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- May 23, 2006
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I didn't shoot any Holiday scenes with my Widelux (panoramic camera), but....
At about 2:00 AM on December 24th, a local bar / pub (Ray & Jet's) and several other businesses burned down in a nearby small town of Genoa, Ohio. The fire took out maybe 20% of the downtown business district, at most.
That bar hosts "Bike Nites" through the warm summer months, when dozens of Harley-Davidsons line the street, and a live band plays at the bar.
In a strange twist of fate, I'd photographed that strip of main street, with the motorcycles parked alongside both sides of the street back in May. Months ago, I'd sold a matted / framed copy to the bar owner. He liked it so much he took it home and hung it there. I had a replacement printed for myself, and hanging on my living room wall.
Turns out the buildings in my shot were *exactly* the buildings that burned down on Christmas Eve.
The day after the fire, I emailed the image to a local weekly paper, and they bought it and ran it in their print version of the paper (but not on the Net). If curious about the article, you can go to
www.presspublications.com and search for "Ray & Jet's", which is the name of the bar that burned. That article is still front page on the Net.
Then two days after the fire, I went to a local meeting of the merchants who were affected by the fire, and citizens showing their support. I took my matted / framed version off the wall, and sold 3 more smaller (about 6" x 18") prints of it at $25 each.
The bar owner, when he rebuilds, wants at least one other BIG print - probably 4' long, to decorate the new place. He thanked me very sincerely for having shot the scene in the first place, and for selling him that first print. We both noted that things can change literally overnight...
So anyway, I made some money and made several people happy at a sad time. Feeling a little bit like a vulture at the moment, but the money spends the same as any other money, and the buyers are glad to have the prints.
Oh, and just like the old-tyme Cirkut photographers, I've got my name and town signed in white in the lower RH corner of the print - as well as my email addy, in case of repeat sales. And to discourage people trying to reprint it themselves. I also like the idea of having the print longer than a scanner, which should also discourage all but the most clever from making copies at home.
It's the first news photo I've ever tried to sell, so I'm still jazzed.... and sad. I liked the place.
At about 2:00 AM on December 24th, a local bar / pub (Ray & Jet's) and several other businesses burned down in a nearby small town of Genoa, Ohio. The fire took out maybe 20% of the downtown business district, at most.
That bar hosts "Bike Nites" through the warm summer months, when dozens of Harley-Davidsons line the street, and a live band plays at the bar.
In a strange twist of fate, I'd photographed that strip of main street, with the motorcycles parked alongside both sides of the street back in May. Months ago, I'd sold a matted / framed copy to the bar owner. He liked it so much he took it home and hung it there. I had a replacement printed for myself, and hanging on my living room wall.
Turns out the buildings in my shot were *exactly* the buildings that burned down on Christmas Eve.
The day after the fire, I emailed the image to a local weekly paper, and they bought it and ran it in their print version of the paper (but not on the Net). If curious about the article, you can go to
www.presspublications.com and search for "Ray & Jet's", which is the name of the bar that burned. That article is still front page on the Net.
Then two days after the fire, I went to a local meeting of the merchants who were affected by the fire, and citizens showing their support. I took my matted / framed version off the wall, and sold 3 more smaller (about 6" x 18") prints of it at $25 each.
The bar owner, when he rebuilds, wants at least one other BIG print - probably 4' long, to decorate the new place. He thanked me very sincerely for having shot the scene in the first place, and for selling him that first print. We both noted that things can change literally overnight...
So anyway, I made some money and made several people happy at a sad time. Feeling a little bit like a vulture at the moment, but the money spends the same as any other money, and the buyers are glad to have the prints.
Oh, and just like the old-tyme Cirkut photographers, I've got my name and town signed in white in the lower RH corner of the print - as well as my email addy, in case of repeat sales. And to discourage people trying to reprint it themselves. I also like the idea of having the print longer than a scanner, which should also discourage all but the most clever from making copies at home.
It's the first news photo I've ever tried to sell, so I'm still jazzed.... and sad. I liked the place.
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