over it they opted to block me, a move I take as a sign of their own defeat. To make things even more interesting I know several people who discontinued their membership after hearing what happened to me. They were mortified and did not want to endure the same experience as me. I am hearing other horror stories such as them still taking payments after a member willingly cancels, and other stories similar to mine.

As for me I don't work three jobs to make over $1,000 a week to be disrespected like this as a place I was a loyal customer longer than I held ether my old job at Lifetouch or my current job at the dealership and accused of bumish activities then treated like I'm guilty of those activities.

With this, I add as of 4-10-2023, I got some other juicy news as to where this company's priorities are. The location at Bobby Jones Expressway hired Barry Davis as general manager. Yes I named him by name but his name is already all over the web anyway, many would have to be living under a rock if they lived in the CSRA for long and didn't already hear about his terrible reputation as a Richmond County Deputy following aggressive behavior. So, Max Fitness decided it was a totally good idea to make him the General Manager. Now I'm not against second chances and I believe people can change but let's look at the google and facebook reviews.

https://www.facebook.com/MaxFitnessAugusta/reviews

https://www.google.com/search?q=max+fitness+augusta%5C&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS848US849&sxsrf=APwXEdfq6p1yjWa16m6_5s4JFQ8UAaLyaQ%3A1681100703795&ei=n48zZMvFLtmlptQPyu-ygAs&ved=0ahUKEwiLkZ6SvJ7-AhXZkokEHcq3DLAQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=max+fitness+augusta%5C&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIOCC4QgAQQxwEQrwEQ6gQyBQgAEIAEMgoIABCABBAUEIcCMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yGQguEIAEEMcBEK8BEOoEENwEEN4EEOAEGAE6CAgAEKIEELADOggIABCKBRCRAjoLCC4QrwEQxwEQgAQ6DgguEIoFEMcBEK8BEJECOg4ILhCvARDHARCABBDqBDoZCC4QrwEQxwEQgAQQ6gQQ3AQQ3gQQ4AQYAUoECEEYAVClBVi8EGDLEGgBcAB4AIABrAOIAYMNkgEHMi0xLjMuMZgBAKABAcgBA8ABAdoBBggBEAEYFA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

Look at the reviews, most the negative reviews cite Mr. Davis by name. Readings about his time as a Richmond County Deputy even say he was demoted to jailer. He has one arrest for stabbing someone too. Now I'm not saying he's guilty, but there's a pattern and a history of anger issues with this guy that clearly hasn't been curved.

Here's some readings if you got time.

https://www.wrdw.com/content/news/Grovetown-man-facing-battery-charges-after-altercation-429536153.html

https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/augusta-reporter-revisits-his-2014-arrest/193158/

The article by former WJBF reporter Mike Miller seems to be proven very true about Mr. Davis when you see the reviews citing Mr. Davis as mean and aggressive. Clearly all these people can't be lying about how this man conducts himself.

With that said come visit my FineArtAmerica page and check out my protest T-shirt. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/max-fitness-protest-logo-joseph-johns.html?product=adult-tshirt&fbclid=IwAR16_xQ7XodZqlwLU9W3KhjnjYlrIiT5tmdJLP0V796BQyTnbP5WBIFjAKQ

Cameras I have owned

Intro

This is a summary of all units I have owned as a photographer. In 16 years behind the camera with over 14 different units my units have nearly 32.43 service years combined. Factoring in wear tear and demise they have on average a service life of 2.32 years. During this time I have only lost 2 units in the line of duty, due to incidents, the rest of the retirements were due to age, mechanical failure or deteriorating performance. As cameras improve and I acquire more units, my goal is to raise this number closer to 5. My current requirements is to have at least 3 active DSLR units on the roster at any time. I currently have 4 and expect to add a 5th next year. Some photos I took with the cameras will appear here.

