The Township 5: Video

Olmsted Township Fire Department from dlayphoto on Vimeo.

I couldn't just sit around and watch this happen. I couldn't watch 5 guys get laid off because the powers that be were sacrificing safety for financial solvency. I couldn't watch 5 guys go through what I went through nearly a year ago and get fired, laid off, or whatever buzzword is happening to denote that you are no longer working where you work. It was a travesty in my eyes to just sit back and watch it happen, especially because some of these guys were some of the first firefighters I ever shot, while on-scene for a live fire training. I had to do something.

So when I called and asked to come out and get some photos, Olmsted Township Fire welcomed David Lay and I with open arms. Our mission was to show what would happen when 5 guys were no longer there to keep the fires out and get the sick to the hospital. I was shooting the stills, David was shooting the video. We wanted to show you the faces of the men leaving, because they are not just a number on a community's spread sheet, they are a person, with a family, and with a major mission to serve the community regardless of the politics involved with their employment.

Take a look at the video, share it, because this is a problem in not only the small community of Olmsted Township, but all over the United States. Awareness is what will save us. 

The Township 5

Drew Bacik, one of five firefighters losing their jobs effective April 1st.

Emergencies don't care about manpower at the fire station before they tear into your lives like a size 21 scalpel. Emergencies don't care that your Board of Trustees in your small township just cut 5 firefighters from your fire department in addition to the 2 vacancies that exist before they burn your house down at 2 in the morning while Miss Smith across down is in full cardiac arrest. Emergencies don't pick a good time to happen; they just do and when you find yourself as the main character in the horror movie of life, you expect someone to come help you when you pick up the phone and call 911. 

In Olmsted Township there's a very dangerous situation happening. The fire department is facing cuts as the Board of Trustees try and balance the books. If you ask the fire department you'll hear that the Board of Trustees are being unreasonable and are raging war on public safety. If you listen to the Board of Trustees you'll hear that this is just a cut to balance their budget and the fire department has forced them to do this because they will not make certain concessions. 

I'm not here to argue one side or the other, but just give you the facts. The only part of the Township that is facing cuts to balance the budget is the fire department and police department. Thankfully the police department and the board of trustees have been able to work something out to stave off their cuts to the end of the year, but the fire department hasn't been so lucky. 

The fire department has lost a chief and letters have gone out to 5 firefighters that they will also lose their jobs. But what does this mean? This means that for 10 sqaure miles, there could only be 3 guys on average at the station to help nearly 13,000 residents without a leader filling the white hat. As far as call volume, at an annual rate of 2200 calls a year, that is an average of 6 calls a day. So there is a very real possibility that the 3 guys covering the station will have to choose which call is most important to respond to; and who knows how fast another fire station from another community could respond, and if they are even available.  

This is a very potentially dangerous situation for not only the residents, but also the fire department. Hopefully 11th hour negotiations will be fruitful and are able to save these 5 firefighter's jobs, because if they don't, staffing levels will drop to a very dangerous level.  We all know emergencies don't care about staffing levels before they ruin your day.

Update 3/28/2013 8:30am: Olmsted Township Board of Trustees, last night, announced that they are rescinding the resolution for layoffs in the fire department. Trustee member Scott Ross read the statement before a large crowd of community members and area firefighters. The statement said, "Negotiations with the Firefighters Local 2845 have made progress and they are on the verge of an agreement."

Let's hope that this is the start of a healing process for the community of Olmsted Township and a pathway to bring Olmsted Township Fire Department to full staffing very very soon. 

Unexpected Value

image: Semantics are Important

I have been listening to more and more podcasts since I moved my AppleTV from the bedroom to the living room. The AppleTV just makes it easy to listen to podcasts while I do things around the house and most of the time when there is a  podcast I really like, I listen to it like families used to listen to radio during prime time.

Yesterday, little did I know, Gilgamesh Taggett, creator of Semantics are Important slipped in, at the end of his podcast, an unexpected plug about a short film I did for my wife. His words were very kind and I still can't get over that someone, outside my immediate circle of friends, took something from the whole thing, but what made it even more special was that it came at the end of an hour long talk on value.

After the weird day I had, it felt good to listen to a podcast that I could relate to and at the end, came with an endorsement for work that I've done.

Semantics are Important (Vulgar Ramblings of a Deranged Mind) uploads every Monday. Episodes average around an hour. It isn't for everyone, but I find that listening to him gets my brain working. Sometimes I agree with the stuff he says, sometimes I don't. I invite you and challenge you to listen to this week's episode on Value. You can find him on iTunes by searching for "Semantics are Important".

