Fun With a New Lens

I am going to Alaska and Canada later on in the year and I wanted to get a  long lens to capture images of nature that my existing lens collection cannot. Due to the almost 10% sales tax that is collected in my city, I ordered one from B&H photo in N.Y. City and waited for the U.P.S. guy. A few days later, the lens, a case of toilet paper and some K-Cup coffee show up on the porch.

Costco.com was having free shipping on the t.p. and the coffee - I can't drive to Costco without spending a ton, so on-line works for us. What a country.

I hadn't a chance to use the new lens until Fri. evening, after I got off from my part-time retirement gig. As nothing was burning ( a good thing) I headed out to the airport, Things were being set up for today's airshow, which presented some photo opportunities not usually available.

 WWII era SNJ Navy version of the AT-6

Another SNJ retracts the gear after lifting off.

Flight of three AT-6s/SNJs overhead. 400mm focal length.

Riverside P.D. Air 1 sneaks away from the P.D. hangar. Taken 

from across the field. This was cropped a little to add zoom.

Loadmaster on this C-17 shows some

folks around. I have flown on this same 

aircraft, an experience I will never forget.

A P-51 flew did a few low passes while I was there.

I am very happy with the lens, though I need to read the manual and practice with it to improve efficiency. You-tube may help with this as well. I am amazed at the level of sharpness it seems capable of, how fast it can focus I hope it works equally well shooting bears, moose and icebergs.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe

Suburban Craziness

The information shared below was taken from local media reports and some anecdotal knowledge heard around the time of the incident. The pics are mine, they are the only part of the story that I can vouch for their accuracy. 

This went down a few weeks ago, a couple of miles from my house. It all started around 11 PM, with the cops stopping to check out a car that was parked on the street and occupied by several people. Somehow, it ended up with a dead guy and a house being burned to the ground. 

I didn't hear the original call, but apparently, when the cop made contact with the occupants of the car, one guy took off.  At some point during the foot chase, the suspect reportedly produced a gun and popped a round or two off at the officer. The cop returned fire and supposedly hit the suspect in the foot.

At that point, it apparently became easier to track the suspect, as he left a trail of bloody footprints to the house where he opted to hole up. Once the cops determined where the suspect was, they attempted to contact the occupants of the house, who were reported to be uncooperative. A stand-off ensued. I read somewhere that the occupants of the house eventually came out, leaving the suspect as the only one left inside. 

 

The suspects girlfriend said that the suspect had called her during the standoff and had admitted to carrying a gun, but denied pulling or shooting it.

A fire department unit was dispatched to stand-by during the barricade event. An engine was there all night, a BC may have been there as well. There were reports of shots being heard during this time, coming from the house. The cops deployed a robot into the house, it is unknown what it saw. They also deployed some type of projectiles into the house, whether they were a noxious gas or a distraction devices, I do not know. 

 

I do know that shortly after I got up at around 0645 or so, the house was on fire and a full structure response was requested. I knew the cops were all over the place and that the fire dept. would not be able to get anything done for a while, so I wisely decided to avoid the place. 

 

After I was made aware that the situation had stabilized somewhat, I drove down and took some pics. These were taken after 0830, the roof had fallen in on most of the house. I was a little surprised at the PPE that the firefighters were wearing, it was yet another thing that I thought I'd never see.

 

 Ballistic body armor, Kevlar helmets and 1 1/2s. Quite the outfit. I knew the units had upgraded their body armor in response to active shooter events, but I never considered that they might be used during a fire.

The PD metro unit maintained a good perimeter around the house while I was there. At this point, the FD crews were just containing the fire to the structure of origin. The PD had originally been on these hose lines, but as the risk level appeared to lower, they were taken over by the FD. That the PD was initially on the nozzles caused some heartburn in some of the FD administration. I am sure it will be discussed at a future staff meeting.

Before allowing our crews to make entry and extinguish the fire, the PD along with a rep from the FD checked the perimeter of the house to ensure the suspect was no longer a threat. Once this was determined, the FD was allowed to go to work.

 

Units were there for quite a while, overhauling the fire. The FD investigators worked on cause and origin, the PD homicide detectives did their crime scene processing.

The suspect was found deceased in the rear of the house. To my knowledge, the cause of death has not been released. The cause of the fire hasn't been released, nor have the results of the initial investigation. By the time all of that becomes public, interest in the incident will have abated and it will likely not make the news.

As a side-note, I had been in that house several times over the years. My wife's uncle built it and lived in it for around fifty years. His passing and his wife's declining health forced it's sale a few years ago. My wife's aunt has not been told of it's demise. My wife and my brother-in-law were more than a little bummed, as were the cousins who were raised in it.

Crazy shit in crazy times.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe

 

 

Close to Home

It is rare that I am able to photograph a fire scene while the suppression activity is in it's early phase. So rare, that most of my photos are of the overhaul phase of operations. That's OK, overhaul can be interesting as well, if shot properly. Yesterday, a structure fire broke out pretty close to my house. As a result, I actually arrived before any of the units. 

I parked around the corner, as I didn't want to:

A - park the Schmoemobile in the way of arriving units.

B - get blocked in by the multitude of apparatus that were soon to be on scene.

I actually took a few actions before I started shooting, so my first shots were taken about the time the first line was pulled off of the rig. Things moved pretty fast from there.

Single story, single family dwelling with the attached garage heavily involved. A good hydrant located directly across the street. E2, E10, T2, T3, S2 and Batt2 are the initial units dispatched. A crusty/rusty retired fire captain/photog arrives first and advises the BC of initial size-up. E12 is requested by the BC as an additional resource. 

E2 arrives and begins to deploy lines

A couple of cars in the driveway added to the mix

 

Something you don't see every day.

 

Two metro packs on the ground, both off of E2

Two of the cars were heavily damaged

This was just as water was being applied.

Water on, visibility off for me.

Meanwhile, back at the hydrant.

Truckies being truckies.

The flames are gone, but the work is not.

I like this shot, good balance of people and apparatus.

The investigators arrive and begin their work.

A family was displaced, at least four people, including at least one child. Though the fire was held mainly to the garage,  I'm guessing that some damage occurred to the living space. When the rush of combat is withheld from the equation, fires do suck - especially for the victims.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe