I do not have one of those 9 to 5, Monday to Friday kind of jobs. My job in retailing has me in any day or off any day, week to week. And though I start the day at the same time most days, what time I leave each day can vary quite a bit. But when I leave at a normal hour I often find myself on the same bus home as my neighbor Amy, and such was the case today.
As we yakked the time away on the bus ride home, our trip through my nature gallery of shots she hadn't seen came to a halt as our bus made the turn onto Jersey street. We noticed the bus staying extra long at the bus stop, heard the commotion from many passengers and saw many more than usual getting off at this stop.
Looking out the front of the bus we saw the snarl of traffic, and both of us felt we probably could walk home the rest of the way before it cleared up enough to let any vehicles get through (how right we were). As we walked down the block we saw what was causing the traffic bottleneck back near Crescent ave. Loads of emergency vehicles so we knew something bad didn't just happen, something colossally bad happened.
We saw a billow of black smoke rising up that could be seen from blocks away, police helicopters overhead, and when we reached Benziger, huge flames engulfing homes on the right side near the back side of the block.
Grabbing a few so so shots with my cellphone (oh how I hate taking picture with that lousy contraption), I quickened my pace to get home and grab my real camera gear.
Having trouble keeping up and knowing well that I have an itchy camera finger Amy told me to go on ahead and grab my camera equipment.
Sweeping up my camera one of my smallest camera bags and the 3 lenses I knew I'd get the most use of for this type of assignment, I flew back out of the house still in my shorts and sandals to see what shots I could get.
