Updates from the Anals of Shitwork (warning: heavy graphics)

[orionid]

Errr…. annals of Shiftwork. No, wait, I think I had it right the first time.

So, I’ve been working 72 hours a week for the last month and a half or so, and it’s going to continue. Here’s some cliff notes of things I’ve missed out on posting.

There’s a cool building just outside Culpeper, VA. It’s the Library of Congress’s Audio/Video Annex. You know, where they store the original recording of such culturally significant things as Tupac’s “Dear Mama.” Occasionally they have public showing of the old classic movies from the vault. Apparently they are closed to the public the rest of the time.

Archives by Orionid, on Flickr

After I decided that 7AM and overcast wasn’t the best lighting to shoot it, I headed back to my truck when I saw this:

Rapier Fin by Orionid, on Flickr

Rapier Tag by Orionid, on Flickr

And started taking some snaps. That’s when security rolled by on a golf cart. Long story short, I was polite, he was professional. I found out they were closed to the public, he found out I just got out of the navy and now worked at the power plant down the way. He asked if I wanted to take some more shots, I chose not to overstay my welcome even though I wanted to, and left.

A bee from wild things. I’ve been stalking them on dry(er) mornings to learn their patterns before season and get them used to my smell. There’s a monster buck out there somewhere.

Doe by Orionid, on Flickr

This was at 300mm while ground-stalking. Hopefully, the next time I see her or her beau will be from 20 feet up through a 7×35 rifle scope.

And I’ve been keeping my camera in my truck for things like this:

Fog of War by Orionid, on Flickr

and this:

Electric Angels by Orionid, on Flickr

You may see similar to that last one in tonight’s thread.

Oh yeah, Edited to add:

First, there’s the email chain:

From: julesVphoto
No real name given
Subject: Michigan T-Shirt request for ESPN.com

Hi, I’m a photo editor with ESPN.com (I’m contacting you via my personal flickr account as I didn’t see any other contact info on your page) and we have a Rick Reilly column running tomorrow on offensive t-shirts in sports. I noticed you had a photo on your stream of a fan wearing an anti-michigan shirt and i’d like to use it for the piece.

this is the image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/3415743405/

Let me know if we could use the image, if possible please let me know as soon as you can as the story runs Friday 9/22/11.
You can reach me at julianne.varacchi@espn.com

Thank you,
Julianne

To: julesVphoto
No real name given
Subject: Re: Michigan T-Shirt request for ESPN.com

Julianne,

You may use the photo for the ESPN.com piece. Please credit David M. Buckwalter.

The photo was taken at the Penn State homecoming game hosting Michigan on 10/18/2008.

Many thanks,
David

From: julesVphoto
No real name given
Subject: Re: Michigan T-Shirt request for ESPN.com

Hi David, thank you for getting back to me. The editor for the Reilly column would actually like to our photo team to manipulate the photo a bit by blurring out the face of the fan, and changing the text of the shirt to say “Ann Arbor is Wonderful” to illustrate the new rules regarding appropriate clothing that are being implemented by college football. Would that be ok with you? We will still credit you for the photo. Would you be able to email me the hi-res version of the photo if you have it? Thank you.
-Julianne

j…deleted…@espn.com

To: julesVphoto
No real name given
Subject: Re: Michigan T-Shirt request for ESPN.com

I’m okay with blurring the face, but I’d rather leave the shirt in its original text/context.

If you’re still interested, I can send you the full resolution when I get home from work tomorrow at 7am.

Thanks,
David

Julianne,

Here is the full resolution of the photo. As I said earlier on Flickr, I will allow the blurring of faces, however the proposed change to the text on the shirt changes then entire context of the photo far too much for my liking. I must kindly disprove that request, unless you run it side-by-side with the original to make the comparison.

Regards,
David

Hi David, thank you so much for your response and getting me the image so quickly. After a discussion with the story editor, he’s decided to go a different direction and use file art of a West Virginia fan wearing a more appropriate shirt. Thank you again.

Hi again David, sorry for the runaround on this, but the original editor who decided to forego using the image as is was trumped by Rick Reilly?s take on it- so, we will in fact be running the image as is with no alterations to your photo.

Thank you. The story should be up here later today:
http://espn.go.com/espn/rickreilly/

Then, there’s this:
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7008222/rick-reilly-jersey-rules
And the best part is, he blamed it on Ohio State fans.

[CauseISaidSo]

All lovely shots, orionid. The archive is a cool building. Love the powerlines, I’d definitely use that or similar tonight.

Regarding the doe, I don’t hunt myself, but all of my hunting buddies say the does are better meat, less gamier than the bucks. I’m sure you already knew that, though.

[CauseISaidSo]

Damn, dude, flickr’s really paying off for you publicity-wise! Congrats again!

[lokisbong]

Very cool pictures . Even cooler is your Ann Arbor is a Whore picture being used as it was taken! Congrats are indeed in order.

