Spot News Update

Oconee County Firefighters walk through steam as they put out a fire in Clarence T. Maxey's 1985 Dodge Ram pickup truck outside his house on Hog Mountain Road in Watkinsville on Thursday, November 20, 2008. Maxey said that he received a phone call from a neighbor asking if he was burning leaves in his yard and stepped outside to find his pickup truck on fire. No one was injured in the small blaze.

This blog is called f/8 and be there because thats what i do, thats what I'm passionate about. Breaking, spot news photography. Confusing situations and being right there as the events unfold.



Victoria Huynh cries after she struck a six-year-old boy while he was riding a bike while the boy's father Murphy Lawrence, right, walks the bicycle away on Thursday, November 20, 2008 in Athens. Huynh was exiting Tower Place Plaza, across the street from Charmar Flower and Gifts, onto Gaines School Road when six-year-old Murphy Matt road his bicycle in front of Huynh's Honda CR-V while riding his bicycle ahead of his family. Huynh struck the rear tire of Matt's bicycle, knocking him off. Matt was not injured.

Last week was "Spot News Thursday" as i caught a car fire and a girl who hit a kid on a bicycle. (The child was ok and the photo is more powerful than what happened) Tuesday, i caught a fully involved structure fire.

The hardest part of Spot news is getting to the scene. Just because news is happening, you still have to obey the traffic laws, despite the fact that adrenaline is flowing and every bone in your being is saying that it's okay do drive 80 down the backstreets. You can't do that. Even when you see the smoke rising from 8 miles away, you can't fly down the roads.... generally because the prevailing traffic won't let you.

You have to know the streets and what will get you there for the shot. You have to rely on every driving instinct you have to get to the scene and once you get there, you have to size up the situation and making photos fast. Its all instinct and experience, knowing how far you can go without endangering yourself or someone else.



Jackson County Firefighters work to knock down a fire that completely destroyed a house in the 8800 block of Jefferson River Road in South Jackson County on Tuesday, November 25, 2008. Firefighters from South Jackson County, Arcade and Jefferson responded to the multi-alarm fire.