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sgtwolvehttp://blog.burrillstrong.com/

Photo of the Variable Time Period, vol. 136

Newspaper shoot: The Great Chelsea Shopping Center Fire (5 May 2008).

Two weeks ago, I was sitting at home processing pictures when I heard sirens in Chelsea. Normally I don’t pay much attention to sirens in town, but this was different: there were more sirens than normal, and they just seemed to keep going. Eventually, when I remembered to turn on my cell phone, I found out what had happened: the Chelsea Shopping Center caught fire, and the fire was swift and dangerous enough to prompt several other area fire departments to respond. (Apparently it was a slow news day, too, because it also prompted the Detroit media to respond.) I wasn’t able to make it to the scene while the building was on fire, but I was able to get a few worthwhile shots of the damage.

The fire never broke through the roof, but smoke and water damaged seven businesses (one of which managed to reopen the next day!). The cause of the fire appears to have been an electrical malfunction.

Most importantly, nobody was injured.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the comics

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an online comic strip called What the Duck. It features a photographer who happens to be a duck (or a duck who happens to be a photographer), and the humor centers around the day-to-day adventures of the life of a working photographer. It makes me laugh a lot, mostly because there’s so much truth in the strips; some of the strips — like the one below — might seem a bit ridiculous, but believe me: they’re all based in reality. What the Duck is a hilariously accurate portrayal of the life of a photographer.

Three yards and a cloud of aliens

I was browsing through the referral URLs in my site statistics the other day when something caught my eye. I can pick out the spam links most of the time, but there was one page — just referencing an image on my site rather than directing real traffic to any page of mine — that I thought might be real. I clicked the link, and though the site proved to be spam for a media player, its seemingly random use of one particular image proved to be highly amusing.

Yes indeed, the fourth picture in that eclectic group of “brief encounter pictures” is a picture of legendary Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler signing my helmet, a picture I linked in my meager eulogy for Bo. And if you read that post, you may notice the reason the spambot grabbed that image: shortly before and shortly after the link to that picture, I describe the occasion as a brief encounter. So really, the strange part of this wasn’t the selection of the image, but instead was the ultimate use of the image.

What’s the lesson in all this? I have no idea. But since I’m usually annoyed by spam, it was nice to be amused by it for once.

Charity begins in Saline

A couple weeks ago, Artist Ashley told me about the Circle of Art, a fundraiser the Saline Picture Frame Company holds to benefit Food Gatherers, a local organization dedicated to feeding the hungry. The fundraiser asks local artists to donate works of art, which SPFC then auctions, and the proceeds from the auction — which begins online and ends at a party at the store — are donated to Food Gatherers. I liked the idea, so I submitted an 8×10 of a photograph from my trip to Dayton last summer:

The photograph is now on the SPFC website, and bidding is now open, so go check it out and place a bid! Do it soon, because online bidding ends this Saturday (17 May). Come on … you know you want to own a real print of a real Burrill Strong photograph and help out Food Gatherers at the same time. It’s for a good cause! (And I don’t mean my artistic ego! Although that may be a good cause, too.)

Also, I can’t neglect to mention Artist Ashley’s piece. I’ve seen a similar piece of hers in person, so I can confidently say that this piece is 100% certified awesome. See, I’m giving you a choice here: if you’re not so much into photography but you like crazy-cool fine art, you can bid on Ashley’s piece. There’s something for everyone!

So, who wants to bid on my photograph and on Ashley’s piece? You want to bid on my photograph and on Ashley’s piece!