Florida Car Accident

SouthEastFirePhoto · May 21, 2009

The Story:

St. Augustine, Fl - A 2 vehicle MVA at the intersection of US Route 1 South and SR 204 in St. Johns County sent 2 people to the hospital today. E11, R11, HR5 and at least 1 command vehicle responded to the scene after a report of possible entrapment and injuries from St. Johns County Dispatch.
On arrival to the scene, crews discovered the driver of one vehicle entrapped. The passenger was removed and the Jaws of Life from HR5 were used to remove the female driver. Both the driver and a male passenger were transported to a local hospital for evaluation. The extent of their injuries were not available at the time of this article.
Also responding to the incident were officers from St. Johns County Sheriffs Office and Florida Highway Patrol.

The Images:

LaFoto · May 22, 2009

Interesting.
All of it.
The article is interesting, too, as it is a way of writing and reporting on things (briskly, to the point, only mentioning the necessary) that interests me. I would not have been able to set up such article. So it's something for me to learn (or at least become aware of), which I like. Do you also write the articles, or does someone else write them and you take the photos?
What's the agreement on showing the victims? And are there differences in what gets to the official press and what may still get shown on your own site, i.e. the Fire Service News? (There are repeated discussions here on TPF on what some consider unethical to show to others already while others think it is still ok, that's why I wonder).

SouthEastFirePhoto · May 22, 2009

LaFoto said:
Interesting.
All of it.
The article is interesting, too, as it is a way of writing and reporting on things (briskly, to the point, only mentioning the necessary) that interests me. I would not have been able to set up such article. So it's something for me to learn (or at least become aware of), which I like. Do you also write the articles, or does someone else write them and you take the photos?
What's the agreement on showing the victims? And are there differences in what gets to the official press and what may still get shown on your own site, i.e. the Fire Service News? (There are repeated discussions here on TPF on what some consider unethical to show to others already while others think it is still ok, that's why I wonder).

Let me see if I can answer all this simply for you. The article is written specifically for a trade news paper. It is written as a report would be because that is all they want in the paper. I write the article as well as take the photo's most of the time.

As far as showing the victims goes, we always try very hard to not show faces or make them easily identifiable. Sometimes that is hard but I try very hard. The Fire Service News site is mine but it is basically just a journal of the articles I have done or an archive if you will.

Yes there are many images that I have that will never make it to the public. Typically I release 5 to 10 good shots and then let the editor make the decision weather they feel they are okay to use but mostly I use the same set for all news sources that I send images to.

I hope that answers your questions clearly enough. If not, please feel free to ask more.....

LaFoto · May 22, 2009

That's a good answer. Thank you!

Much appreciated!
As time will permit, I'll go check out your site at some greater detail. Unfortunately that is not possible just now, though. But I promise I'll go and check it out.

smyth · Jun 7, 2009

yikes. Pretty bad when you can't even tell what kind of car it was.

adamwilliamking · Jun 7, 2009

aesthetically there is nothing to these photos.
they're pretty dark, possibly a touch underexposed.
its good that your job allows for you to take photographs but what was the purpose of posting these photos on the forum? were you looking for crit?

SouthEastFirePhoto · Jun 7, 2009

adamwilliamking said:
aesthetically there is nothing to these photos.
they're pretty dark, possibly a touch underexposed.
its good that your job allows for you to take photographs but what was the purpose of posting these photos on the forum? were you looking for crit?

This is the PJ forum is it not?

These images were part of an article published for a fire service newspaper. I was sharing my work in that respect and as far as that goes my job is to take the images. I shoot freelance for that particular paper.

It was pretty cloudy that day so that may be why they look dark but they don't here on my monitor.

adamwilliamking · Jun 7, 2009

Cloudy days are great for perfect exposures.

UUilliam · Jun 7, 2009

i personally think they are fine
And that car... that car is a Looks like a Vauxhall

Blank · Jun 7, 2009

For what it's worth Christian, from a technical standpoint, I think the images are slightly underexposed, subject irrelevant, thats just a technical observation I am making. The pictures are clean and definatley portray a story. I am not a PJ or editor, but I would assume the images would have been ok to use, they didn't seem intrusive to the victim(s) privacy.

I am very curious though on 2 things:
1. what does the cop find so amusing while at this scene? I'm not saying everyone should have a stiff upper lip while there, but I could understand someone questioning his professionalism at a serious accident
2. you say it was a 2 vehicle accident, but the hood of the car looks like a sharkbite! can I ask what the other vehicle was?

I admire your efforts to be able to capture potentially traumatic and hysterical scenes. Couldn't do it myself.

SouthEastFirePhoto · Jun 7, 2009

Blank said:
For what it's worth Christian, from a technical standpoint, I think the images are slightly underexposed, subject irrelevant, thats just a technical observation I am making. The pictures are clean and definatley portray a story. I am not a PJ or editor, but I would assume the images would have been ok to use, they didn't seem intrusive to the victim(s) privacy.

I am very curious though on 2 things:
1. what does the cop find so amusing while at this scene? I'm not saying everyone should have a stiff upper lip while there, but I could understand someone questioning his professionalism at a serious accident

He is the Deputy Chef of the fire department and he was not laughing. He is grimacing at the progress being made when the jaws were brought into service.

Blank said:
2. you say it was a 2 vehicle accident, but the hood of the car looks like a sharkbite! can I ask what the other vehicle was?

The second vehicle was a truck that had been moved right after the accident occurred. Where it was is a good question. Nobody seemed to know that at the time.