Camera #1. HP Photosmart 435 43x series (2004-2005)

The first was the worst. This was a cheap 3.1mp box camera with no optical zoom and only digital zoom as an option. Meaning you really had no useful zoom. It would be the first unit I used that ever sparked my interest in digital photography though. In early stages I was OK with the low quality but as I noticed there was better out there my thirst for better would rise. In my freshman year in high school I would carry this unit in my pocket on bike trips. As it got older electrical shorts and other things breaking with the cheaply designed camera plagued me until it eventually expired. This camera was my first and the most frustrating camera I ever worked with. Not too much longer hp did the right thing and stuck to computers getting out the camera business.

Camera #2 Minolta DiMAGE Z6 (2006-2006)

This is perhaps the shortest lived camera I had it only made it through one week. A tripod failure caused to to break. The pros of this model is it was an easy upgrade over my previous HP, the cons however were it was probably one of the most fragile units I ever used.

Camera #3 Minolta DiMAGE Z6 (2006-2006)

Because a poorly manufactured tripod caused the demise of #2 I exchanged it for this unit. Same model but had a much longer life of 10 months with me. However, fragility caught up with it with one fall breaking the LCD viewing screen in September then an unknown incident destroying it as I prepared to photograph the Midland Valley Powder Puff football game for the yearbook staff. I currently still posses the remains of this unit in my attic.

Camera #4 Fujifilm Finepixs (2007-2014)

This camera was not a DSLR but it was the toughness I needed to handle demands of Yearbook Staff. For now it's my longest serving unit too. From the second half of my Sophmore year in HS up until after my college graduation this camera was ether primary or secondary unit. I won Midland Valley's Spirit of the Mustang award with my work from this camera. It had 5.1 mp and a pretty impressive manual mode for a non-DSLR. I was taking images with it that were beyond the limits people would expect. The camera survived every bicycle accident I had in high school without many physical nicks. After high school and acquiring #5, it would often be my road unit on bike trips, to protect my DSLR from hazards. In 2014 my dad used it on a vacation and that was the last known use. The image quality started to tail off from age, and because it required XD memory cards instead of the standard SD, had no continuous shutter setting,  plus became a fleet oddball she was shelved. This unit was impressive though in the fact that despite all it's limits it outlasted and nearly competed with some of my higher quality units. It didn't beat them but put up a good fight. Right now the units whereabouts are unknown, as a house guest my dad was dating at the time who turned out to be a clepto may have stolen it.

Camera #5 Nikon D3000 (2010-2014)

This was it I would be playing with the big boys the MPs were 10 and this had continuous shutter and my night time photography game just took a quantum leap forward. This unit was my first DSLR camera, and would be my primary unit during my time at USC Aiken Pacer Times. It accounted for many good images, but in late 2013 it malfunctioned on a rainy outing at a women's soccer game. The Malfunction didn't retire it but was spelling the end of the unit slowly. it was pushed into the back-up role and used primarily on bicycle trips, but finally expired in late 2014. With 3 new acquisitions the loss was not too hard of one. I gave the remains to a friend who uses the same model camera for parts.

Camera #6 Nikon D3200 (2013-2019)

This unit had a very long career with me and is special to me as it's the last gift I ever got from my now deceased mom and is responsible for a lot of publishing I achieved. The infamous lightning photo from September 2014 being just one example. The 24mp was a huge upgrade over my D3000. But that was not the only thing. The ISO sensitivity capabilities had far improved over Camera #5. The unit remained my primary unit until September 2014 but not because of what you may think, In that year I was buying several units that were even better, so that would bump camera 6 down to lowest priority very early in it's career and my road unit for bicycle trips and higher risk events that I didn't need a more expensive unit for. This probably helped prolong it's career. In 2019 it started showing signs that age was getting to it. An error popped up on the screen I couldn't fix. The camera was very obsolete compared to other units and to repair it would cost just as much as to replace it. But because it was the last thing my mom bought me the body has been kept and will sit on a future display case.

