A Plethora of Photographs!

Ah... the sweet feeling of accomplishment. With each moment of "oh, crap, how am I going to pull THIS one off?" comes the moment of "thank God somebody spent so much time doing this crazy stuff!".

I had posted a note on the Local 799 website forum asking for photo submissions for the documentary. Along comes Joe Arsenault, donating about 15 shots of a truck rollover at the Roger Williams Memorial. Fantastic shots... even shots of the poor schmuck's foot all bent up and stuck under the frame of the truck. No blood, no gore - just great, documentary-style stills of what occurred that day. Beautiful stuff for the Hazards segment. So I went to the Broad Street station and met Joe, had a nice talk with him and that led to him referring me to Lt. Eric Norberg of the West Warwick Fire Department. I was told that Eric had been photographing fireground images since the late '80's and had a ridiculous number of photographs. Hmmm...

So, I contacted Eric and found out that he and Dan Rinaldi of the PFD Hazards Unit had partnered up in taking all of these photographs. The guys generously offered to have me go to the Washington Street Station and review their collection - or at least part of it - then stay for a dinner cooked by the amazing chef himself, Danny. (What a treat THAT was!) So, I went to the station and met with Eric and Dan. They produced four albums chock-full of great images spanning several years up through the mid-nineties. Phenomenal stuff... and then they offered to let me use whatever I wanted to. I thought I was going to pass out. They had no idea how much work they had just eliminated for me! I had visions of sending myself into debt trying to buy images from the Providence Journal Bulletin. Well, that fear has been completely dispelled. For the simple act of giving them each a CD of the images that I scanned, they are donating whatever images I need for the film.

You know, life is tough sometimes and there have been times on this project when I thought that I would tear my hair out with frustration. Delays, scheduling issues, illnesses (on my part - not major, but enough to put me out of commission for a week or two here and there)... on occasion, it was enough to make me say I wanted to abandon the project all together. Then something like this happens... I post a note, someone responds and then they lead me to another who can help in the process. It all seems to come together just when I'm starting to believe that it's falling apart beyond repair.

So... my sincerest thanks to Joe, Eric and Dan for their incredible generosity. Bobby Alvarez has some images, too... I still need to talk with him. It's a beautiful thing, really, when it all seems to fall into place.