December 30, 2000

It snowed yesterday. I mean it really snowed. The tv weathermen had been warning us about a potential blizzard in the Tri-state area of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut for almost a week. There were two lows heading our way and they were supposed to meet in our area late Friday night and create havoc. The early predictions were for a foot of snow, but that became 12 to 18 inches or more as the fronts drew closer.

Well, la-de-dah. Not a problem for me. I'm off on Saturday and Sunday. Let someone else shlep through the raging storm to provide pictures for our readers who will be home, snug and warm. In my forty years at Newsday, this would be the first blizzard, snow storm, hurricane or Nor'Easter that I would miss. It didn't matter what my days off were throughout my career, I always seemed to be on duty when the storms hit.

And, I have been through some nasty ones, let me tell you. I guess that it was sometime in the '60's that we had two real bad snowstorms in the same year. The snow started before noon and we were out in the thick of it shooting plows and traffic and people coping with the drifting snow. We didn't have company cars then and there were no 4 wheel drives or even front wheel drives. Some of us had snow tires or chains and we did the best we could. But, it was tough. And the snow would coat my eyeglasses and my camera lenses. So, I learned to carry a lot of paper towel squares in my coat pocket. In both of those blizzards, I didn't get home for three days. I worked 3 PM to 11 PM and by the time I finally got back to the office with my film, most of the roads home were shut down due to stalled cars and spin-outs so that the plows couldn't do their job. Some of those roads stayed closed for about a week before tow trucks could get them out of the drifts that formed over them.

We had some pretty astute people in management back then. They would book a block of rooms at a nearby motel and those of us who were stranded were able to sleep in a warm bed and have a good meal. And drink. Lots of drink. We were a rowdy bunch of newspukes back then. We would drift in from the storm as we finished our shifts and strip off our wet clothing in our rooms. I had learned to keep a change of clothes in the trunk of my car. Maybe a quick shower and then off to the wonderful restaurant that was located at this motel. I would find some other photographers or reporters at some tables and I would join them. First a drink to drive the chill out of my bones and then a hearty dinner. And all of this was signed off to Newsday. Afterwards, there would be more drinks and then we would hear about someone who had gone out and brought back some bottles of scotch or whatever and we would join them in their room for more partying. Ah, the good old days.

The next morning, it didn't matter what your shift was, who ever was able to stagger in for breakfast was the first one back on the road to shoot more weather clean-up. And, after work, back to the motel and more eating and drinking.

I don't recall too many storms of that stature, after that. Oh, we had a couple of hefty snowfalls. Once they couldn't get enough rooms at that nice motel and so they booked whatever they could find. I and some other photographers ended up at some fleabag near the raceway and the clerk was astounded to hear that we planned to spend the whole night. "I guess you'll be wanting clean sheets, then," he said.

One time, when I was the Night Photo Editor, we didn't finish up until late and all the rooms were filled so we slept in the office on desks and the one couch that we had. Oh, my achin' back.

After that, they decided that it might behoove them to let a pair of photographers ride together so that if the car got stuck, there were two people to help get it unstuck. And it worked to their advantage, as far as getting better pictures. Let's face it. If you're alone and on some parkway looking for spun out or stalled motorists, you aren't likely to pull off the road, onto some unplowed median to photograph someone stuck in a drift, if it means that you're gonna be stuck, too. The usual plan was for the shooter to hop out and the driver stays on the road and gets off at the next exit to double back to pick up the shooter.