Camera #7 Nikon D5300 (2014-2014)

2nd shortest lived unit in my group, but it's performance encouraged me to buy more of this model. I loved it's at the time beastly high ISO settings. The camera was a beast and was my primary unit until, one fateful November night I am train shooting, the new tripod I had allows the stage to slide in to the base. I didn't know the base was not secured though. The camera would fall off the tripod 10 feet into a nearby stream, devastating the unit. I would use the Best Buy Geek protection to replace it at almost no cost to me. See Camera #9.

Camera 8 Nikon D7100 (2014-Present)

The oldest active unit still running on my roster today. Camera 8's biggest feature I love is it's ability to run 1/8000th shutter-speed. This is very useful in daytime sports. It's highest ISO however is only 6400 compared to other units. Often on outings like baseball games I'll start with Camera 8 and stick with it until the sunsets too much to be able to use a shutter speed higher than 1/4000th. I'll switch to one of my 5500s or my 5300 for any night time action photography. It saw lots of use up until last year, now I only use it when I need a shutter speed higher than 1/4000th mostly as it remains my only unit capable of doing so. Considering it's age and the fact it's showing signs of decline, it's highly likely I retire the unit next year in favor of a Nikon D7200 or even D7500. Money will determine that when it comes time.

Camera #9 Nikon D5300 "Old Red" (2014-2019)

When the ill-fated Camera 7 bit the dust much too early, I got this camera from my warranty plan. The operator on the phone said there were no D5300s in stock at time and I could downgrade to a D5200 or wait. I love the model because of ISO and I opted to wait, but my stipulation was that it could be a red one instead of the usual black. I got my wish! This unit was well known for drawing attention with it's red paint. Caught plenty of good shots with it as well. It filled the void left by Camera 7 for years. But once Camera 6 retired I acquired unit 10 and it was later pushed into the road unit role for more higher risk operations in 2019. Unfortunately it wouldn't last in that role very long as the shutter finally blew out. The unit was retired and sold on ebay for parts.

Camera 10 Nikon D5500 (2019-present)

I had not bought a camera in 5 years but because I wanted to save money I bought this one used and I fell in love with the D5500 model acquired another one in 2020. The high ISO and light weight made it a must have for me. Camera 10 however has the dubious distinction of being a bad luck unit right now. The flash which is slated to be replaced soon broke off while I was hugging a friend. Of all bizarre ways to damage a unit who ever would've ever thought hugging would do it. The unit is currently on loan to a friend and being used for video podcast and it's expected to return with a new popup flash.

Camera #11 Uniden Iwhitness dashcam (2019-present)

This deviates from my usual practice but every camera gets a number, and this camera was a result of needing liability evidence in case something happens involving my vehicle. It's probably not going to be the only dashcam I acquire as there are better options out there. However, it helps to have a camera on at all times when driving as I've learned from watching other's experiences and my own as a Lyft driver, when I was bogusly accused of being drunk while operating on the platform. The acquisition of this and other dash-cams will be an occurrence as I took that one bogus accusation so seriously that eventually it will be implemented that every corner of my car will be under surveillance in the future to thwart any occurrence of this repeating itself and discredit any attempts at telling lies or for court reasons involving any accidents. Simply put this camera is more for protection than fun. The incident I cited only happened once but one lie was one too many for my liking.

Camera #12 Nikon D5300 (2019-Present)

Bought off ebay and used currently as my high risk road camera. Pretty decent unit still but will likley be the last D5300 I buy as I am shifiting more toward D5500s and D7200s.

Camera #13 1998 RCA DSP3 Camcorder (2020-present)

You probably wanna laugh right now because this unit is so obsolete. I bought the VHS unit off ebay because it reminded me of the one I grew up with as a child. Yes, I plan on seriously using this but for throwback purposes. I also use it for VHS to digital conversions to save old home videos.

Camera #14 Nikon D5500 (2020-present)

Currently my newest unit and not yet much to write about it as it has seen the least amount of action.

The Broad Street Incident May 14, 2017

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.