Johnnny on the spot

[Mark_Poole@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Poole)]

     I have sent this out twice, once to the Photo-3d list on 12/27, and 
     once to a small list on 12/28.  I have not seen it in any of the 
     recent Photo-3d digests, so I am sending it out again.  
     "Vanity, thy name is Mark."
     I am still waiting to get the shots back, Christmas pix must have 
     really swamped the developer.
     
     One interesting note, the fire was still smoldering one week later...
     
______________________________ Separator _________________________________ 
Subject: Johnnny on the spot
Author:  Mark Poole at egeccmail
Date:    12/28/95 8:20 AM
     
     
     I sent the following to the PHOTO3D mailing list on 12/27/95.  I guess 
     it is broken.  I will go ahead and post this to the members of the 
     last message I received.
     
     Oh, yes, an update:
     Thanks, Dr. George Themelis. I recieved the Stereo Realist yesterday.  
     I was really impressed with the care you took to shrink wrap every 
     item.  The camera and case look like they just came off the shelf.
     My wife could not belive it was 40 +/- years old.
     
     I'll keep you posted on my efforts with it.
     
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     I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!
     
     I woke at 6am on Christmas morn to a flickering of orange.  I looked 
     out he window and saw flames leaping up into the air from 6 or 7 
     blocks away, on the waterfront of the James in Lynchburg.  I exclaimed 
     loud enough to wake my wife and niece, and we all ran around, pulling 
     on clothing, not bothering to tie our shoes and running out the front 
     door with a video camera and my twin camera rig.
     
     As we were running down to the car, we saw flames leap 120 feet into 
     the air, and heard a "whomph" like when you throw a match on the 
     grill, after putting on too much lighter fluid.
     
     We raced off and parked 2 blocks from the fire.  We could see that the 
     Lukens building, a huge multistoried abandoned factory was burning 
     down.  This was to be the crown jewel in our city's 
     downtown/waterfront  revitalization project, and we could see that 
     there wasn't much left to save.
     
     The police kept us back a block. That huge flare-up we had seen was 
     from the building collapsing in on itself.  One officer said the heat 
     was like stepping in front of a foundry furnace.
     
     I set up my twin rig, and clicked off some dramatic (I hope) shots of 
     the central elevator tower, with the painted LUKENS logo illuminated 
     in the firelight.  I also had shots of the firemen doing the real 
     work.  The temperature was in twenties.  I got about 19 shots or so.  
     I had ASA 400 film, with the aperture set at 4.5 (I had to sacrifice 
     depth of field to get 1/20 and 1/30 sec exposure times).
     
     My wife got some good video footage.  There was not a film crew in 
     sight.  We were cold, and I was out of shots (I had left my film in 
     the refrigerator). As we were packing up our gear, a few other 
     shutterbugs had started to appear, but the film crews from the paper 
     and TV had not yet arrived.
     
     We went back home and started our Christmas in a more traditional 
     fashion.  I called the local TV station, but all I got was an 
     answering machine.  We spent the rest of the day with my wife's family 
     in Gretna, about 30 miles away.
     
     The next day, there was still smoke billowing up around the ruins, so 
     I went down and shot off 36 frames.  I was having technical 
     difficulties with my IR trigger, so I will have to cull out a few.
     
     A fire crew was hosing down the wreckage, and you could still feel the 
     heat from the bricks.  I got some nice shots of the fire crew (I hope 
     they turn out, one of the guys came over to ask about my rig, and he 
     got quite interested in 3D.  He wants me to bring my shots down to 
     show the whole fire station).
     
     Here are a few thoughts:
     
     [1] Again, I knew of the value of this building, but I have no 3D 
     "before" shots.  I will have to settle for "during" and "after." 
     
     [2]  I am going to keep my photo vest loaded with a few rolls of film, 
     and keep it close and handy.
     
     [3]  I can't wait to get my first "new" Realist from Dr. George T.!  I 
     know it is on the way, but it could have come in handy for this event. 
     ;)
     
     [4]  I am not trying to make light of this situation.  Two firemen got 
     hurt while fighting the blaze.  But I do feel a duty to record such 
     events for the historical record.  I also have the _only_ 3D shots of 
     the blaze.
     
     [5]  I have to admit to having a sense of excitement of being 
     on-the-scene before the traditional media.  I spoke to a news 
     cameraman while shooting the "after" pictures.  The story had been 
     run, was old news now, and they weren't too interested in the video.  
     We discussed how the Christmas holiday had made them unavailable to 
     me.  He did get my name.  I may be sending them other things soon.
     
     [6]  I am getting my images done, and will be getting them scanned and 
     electronically loaded to disk, along with the slides.  This will take 
     at least a week, maybe more with all the Christmas photos coming in.  
     When I get these, how can I upload them for you all to see?
     
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     Mark Poole               |  Mark_Poole@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
     The ants find kingdoms in a foot of ground -William Rose Benet 
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