Firefighters taking a break

I don't normally intentionally shoot people, but I thought this shot was too much to pass. I was at the Newport Beach pier today and some firefighters had their engine parked up near the pier. (That's not a normal spot for any vehicle to park) So I wandered over to see what they were doing. They were showing off the engine to a bunch of kids and handing out some little red firefighter helmets to them. They walked over to a corn dog for a short break and a quick drink.

Like I said, I don't normally take shots of people, so it was a little awkward for me to walk up and ask them. But it was pretty fun too to see how each reacted. The firefighter on the right was indifferent. The engineer in the center sort of stiffened up and posed a little. And the Captain, on the left, kept asking me who I was and why did I want his picture.

I printed out a copy for each of them and dropped it off at the station a few hours after taking it. I thought it would be cool to give them a shot of "work", but something different than the normal firefighter shots you see. I'd love to hear what they are saying about this picture.

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The middle guy kind of looks like Mike Rowe (the guy from Dirty Jobs). I would crop him and change it to a vertical shot. The 2 dudes on the sides have unflattering poses and ruins your shot.

I hope you did not take offense to the Captain questioning you, and also hope he did so in a professional manner.

However in this time of budget cuts and financial strain if the general public sees a employee of the city "lounging around" they are sure to let their politicians here it. I am sure the Captain was concerned the picture would end up being sent somewhere to be made public falsely accusing FF's of not doing their job. I know you had no intention of doing that, just pointing out whay the boss was on "alert."

I agree with moss, the Captain needs to "unpucker" his butt and chill, the other guy needs to stop daydreaming, ha ha.

A few shots of them with the kids doing PR in front of the engine would have been cool. They really would have appreciated that and could possibly be something used on their website for publicity advertising what they do other than fight fires.

Mossman6 wrote in post #9718594
The 2 dudes on the sides have unflattering poses and ruins your shot.

I disagree. For me they actually make the shot. I love the different attitudes that shows through from the 3 guys. It looks like one of those "Good Fellows" kind of pictures. I really like this picture.

BucketMan wrote in post #9755687
I hope you did not take offense to the Captain questioning you, and also hope he did so in a professional manner.

However in this time of budget cuts and financial strain if the general public sees a employee of the city "lounging around" they are sure to let their politicians here it. I am sure the Captain was concerned the picture would end up being sent somewhere to be made public falsely accusing FF's of not doing their job. I know you had no intention of doing that, just pointing out whay the boss was on "alert."

I agree with moss, the Captain needs to "unpucker" his butt and chill, the other guy needs to stop daydreaming, ha ha.

A few shots of them with the kids doing PR in front of the engine would have been cool. They really would have appreciated that and could possibly be something used on their website for publicity advertising what they do other than fight fires.

I wish I could have gotten pictures of them with the kids, but as luck would have it, they were pretty much done by the time I got there. And no, I didn't take offense to the Captain questioning me about it. I knew exactly why he was asking and I definitely had no intention of using it against them. I'm just wondering what they were saying about the shot after I gave it to them. If anything, they all had a good laugh that night.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

i think the guys to the right and left add to the picture, i really like this a lot

I'm going to have to agree with Mossman on this one. If you cropped it down to the center guy, the shot would have a good, deliberate feel to it; but as it is, the other two and the angle of the shot really make it look like any other snapshot of three people on a bench.

I understand what you're saying in your story, but none of that really translates out of the photo without your written/spoken description of the situation.

Though I rather enjoy the 'effective' signage of "espresso on a stick" in the background there!

I think the shot is superb. It's not posey at all like every other pic on here. It captures something that we don't see every day. Or someone for that matter. The 3 different poses from the 3 different men shows a little behind their characters. Only 1 of them likes the camera! Lol love this picture.

Snydremark wrote in post #9763182
I'm going to have to agree with Mossman on this one. If you cropped it down to the center guy, the shot would have a good, deliberate feel to it; but as it is, the other two and the angle of the shot really make it look like any other snapshot of three people on a bench.

I understand what you're saying in your story, but none of that really translates out of the photo without your written/spoken description of the situation.

Though I rather enjoy the 'effective' signage of "espresso on a stick" in the background there!

IMO with out the guy in the middle it would be a snap shot of guys on a bench but since he is "posing" it makes all the difference

And that's part of the fun of photography We all get something different out of it

Snydremark wrote in post #9763658
And that's part of the fun of photography We all get something different out of it

Indeed this is so true

Great portrait, love the idea of shoot firefighters not in their turnout gear!