Sentenced

My first post on this blog was in reference to the shooting in Chardon a year ago accompanied by the above photo. It was a terrible scene in Chardon on the February day, but in the end something was inherently different about this school shooting from others. The shooter was captured, plead guilty, and convicted. Yesterday he was sentenced to three life sentences for killing Daniel Parmertor, Russel King Jr., and Demitrius Hewlin in cold blood.

The court room was a mess and the judge, according to an official statement, didn't see the shirt he was wearing or stop the lewd behavior which was meant to shock and disrespect the families of these boys who are now with huge holes in their hearts.

Little has been said about the kids who were killed other that they were young boys who died way too young. But if you ask people about who this killer was they can tell you over and over his life story. Where he came from, what kind of trouble his family was in, and what kind of monster this person was.

The scary part about this monster is that, like the Joker in Batman, some people just want to see the world burn. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do. They are just monsters and yet, we can't stop talking about them.

The bigger story that is often missed is that the three boys who passed away saved more lives than their killer took from this world. Through organ donation they were able to save others. It was a brave thing their families did and a decision not to be made lightly. But from 3 victims, 16 were saved with their life saving organs. Finding a silver lining in a tragedy is tough, but Daniel, Demitrius, and Russel did not die in vein and their legacy lives on, in the bodies of the ones they saved.

View from Engine 4

In Cleveland St. Patrick's Day is a party that would rival any city in terms of pure debauchery. It is a weird family party mixed with binge drinking and green everything. This all culminates into a large parade which last multiple hours through the heart of Downtown Cleveland. In other words, this is a bar's black Friday if I may be so bold. The way to clear out the coolers of old beer that was left over from the winter and what better way to mask the skunked flavor than to color it green?

Like many people I often relive this day in pictures the next day. Seeing what people saw and listening to stories from the day, often in a haze of a hangover. But rarely do I ever see a well thought about picture. Only recently did I start to follow some great photographers and they always put out great photos, but they are often from the sidelines. Very artful compositions, but always from the curb looking into the parade. 

So when I was invited on a ride with Engine 4 in the parade I jumped at the opportunity to bring sweet photos from inside the parade. I hung off the running boards of the rig, I stood on the roof, and even laid down on the bed, just to get interesting poses. 

The one I loved the most was hanging off the driver's side running board, holding onto a rail, leaning out to get a good shot of "BROWN" on the side of the rig and yet, capture the crowd all in the same shot. Some of them fell short, but some came out well. 

I am proud of this set.

Sale

I did a Fire Museum Flea Market a little bit ago, and I have some overstock I need to get sold, because like most of the free world, I have bills to pay.

So here is what you need to do. 

1. Go to my Flickr Set 

2. Select a photo you want

3. email acgercak [at] gmail [dot] com and/or tweet me the name of the photo

4. Payment to Paypal (use same email as above and include shipping address)

5. Sit back and wait for your print to come

Print Details:

All prints are 8x10 printed on matte photo paper and matted on 11x14 stock. All prints are signed and dated on the back using archive quality, acid free ink.

Prices: 

Matted: $20.00 (only 5 4 more left)

Print Only: $15.00 (only 9 left)

Shipping: $2.99

Really easy.

I am always down to sell anything to you, but these prints are all ready to go, no waiting, no messing around. 

Dear Jennifer

Funds were running short when I came up with the idea to give my wife something you couldn't buy in a store. Our story about how we reconnected and later got married and had kids was a brilliant story about how love, no matter what obstacles are thrown in front of it, will conquer all.

With memories fading, things getting lost, I figured it was a good time to get this story on the record, told by the people that were there. This is also a tale of how hard my wife works, and how her life has prepared her for her next big challenge. 

This culminated on Christmas Day when I played this short documentary for Jenn. 

Passions

Maui, HI on an all expenses paid trip courtesy of being a great banker

On a recent phone call with a friend something came up that I challenged. Like most creative folks, there is what they love to do, their passion, their creative work and there is what they do for money. A lot of creative folks have a way to make money, a 9 to 5 job, and they have what they align themselves with.

If you were to ask me what I did, I would say that I am a photographer. I am not the best photographer and to some calling myself a photographer is blasphemy because, gasp, I might on occasion take a photo in auto-mode. Oh the humanity. But I get the most creative satisfaction in taking my camera out and capturing what I capture. In reality, on paper, I am a banker. I have more combined experience as a banker than I do any other profession. I have worked in banking and finance for close to a decade. At one point I would have called myself a banker loudly and proudly, despite the fact that I also would occasionally get the photo gig.