[fluffybunny]

Hey Orion,

Congrats on your exposure and exposures, you do good work. I read in some other thread that you “got out” recently. How long were you in?

[orionid]

Thanks, all.

fluffybunny – I was a bubblehead for just under ten years.

[fluffybunny]

Thanks, all.

fluffybunny – I was a bubblehead for just under ten years.

I did 4 on a boomer. That was enough. You like working commercial?

[orionid]

So far, but I haven’t gotten a good impression of “normal” life yet. I went I&C Maintence (full time RC Div Maintence, basically) instead of Ops. Normal schedule is 6-4 mon-thurs with four night every nine weeks and “on-call” every 6-9 weekends. After the earthquake, we went into a dual outage, including a planned refuel of unit 2, so we’ve been in shiftwork since I got my badge pushed through. 72 hours a week, double OT and the pay’s not bad to begin with. Obviously Ops pays more, but a) it’s shiftwork, b) it’s union, c) it’s salaried, I think I made the right choice for quality of life. I do have buddies that went Ops at other commercial plants (2 SRO, 2 RO, 1 NLO) and they all love it.

Were you aft, cone, or ‘tween?

[fluffybunny]

I was an ELT, class 8307 (yeah, old timer). Did contract nuke worker for a few years and settled here near Dallas at Comanche Peak. We are in a single unit outage so I understand the long hours. Probably the wrong time to (quit sniffing glue,…) become involved in Farktography (I’m working 6 nights), but I realized this was a good place to motivate me to make more pictures and learn from people with more talent.

I&C is a good path. Hang on to that double time, we lost ours years ago and the best we get is time and a half. It will be hard to find a “normal life” as a shift worker but at least you can go home every night and sleep in your own bed.

How long have you been behind the lens?

[Kestrana]

Well fortunately this is the last week on shift (for now) although it’s not clear when the NRC will allow them to restart the reactors.

[orionid]

I was an ELT, class 8307 (yeah, old timer). Did contract nuke worker for a few years and settled here near Dallas at Comanche Peak. We are in a single unit outage so I understand the long hours. Probably the wrong time to (quit sniffing glue,…) become involved in Farktography (I’m working 6 nights), but I realized this was a good place to motivate me to make more pictures and learn from people with more talent.

I&C is a good path. Hang on to that double time, we lost ours years ago and the best we get is time and a half. It will be hard to find a “normal life” as a shift worker but at least you can go home every night and sleep in your own bed.

How long have you been behind the lens?

Nice.

As far as the lens goes, that really depends on what your definition of “behind” is. I’ve been shooting since I was four or five, but I don’t really consider much quality to be in the box full of 110 snapshots of my sandbox, treehouse, or cat’s ass. I got my dad’s old Pentax MG in 1999 and started learning about those weird things like “aperture” and “focus.” Then in 2001, when I left for the navy, I got a digital p&s and promptly forgot everything I had learned. Before my second deployment, I decided it was time for a dSLR (2006), and decided it was time to learn to use it properly in 2008, strangely about the time I joined Farktography. And I’ve been growing ever since. Got back into film about two years back, and repairing antique cameras shortly thereafter. I’m also a huge DIY hardware geek, which leads to some eat projects, and some pretty spectacular failures (like my scanner-to-camera-turned-electric-paperweight project).

What are you doing at Commanche Peak? More ELT stuff like HP or Chemistry? How long have you been shooting?

[fluffybunny]

Yeah, chemistry. Haven’t done much in HP since the contractor days.

Got my first 35mm film camera around 1985 or so, Minolta X series. Nothing spectacular. The images are always better in your memory than if you go back through them. It must be residual impression from “the moment” when you see something you did that came out better than anything else you’ve done. Part of growing I guess.

Got my dSLR around the same time (2006), sure would have made some aspects of learning on 35mm easier. Then again, the hard won knowledge may have value in itself.

I have a couple very old cameras (4×5, etc) but have never had the time to make them go.

Here’s to spectacular failures. Had a few of my own. I’ve learned more from trying things on my own than via any other route.

Good to meet you. Hope to make this a regular haunt.

I just noticed Kestrana’s comment, you a nuke too?

[orionid]

Yar. RC divver class 0206, now at North Anna. So, if you get slammed with all sorts of new seismic regulations in the next year or so, umm…. our bad. And good to meet you as well. Hope to see more of you in the themes and threads, and hope you can get as much out of farktography as I (and the collective we) have. The weekly themes really is a good way to make yourself get out and try new things and shoot subjects beyond your normal comfort zone.

[Kestrana]

I just noticed Kestrana’s comment, you a nuke too?

Alas no, I am orionid‘s other half. But since he loves to talk shop, I probably know more about nuclear reactors and panel operation than your average coner.

And also welcome to the forum as well, hope to see more of you around. Let us know if you have any questions.

[Author]

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