Usually, Dick Yarwood and I would team up. We lived about two miles apart and we worked the same shift. We would alternate driving and shooting. And we had the whole thing down to a science. We had both been shooting snow storms for a long time and we knew exactly what the paper wanted. It was a formula thing. So, we would get together at about 7:30 AM and the first place we would go would be the nearby Long Island Railroad station in Northport. It would usually be packed with people who would have normally driven into NY City. And, since it was snowing, there was a good shot to be made with a long lens as the people on the packed platform peered into the murk as the lights of the approaching commuter train came into view. After that, it was a quick run north to the Long Island Expressway. You could get a good shot from an overpass of the long line of headlights of jammed up cars trying to get to work. And maybe a shot of the State Dept. of Transportation plows clearing the road. Then it was time for breakfast. We would find a diner and have some bacon and eggs and toast and lots of coffee. By then it was time to find school kids on their way to school, unless school had been canceled. And maybe some home owner digging their car out of the snow, or clearing a driveway with a snow blower. All formula stuff. Editors want to see people coping. If the schools were closed, we crisscrossed the neighborhoods, looking for kids making snowmen or sledding down slopes. There was always a chance that you'd run into someone on cross country skis or maybe a snowmobile, traveling down a snow choked street. Sometime around now we would have several rolls of film of everything the paper could use and we would coop at some Dunkin Donuts until it was time to head back to the barn. Well, that's not a bad way to operate. And we always had plenty of laughs.

The next phase was for the paper to hire drivers with four wheel drive vehicles. It wasn't as much fun, but it was efficient. 

Well, now here we are facing another big snow. But, I was off. Or so I thought. On Thursday I was asked if I would be available, if needed. I said that I could work some in the morning. They said that this would be fine and I could stay in my neighborhood and shoot some stuff.

By now, the latest forecasts indicated that the storm wouldn't hit until sometime Saturday morning and it would peak in mid-afternoon. That morning I woke up at about 4 AM and peeked out my bedroom window. These huge white snowflakes were tumbling out of the sky and the ground and bushes were already coated with several inches of the white stuff. I went back to sleep.
 

I didn't get out of bed until almost 8 AM and the snow had tapered off a little. It was still coming down heavy but the flakes were smaller. I dunno. Is that a good thing? Anyway, I got dressed and got my boots and gloves and hat with the ear flaps.  I looked out of my livingroom window and saw a goodly number of birds trying to get to my bird feeder which had snow piled on top. I had my cameras in the apartment. I grabbed a camera and started shooting from the comfort of my apartment. That's fine, but soon it was time to venture out into the storm. I just took one D-1 digital body and a wide angle and a tele which I stuffed into a coat pocket and out I went. The wind was driving the snow and the world was white. I made a couple of shots up the street in front of the apartments. The line of cars on both sides looked like white hillocks as snow covered them from top to bottom. I hiked up to the main road and shot a few slow moving cars with their headlights just barely penetrating the snow and gloom. There was a man walking along the side of the road, carrying a package. Great! A human being, coping. I shot him. He turned out to be walking home after hiking to a deli to get some egg nog for his New Year's Eve party. On my way home, I saw a neighbor trying to clear the snow from her car and I made some shots of that. Then I had breakfast in my own kitchen.

Here's where it all comes together. We are in the digital age, my friends. Normally, I would have had to dig my own car out of the snow and head to the office to process my film. Ha ha! Not anymore. I cranked up my laptop, plugged my phone line into the built in modem, put the flash card into the built in reader slot and called up my photos. I selected what I thought were the best of the bunch and made whatever tweaks that were required. I added my caption information and set my computer to dial the right numbers. Then I called up the FTP program and dragged the selected photos into it and voila! My photos were being transmitted back to my office while I sipped another cup of coffee. Later, I called up the server at Newsday that holds the pictures, and saw that my photos had indeed arrived. I called the Photo Editor and told them what to look for and I was done. It's magic.

The snow ended earlier than expected and we wound up with about eight inches. Further north and west they got 18 or better. I noticed some activity in the courtyard of my garden apartment. People were building snowmen and having snowball fights. Does it get any better than this? I grabbed a coat and a camera and went out to record this and then poured myself a vodka and orange juice and transmitted a couple of more shots. It just keeps getting better and better.
 

None of my photos made the paper, today. Hey, that happens. I had some decent stuff, but so did the rest of the staff. But, I did what I had to do, and it's never been easier. I love this job.

Dick Kraus
newspix@optonline.net