New Years Day

I'm working New Years Day. Ok, so I'm working the early morning of NYD. So, I'm anticipating the numerous car accident calls that involve drunk drivers. I'm also anticipating the DUI checkpoint or two to get video of.

So anyways, I hope to you dear readers and fellow photogs, Happy New Year. I wish 2007 to be a wonderful year for you.

Whoops!!!

This morning, I covered a police chase that resulted in the bad guys going to jail and one police car flipping and sending the officers to the hospital in critical condition. We hustled and were first up live at the scene which was great. Afterwards, I was reeling up my cables and stowing the mast on my live truck when a detective from the AIU came over and asked it I had a light he could borrow because they left their high powered light back at the station. I retreived our high powered light gun only to find out it was not charged and wouldn’t work.

After the officer left, I got in my live truck and left the scene. Later on my way home after my shift, I got a call from the desk telling me that a photog from Channel 8 was bringing my tripod back to the station.

OOOPS!!! Apparantly I left my tripod next to a traffic light control box. I just plain brain farted when the officer came over and asked for the light. That hardly ever happens. I think they’d rather eat dirt than ask the media for a favor. That’s what threw me off kilter and I forgot the tripod.

Thank God and thank Mark from Channel 8 for looking out for me..!!

Merry Christmas To All !! Zzzz......

Zzzzzzz...huh, whazzit?? Oh sorry..I fell asleep. You would to if your precious children had waken you up at 4:20 a.m.

Yes. 4:20 a.m.

Screw it...Merry Christmas. I'm headed back to bed..

I Got Mine Today

Yep, I got my fatal holiday fire over with early. It happened around 2 a.m. in East Cleveland this morning. A fire in a vacant apartment building which claimed the life of a homeless man. He and a woman were staying in the place trying to keep warm when a fire started and quickly got out of control. As I was close by the area checking out reports of an MVA, I got there when crews had just started to enter the building. It was just thick smoke but as the smoke became thicker, the air horns on the pumpers blew signaling to the fire fighters inside to evacuate the building. The apartment building was over 100 years old and decrepit.

It didn't take the firemen long to find the victims body and bring it to the front door. It also didn't take the apartment long to become fully involved. I watched the progression from thick smoke to full blown inferno in about an hour. Water issues were hampering the firefighters efforts to contain it to a basic fire.

So, anyone else get their Christmastime fatal fire today?

Stewart Meets His Doppleganger

A few of us bloggers who genuflect in the greatness of one of our own, the end all of photogs that blog, Lenslinger, donated a few bucks to Chris Weaver, another blogging photog who is amongst the great ones as well. Weaver thought up a wonderful surprise for his co-worker and brother videojournalist : Let's get him the War Journalist action figure! He has wanted one for a long time so, what better gift than a mini-me for Christmas? So with a little subterfuge, plotting, planning and the inclusion of their respective wives, this is the outcome.

Merry Christmas Lenslinger.

Bracing For It

They say a storm is coming. They say that we'll get at least a foot of snow. Do I believe it? No. Will we get snow? Sure we will. We Usually do. But the fact that we went into "war" mode about snow once again really has me baffled. You'll never convince me that anything less than a blizzard is cause for wall to wall "team" coverage of snow. Why? Because in winter, it snows here. I know, call the media....err..wait, don't call us. We'll be out covering the flakes calling it the worst snowstorm since '78.

I agree that we do need to cover it. Put one reporter on it, have them cover it. Put the other reporter on GA. Let it go. It's snow. It's winter. It happens.

All I know is, I'm sure to be sent straight from home to drive all over God's green white earth. to shoot the stuff as it falls to the ground overnight tonight.

To quote Monty Python's Flying Circus, "My nipples explode with delight!!"

/end sarcasm mode.

Found on You Tube

You Tube is amazing. I know that we've all come to that conclusion but what I stumbled across hit home to me this morning. The video below is from the early 1980's. It involves a local Cleveland legend of a reporter, Leon Bibb when he worked at my station,WKYC Channel 3. He's now at WEWS Channel 5 here in Cleveland. I can't identify the voice of the photog but it really a classic example of what our job entails.

This is what we as news videographers and our reporters encounter in a big city. We encounter the public. We get to meet nice gentlemen like the man in the video. So here is the video from YouTube entitled, Get Off My Property!!