Charles Village Pub Fire

rtracyphoto · Jan 31, 2011

As I was leaving work last night in Towson I was driving to get some food when I was passes by a couple police cars with their lights on. Didn't really think about it at the time because I see that all the time. While I was sitting in the drive through waiting for my food I saw about 5 fire trucks pass in front of the restaurant and being a firefighter that peaked my interested a little bit. As I pulled out of the drive through I looked south and saw a huge column of smoke rising into the sky about 1/4 mile south of me and I thought this might be interesting.

I drove back to work and grabbed my camera and walked up the street to where the fire was and got a few photos of the scene. The fire originally started in the kitchen of the Charles Village Pub and quickly spread to the buildings next to it. The fire department called for a second alarm and went to defensive operations by the time I got there. Here are a few of the shots I got.

Shot these with a D3 w/ 80-200 f2.8 setting were all over the place from ISO 3200-6400, 1/200-1/400, f2.8-4. Let me know what you think.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

kundalini · Jan 31, 2011

Good captures. :thumbsup:

EDIT:
Strike that...... Impressive captures.

mike3767 · Jan 31, 2011

Great pics. Find out if this fire department is union and if so, ask to submit it for the IAFF calendar for 2012. I'm a union fire fighter and towards the end of the year, they ask us to submit photos from our area. Wish you were there to catch our action. It sucks for me because I have great opportunities to catch good pics but I'm just a little to pre occupied in getting water to our fire fighters that are making the attack on the fire. Good luck!

Flower Child · Feb 2, 2011

As a photojournalist/fire chaser I enjoy looking at everyones fire shots. Your are some of the better I've seen. Very very nicely captured. All of your angles and compositions work wonderfully. You exposures are perfect as well. I can't pick a favorite because they are all so good in their own way. Keep at it, and don't forget to submit some of these to your local newspaper! I'm sure they would love to feature them.

Bitter Jeweler · Feb 2, 2011

Wow! #2 is the most compelling to me. Tons of story going on in that one. The rest don't have what that one does.

:thumbup:

TheEugeneKam · Feb 2, 2011

2,7 and 8 are absolutly stuning.

digital flower · Feb 3, 2011

I guess I am going to have to find a new place to grab a beer.

altitude604 · Feb 3, 2011

some of the best fire scene shots i've seen posted here. great work!

Bram · Feb 4, 2011

I was just wondering to myself, did you stand there and change the ISO and shutter speed manually or did you have it on a programmed setting?

Antarctican · Feb 4, 2011

A well-shot series. Good job!

rtracyphoto · Feb 4, 2011

Thanks for all the comments.

Bram said:
I was just wondering to myself, did you stand there and change the ISO and shutter speed manually or did you have it on a programmed setting?

I shoot manual about 95% of the time (the other 5% is shutter priority sometimes when I shoot sports). I find I get more keepers that way then letting the camera try and figure out what to do.

FiveAlarmPhotography · Mar 11, 2011

Great Photos! You might want to try out firepics.net and put them up. People over there would love them!

gsgary · Mar 11, 2011

No5 is my favourite, love how the ladder is reaching into the smoke

fire1922 · Aug 17, 2011

i was at that fire. it went to 3 alarms. the fire department is made up of paid and volunteer the paid i know is union IAFF 1311 i think.

those are awesome shots!!!

KBM1016 · Aug 18, 2011

I would like to see some cool HDR effects on them, especially 1.

I have always wanted to chase my little brother around when he goes on calls but I don't have the patience to sit around for a weekend at the firehouse. Besides, not many cool house fires here in So. MD