I was a banker when I was hitting on all cylinders, making things happen, had creative freedom to go after the clients I thought had more potential and not because they were geographically close to where my office was. In 2010, my first year at my last bank, I was pounding it out. To some looking in from the sidelines, it would have appeared I took a relaxed approach to the job, that I didn't take it seriously, and early on (like the first week I was there) I had people who were subordinates call HR for various reasons. I was always relaxed because I was confident, I was making sales, and my revenue sheet was adding up, and complaints about me were superficial like the time I high-fived a customer who happened to be 85 years old. I wasn't the "banker" most people imagined and because of the age disparity I might have rubbed people the wrong way. Through all the growing pains of a new type of manager my assistant manager and I were making bonus dollars and were at the top of most rankings. I did all this without a direct supervisor, because a competitor scooped him up. I had no one up my butt telling me what to do or looking at minutia like papers in a binder designed to create busy work or force someone, who is not comfortable with that type of organization, to comply with what they [the boss] are comfortable with. I had creative freedom, I was making things happen, and most of all, I was happy. I was a banker and proud to say it. 

I was at the top, the Pinnacle you would say. I loved the rewards of going on an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii with my wife and coming home with $1100 more than when I left. 

That was the only time I would have said I was a banker. I was creatively satisfied because I was allowed to be creative in my approach to things. Then they finally hired a manager to manage us and the hammer came down. Everything I hated happened. A prescribed way of doing things. I wasn't happy and it showed. Some big companies have a way of turning their genuinely creative workforce in boring lifeless robots; but I digress. In the end I was told that I am no longer a banker, at least for this bank. 

But if you say that you are one thing, like a musician or a photographer or a film maker, and you have a job that you make money doing like banking or real estate or landscaping and you are the best at that, and you tell me you don't love what you are doing, I say bull crap. 

To be the best at something you have to love it. Whether or not you believe it, you love it. To be the best takes focus, it takes time, and why would you commit that much time to being the best if you hated the job? Money only satisfies so far.

For what ever reason creative people feel the need to lessen their passion for their paying gig in order to bolster their creative street cred. You can be a musician and the best insurance agent. You can be a photographer and an amazing banker. You can be one of the best artists and graphic designers in the world and still be one of the best all around utility-players at a restaurant. And yes, you can like both without losing your creative credibility. 

Say What?

From my most recent trip to NYC. Ladder 10 in the Engine 10 bay (if you saw how the street looked you would understand)

So this week has been interesting to say the least.

It really started Tuesday when I got a call back about a job I had been interviewing for. It was actually a job that I really really want. I mean it would have been life changing. I mean it would have afforded me the opportunity to not only get some job satisfaction but also work with some of the coolest, most cutting edge minds in Cleveland. The call back was not what I wanted to hear. I was the first runner-up. What does that mean? Ask Miss New York from Miss America 2012. I am sure she'll say it was an honor to be there and she came so far, but in reality she is probably going to go home and eat her feelings. Surprising what you find at the bottom of a gallon of ice cream.

So what did I do? I ate my feelings and all the while my mom kept telling me, there is something better, there is something better. It is hard to tell yourself that honestly as many times as I have. But her words seemed prophetic once again.

In my disappointment from my phone call I decided to write a treatment for a book idea I've had rattling around in my head for two years. I wrote out the idea, the whole thing, on a macro level. I mean on paper it is a great idea. I shot it off to a literary agent in the mythical land of New York City and low and behold, I got a response. It was a short three line response.

"Sweet idea. Make it happen. Call me when you're done."

What? Call me when you're done? What does that mean? So I did what any other unemployed, trying to make something happen guy would do. Figure out how to make it happen.

So I went to my wife and told her this big idea. Instead of laughing in my face and saying, "Dream on dude." she did something all the more intriguing. "So how do we do this?"

Say what? I was expecting her to talk me out of it honestly. Don't do it. Too risky. Too much time away from my family. You know all the things your wife is supposed to say. Well she didn't and as a matter of fact she said, "How much money is it going to take and where are we going to get it?"

A very valid question. But before we get ahead of ourselves I needed to shoot off some e-mails to some other folks who I would NEED to have on board in order to help me get this whole thing done. More of a logistical piece than anything, but also creatively they are wonder kids. So I shot off an email to them, expecting a 'don't do it' response. I got a much different email back, they were into it too and were able to show me a few barriers I would have never thought about. What's better; they have ideas on how to get through them, or at least they are going to try.

The wheels are in motion, even if it is just a little bit.

My mother said, there is something better. If this is it, sweet. If it isn't hell at least I had one hell of a week. Of course this could all change when I meet with the folks we are leasing our house from. Hopefully that is a good meeting. I am sure it will be, they are cool folks.