Monthly Archives: August 2011

by Al Golub

Motor Fire Near Yosemite Entrance, August 25, 2011

 

Last Thursday I was working on a blog about my first season photographing the NFL, when I got an email from my friend Wes Schultz.  Wes sent me a URL from Wildlanfire.com that said there was a fire near El Portal and they were requesting recourses.  I could see a big column of smoke from my balcony.  So, I started getting my camera equipment ready and pulled all of my fire gear together.  They named the fire the Motor Fire because a motor home caught fire on highway 140 starting fires on both sides of the Merced River.

Before I left the house about 3:30 pm, I photographed this column of smoke.  We are looking east from my house.  The smoke blocks the view of Yosemite National Park.

After driving nearly 60 miles I was on Highway 140 close to the fire.  With my 400mm and a 1.4 extender, I could photograph the Helicopters dropping water directly on the fire.  If you have been there before, it is between Savages Trading Post and the Cedar Lodge.

I continued up river where I found helicopter 404 from the Columbia Helitack base scooping water out of the Merced River.

404 has a new paint job because CDF, California Department of Forestry is now called Cal Fire.

The Cal Fire helicopter pilots are amazing.

Cal Fire 404 put water down in drainage to slow progress of the fire.

On the way out to make deadline, I could see the fire had reached Trumbull Peak.  That gave me an idea where the fire was going.  The next day I planed to got to Trumbull Peak from the old Coulterville to Yosemite stagecoach toll road.  This would be my last change to photograph the fire because Saturday and Sunday I was covering NFL football game.

I got a late start but I could see there was still smoke rising.  To say the road was a little rougher that I remember is an understatement.  My new rattle loose and I have to use Duck-Tape of keep it from falling off.  I had to ride up on the bank of the road along with a little brush smashing.  My Truck has the scars to prove it made the trip.  The next day the Forest Service closed the road for safety reasons.  By the time I got to just below the Peak, I met the Fulton Hot Shots come down the road.  The fire came up over the Trumbull Peak Lookout and they decided to fall back to where I took this image of the Motor fire jumping the Peak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Al Golub

Buzzard Visit, August 10, 2011

Last Wednesday about ten in the morning, my wife called to me from outside our house.  She said the turkey vultures were flying very low and I should get my camera.  We live near the top of Greeley Hill where the up-slope winds allow big birds to soar for hours.  I already had my boots on and headed outside to see for myself.  She was right.  The buzzards were gliding just above the treetops.  I looked toward our driveway and saw a couple birds landing in a big sugar pine.  By my count, there were about ten or twelve vultures altogether, so I grabbed my camera.  My Nikon D3 and 200-400mm zoom were just what I needed.

This immature turkey vulture is coming in for a landing on a big bare limb of a sugar pine.  You can tell it is immature because of its black head.  Mature birds have a red head.

Gliding low over our property frightened the chickens and guineas.  I think vultures are the best flyers.  The adult birds’ wingspans average about six feet.

In October 1975, I photographed this vulture near LaGrange drying its wings in the morning sun.  This image was part of a feature I did for Associated Press Features, published in January 1976.  I learned while photographing this group of about 30 birds not to approach them in a threatening manner because they vomit.  Whether this reaction is due to stress or to lighten their load for a quick takeoff, it is gross when you’re at the receiving end.  Remember, they eat mostly carrion, so the smell is bad to say the least.

Here, five of the buzzards roost on one of our sugar pines.

This vulture has just landed and his wings are still expanded.

A mature bird and a youngster have a minor territorial squabble.

 

 


 

 

 

 

by Al Golub

Senator Sam Ervin (D- North Carolina) 1975

Famous Faces is a new gallery I just started on PhotoShelter.  I needed a place to organize the images of famous and infamous people I have photographed during my career: George McGovern, George Wallace, OJ Simpson, Joe Louis, and Ronald Reagan to mention a few.

In 1975, recently retired US Senator Sam Ervin was on a speaking tour.  Sponsored by The Modesto Bee and Modesto Junior College, he spoke in the MJC auditorium Wednesday night, November 19, 1975.  I wanted to photograph Senator Ervin because he was a major player in the Watergate hearings.  While I was in high school, my parents referred to Ervin as a Dixiecrat, I guess because he was a Democrat who defended the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation.  I was taught that everybody was equal and watched my parents live that example.  So my plan was to focus on the Senator’s investigation of the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Wednesday afternoon, a press conference was held for Senator Sam in the MJC student lounge.  I got the assignment, but the editor told me on the way out the door that the main picture was going to be of him speaking that night.  I guess it didn’t occur to them how much closer I could get to the subject at the press conference and what an outstanding opportunity it was to make great images.  I was only three to ten feet away from Ervin, whereas the MJC auditorium kept photographers forty feet away and on a lower plane due to the elevated stage.  Several times, I jumped up onto the stage and photographed right on top of the subject.  This approach has two drawbacks.  First, you irritate the audience and second, you need a good helping of intestinal fortitude even to have the courage to risk it.  Oh yea, in 1975 I could jump onto the stage.

At 79 years old, Sam Ervin was loaded with charm and wit.  Using my trusty 105mm, I photographed him right, left and center.  The three-light setup by the TV guys working together made for classic lighting.  It is common for TV and still photographers to discuss lighting before a press conference.

With his country lawyer Southern drawl, Ervin delivered lines like “Unfortunately in this tragedy, the President failed to perform his constitutional duties to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.  But the wisdom of the division of powers in government, made manifest by the Congress and the courts remaining faithful to their constitutional trust, enabled our country to weather one of the greatest storms any nation could have had.”

The Senator listened carefully to a reporter’s question about freedom of the press and answered, “It’s absolutely essential.  The men who wrote our Constitution put that guarantee in the First Amendment because they knew the full, free flow of information is essential to make government effective and to prevent tyranny over people’s minds.  It’s not to benefit the press, but to give Americans the information they need.”

Senator Sam Ervin impressed me.  He looked directly into to my eyes, acknowledging I was a real person not merely a fixture in the room, which many politicians appear to think.  To photograph him, I used a Nikon F2 with 105mm f 2.5 lens and Kodak Tri-X rated at 400 ISO and processed by hand in Ethol UFG film developer.  I used moderate agitation to control the contrast because of the harsh quartz halogen lights.