on my way home this afternoon, i saw a ton of police cars and an ambulance outside the middle school that is next to my kid's elementary school. so, i wheeled into the parking lot and threw my 75-300mm telephoto zoom onto my 300d and started shooting from the perimeter, so as not to interfere with the police activity in progress.
basically, this guy was on his motocycle, out on the interstate, when he blew past a radar site doing 80+ in a 65mph zone. the trooper pulled out and the guy went for warp speed. they got up to speeds in excess of 120 mph. he left the interstate and wound up on the road that goes by the local school complex (it has an elementary school, middle school, and a high school). he got onto the road that goes around the schools, and crashed his bike into a pond. he fled on foot, only to be tackled by a local deputy. and, surprise, surprise, they recovered over four ounces of cocaine at the scene...
he has been charged with reckless driving, failure to stop, etc, etc.
at least one of these pictures will make next week's local weekly, and possibly tomorrow's daily (it's a long shot, but i sent them in, anyway).
so, do i carry my camera everywhere i go? you betcha!
a lot of people have been asking about pj work lately. i figured now was as good a time as any to update this thread a little.
let me summarize real quick...
1) i saw something happening (a guy getting arrested at a jr high school)
2) i took pictures from a distance
3) i called the daily paper to see if they knew about it
4) i spoke to the assistant editor of the metro section
5) he was thrilled that there was someone who had photos because they couldn't get a staff photog out to the scene
6) he asked me to email them right to him
7) i edited them and emailed them
8) they didn't use any of them because they ran out of space (the metro section also has the obits, and a lot of people died that day, so they chose to cut the photo rather than text from the story.)
9) the editor called me back to apologize, but he suggested i get in touch with the photo director to see about getting on the freelance list
10) i waited a few weeks and finally called the guy up
11) he seemed a little stand-offish, not promising anything, said he was busy, but he could meet me in a week or so
12) i immediately emailed him a thank you follow up with a link to my website
13) he called back 5 minutes later and said, "ok, it's obvious you know which end of the camera to point at what and when to pull the trigger, when can you come in to talk."
14) i went in, showed him my tearsheets from the weekly, as well as some prints of some of my better stuff. (at this point, i had done 3 assignments for a local weekly paper--and all three were motorsports related. at least, though, lucky for me, i had something in newsprint (although this is NOT a requirement--after all, you have to start somewhere...).)
15) he gave me a publishing agreement to sign
16) they call me when they need me
17) i've done almost 40 assignments for them since july (updated 4/21/06)
18) they have a pretty good idea of what to expect when they send me out.
what's the point? you CAN do this, if you want to. it takes time, effort, commitment, and desire. equipment helps, as does skill and experience. however, nothing is more important commitment. if people can sense your commitment & passion, they are willing to bend over backwards to help you get where you want to be--and they are a lot more understanding about you're not being there, yet. don't be afraid to try, and don't create imaginary hurdles for yourself. if you want to do it, JUST GO FOR IT!!!
Nice story. I just made a thread about freelance work. I read almost every thread linked in your portfolio, but this one wasn't in there. I also added you to my fav photographers list. Thanks for all the help.
Certainly I would never do anything like that. lol
Of course I think I helped pay for a new highway in Montana!!!$$
Here is the crazy thing. In Montana (pre-no speed limit) if you got a speeding ticket under about 100mph it was a $5 ticket. You could pay the officer in cash on the spot. I remember going on road trips (this was when I was very young) with a stack of $5 bills on the dashboard. They changed the penalties a bit, then went to no speed limit. If you got a ticket when there wasn't a limit the penalties were outrageous. I really didn't like it when the speed limit was "reasonable and prudent" because there were always people driving 100+ on the interstate. I'm glad its been back to a set speed for quite awhile. I'm going back in March for a few weeks because I haven't been back to visit the family in over a year.
