JPG Magazine: Stories: Feature Story: Where I'm not supposed to be

Feature Story

Where I'm not supposed to be

By Justin DiPierro

14 June 2008

For the past several years the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs has been setting rooms a-flame in my favourite abandoned hotel. This year I was determined to photograph them!

I set out on my mission to photograph this training event by asking my step-father, the chief of the department I volunteer for, for help. He did some research for me and found that in order to photograph the event you needed to have "valid press credentials..." Don't count me out yet! I called every local paper (About 4) to see if they had anyone covering this three-day training session. It turns out they had all been there and got what they needed and wouldn't give me the needed credentials. I then turned to online media. I called the 1st Responder Broadcast News Network to see if they gave out credentials to their correspondents, of which I am one, but their office was closed. I called the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs to see if I could get direct permission, but their office was closed. (Perhaps I shouldn't wait until 7PM the night before I want to shoot to make these phone calls...)

So I gave up trying to find credentials; I figured I'd show them my business card and my portfolio I keep in my car and just hope for the best. Tomorrow, Friday, rolls around and I head out for the last day of my senior year at high school, fire gear, breathing apparatus, and camera stuffed in the back seat of my car. End of the day I hit the highway and pull off at the hotel, which is conveniently located... right off the highway. I park my car and take a deep breath as I embark on my mission.

Looking around I noticed a table set up in front of the small building, I headed over, but no one else was there. I walked into the building, called out... again, no one. Suddenly a large grin over-takes my face as I sling my camera around my neck and walk out, head held high, towards the hotel.

At first I'm pretty apprehensive to get close and I stay away and take some photos with my telephoto lens. I'm getting some awkward looks that make me a bit nervous, but after a few minutes I decide what's the worst that could happen? They throw me out? I don't get good photos? Well I'm not going to get good photos by just standing there so I decide I'll just walk over. I walked up to the edge of the small tent that everyone was in and start taking photos, no complaints yet. I walk around the front of the building, snapping some shots of the firefighters working on the roof, taking some improv portraits as exhausted trainees walk out of the building.

I decide I've stayed in one spot long enough again and not much is happening so I walk around to the other side of the building to see a bunch of people standing around a small tent, wood being thrown into a nearby room. Again I'm a bit apprehensive to get close and slowly inch my way over. They look at me several times but again, no complaints! So I take a few photos of people walking around, and then I notice someone is walking towards me... Not good! My heart is about ready to leap out of my chest when he gets to me. And when I heard him say "If you stick around for about 10 more minutes we're going to light this room on fire." I nearly fainted. I thanked him and got ready.

A group of firefighters came walking around the corner and the instructor stood up, Game time! He started giving them their preparatory speech and then suited up for some good ole' fashion hands-on fun!

In a matter of moments smoke was pouring out of the doorway, the firefighters only sat at the door, I didn't get a chance to ask but I believe this was either a flashover simulation or a fire behavior class. Everyone sat and watched the fire for a while. The doorway was half-way blocked with a sheet of plywood so I had to shoot around that, then they moved the plywood out of the way and you could see the room in full beautiful blaze. I was scrambling all over to get photos, Oh and every person there under the age of 30 that wasn't participating in the drill had their cell-phone cameras out... Everyone's a photographer...

A few moments later they let rip a hose-line and all the black smoke turned to white steam as the firefighters sprayed down everything in the room. Everything was over in just a few minutes but it was a long, adrenaline filled few minutes. After the fire was out the trainees moved on to the front of the building again and I took my leave.

I guess that if you look the part, walk the walk, and talk the talk, nobody will ask questions and you can probably get just about anywhere. Just be careful, and have fun!

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