Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/01/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tina Manley offered: Subject: RE: [Leica] Tales from yesteryear 2! :-) At 07:07 PM 1/5/2008, you wrote: >And each new birth brings wonderment as much as the previous, but not as much as the first! But I kind of shed a tear at everyone because each is a miracle and I'm an emotional jerk< Fantastic, Ted. Only needs photos to illustrate ;-) You are not only the most talented photographer I know, but also the most talented writer. Keep going!<<< Steady Tina dear. Jeeesh Irene reads this she'll be on my case about getting a big head! :-) And yes lots of emotional birthing pictures! Tales from yesteryear #3 Safe Place In my early days as a photographer I covered stock car racing on dirt tracks. My photo position was on a turn a few yards from the edge of the track. Most of the major crashes and flips occur as the cars roar around the curve. Of course you had to be quick on your feet in the event an out of control car came over the edge onto the infield. One day a concerned track official made me move some distance from my usual shooting spot to a "safe place." He considered it was too dangerous standing were I had worked for many years and fortunately avoided being hit on more than one occasion. However covering the races from my new "safe position" was frustrating as I didn't have the super long lenses of today. Maybe he was right and I had been living dangerously for too long. Standing in my safe place during the final race of the day there was a major crash at the west end of the track as the cars came off the corner. Due to the lateness of the day I had to squint into the sun and couldn't see much. What I didn't see was one of the large slick-tired wheels had broken loose heading directly at me, that was until the last second before it hit. As I was loaded in the ambulance the safety official came to see who had been injured. "Thanks for the safe place." I moaned. Hospital Emergency next safe place! ======= And do you know what my first re-action was when I sort of came out of being knocked flying through the air? "Are my cameras OK?" True! :-)