Aftermath of Historic Building Fire

twocolor · Aug 29, 2008

An historic building in our little community of Brigham City, Utah was set on fire by arsonists Tuesday night around midnight. The building housed a 4 generation family business called Bott and Sons Monument Co. they make headstones, and stone benches. It also housed a single mother and her 6 year old boy in an upstairs apartment. The mother glanced outside her window and saw smoke. She decided to go outside and see what the problem was. It was then that she realized it was her home that was in flames. By then the fire department had arrived and she frantically led the firemen back inside to rescue her 6 year old boy.
The building was a total loss. Because of its age, no one would insure it. So, it is also a big financial loss for the company, as well as a personal loss for the mother and her young son.
Investigators found 2 gas cans that had been shoved into the bushes on the property. Neighbors claim to have seen some teenagers playing around the lot earlier that day. The arsonists have not been caught.

I live about 6 blocks away from this building, and slept through the fire. Photographer that I am, I was out the next day with my camera. Here are the heart breaking photos of the aftermath of that fire.
Caution: There are alot of angles in these photos, you can sure get alot more picture in without a regular crop. It kinda bothers me, but it allowed me to tell more of the story IMO.

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The fire was so hot, it melted the siding off the house across the street-

firemedic0135 · Aug 31, 2008

The angles are killing me. I am bobbing back and forth and they are not very easy on the eyes. The exposures look great but the "angles" are very distracting

photo28 · Aug 31, 2008

firemedic0135 said:
The angles are killing me. I am bobbing back and forth and they are not very easy on the eyes. The exposures look great but the "angles" are very distracting

Ohh man, I was getting dizzy.

Very nice shots, all have nice detail and are focused nice. There is no problems with glare or nothing, but making the pictures parralel to the "horizon" would be nice!

Were you going for a different effect on the odd angles of the photos? I think I see where you were going with this, but I dont think its the best subject for it, or it was alittle to much. Nice idea though.:thumbup:

twocolor · Sep 1, 2008

I agree on the angles in the post, as I mentioned in my original post. As I was snapping the photos, I was getting just a tad more of the subject in without having to zoom out. In #3 if I had shot it straight horizontal, I would have lost some of the damaged brick in the lower right hand corner of the photo. If I zoomed out to grab that, I would lose the details in the ruined shingles.

As I look at the series again, there are a few that would have been just as good with a straight on angle - I might go on a reshoot and try again - maybe on demo day!