Sunday, January 18, 2015

FIRE!

Sometimes using a long lens is essential. I went to Washington Heights to visit a friend and had intended to play with the 50-140mm lens a bit. When I came out of the 181st street subway entrance I heard a cacophony of fire, ambulance. and police sirens. I followed the noise to Amsterdam and 179th street where there were more than twenty fire trucks and emergency vehicles. The top two floors of an apartment building had caught fire. The smoke was all gone by the time I got there, but
firemen were pulling down walls and ceilings.

Having only one camera with me, the X-T1, I could have only one lens to work with. I was able to walk through all the hoses and trucks to get close to the action on the ground, but I wanted to be able to get shots on the roof and at the tops of the ladders also. The tele-zoom worked extraordinarily well. I was able to get some really tight shots of the firemen and EMTs, and capture their expressions while doing a very dangerous job. They're all heroes.