“You must have the coolest job!”
Friends say this to me a lot.
I shoot news video.
Sometimes the story behind the pictures you see is less than “cool”. Sometimes it’s downright dirty!
Last Sunday I was preparing to barbeque for my family when I got a call of a plane crash. Other people get phone calls where they say, “hello, how are you?” mine say ‘plane crash’, car crash, fire’.
I headed out but not knowing exactly where it was, made several wrong turns, and finally ended up at the end of a very long blueberry field. I could see flashing lights through the crop so I grabbed my tripod and camera and set out across the dusty tractor ruts in search of what I hoped would be a story with a happy ending. To me those are always the best ones.
I met a policeman who greeted me with “don’t go any farther than here!” Believe me, I would rather be with my barbeque.
“You got it!” I replied and noticed a concrete block that looked just perfect to set up the tripod and film the action.
There were seven ambulances and an air ambulance helicopter already there so I did what I’ve done for over thirty years. I videotaped everything that moved. Firemen scurrying with their hose lines, paramedics carrying stretchers, some empty, some with people on them. I shot it all.
Then I saw more of the concrete blocks like the one I was standing on. These ones were stacked up four high. I thought, “If I climb up there I’ll have a great view of everything. The action and the plane!”
I wasn’t sure I could make it but I thought if I took it one step at a time I might be able to scale them. I climbed up the first block and put my tripod on the next block ahead of me then grabbed the camera and brought it up to the block that I was on. I repeated this until I was up on the top one, covered with grey cement-like dirt. The view was just as I had imagined.
I set up my tripod in anticipation of what should have been an excellent picture of the scene below. Just then I heard, “Hey you!” Those are words you get very used to in news. I thought if I ignored them maybe they would have been directed at someone else. They weren’t.
I looked over and the policeman I had met earlier was looking up at me from the bottom of my perch. “This is private property and the owner wants you out now!” My heart sank.
At least there is someone now to help me down, I thought. “Okay, I said.” Could you help me get down?”
He sighed, “Yeah, okay”.
“I’ll just hand you down the tripod so I don’t fall” I said. He took the tripod from me.
“Thanks very much”, I said, but he had already headed off to do more police work.
There wasn’t much else I could do, but then I met a man who he said he had some pictures of the plane before it had crashed.
“Could I use them in our story?” I asked.
“Sure”, he said
As we headed over to my truck, I saw a ditch, full of dirt, which would save me quite a bit of time if I crossed over it. I stepped down and was instantly up to my knees in porridge-like wet mud. This was not good!
I lifted the tripod ahead of me onto solid ground and did the same with camera. A good cameraman always saves his equipment first! Then I pulled each foot out of the mud, shoes dripping, and crawled up onto dry ground.
“Don’t go that way!” I advised him.
“Are you okay? He asked.
“Just fine,” I replied.
By now I had reached my truck and was stowing the gear away. I shook my feet to rid myself of the extra mud, and sent the tape back to the station for that evening’s newscast. I phoned home.
“ Could you have a pair of jeans and some socks in the garage for me when I get home?” I asked my wife.
“Why?” she asked
“I fell in a ditch” I replied.
“Again?” she said. We’ve been married a long time.
When I got home I changed in the garage and barbequed the steaks. They were delicious.
Pretty cool job, huh?
Oh, by the way, the news story about the plane crash was about 45 seconds long on the news that night.
Cameraman John McCarron and his trusty three legged friend
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