{"id":1945,"date":"2018-03-19T07:34:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T11:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/?p=1945"},"modified":"2018-03-20T20:47:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T00:47:31","slug":"people-and-their-stories-firefighters-when-theyre-not-saving-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/people-and-their-stories-firefighters-when-theyre-not-saving-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"People and Their Stories: Firefighters, When They’re Not Saving Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Some people hate to be photographed. And some, like the firefighters at a local fire station, will dress up, drag out all their equipment, pose draped up and down over the fire trucks, and entertain you for a whole afternoon. As long as it\u2019s quiet. No emergency calls.<\/span><\/p>\n

The assignment in my photography class was to make environmental portraits. That means you take pictures of your subjects in the location where they spend a lot of time, so you can show what their lives are like. An environmental portrait is supposed to tell you something about the person. But, because I post my pictures all over social media, for my particular project I have set challenging limitations for keeping the identities of my subjects hidden. Anonymous, non-identifiable portraits. Not easy when each helmet and truck is labeled. I hesitated to ask my main question, What did you lose and what did you find, as the ID tags hanging from every single article of clothing suggested this was a major issue. So later, in Photoshop, I blurred out as many identifiers as I could. Also, I photo-shopped layers of added texture or fabric, to obscure the firefighters\u2019 faces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s it like to save a life?\u201d I managed to ask as I shot them showing off their hatchets and hoses. They spoke of the scariness, the awesomeness, and adrenaline rushes. These people had seen a lot of loss. Maybe even some close scrapes with death. But here they were whooping up a shower of exhilaration. I, too, was feeling intense excitement just from their enthusiasm. So much so, that I forgot to record their answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, after I rubbed out their facial features, I was amazed at how much character could come out of the remaining stands of heavy canvas and rescue equipment. Firefighters taking a break on a quiet afternoon. When they\u2019re not out saving lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If I were to make an environmental portrait of you, where would it take place?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people hate to be photographed. And some, like the firefighters at a local fire station, will dress up, drag out all their equipment, pose draped up and down over the fire trucks, and entertain you for a whole afternoon. As long as it’s quiet. No emergency calls. The assignment in my photography class was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1432],"tags":[1512,1513],"class_list":["post-1945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1432","tag-people-and-their-stories-firefighters","tag-when-theyre-not-saving-lives"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t