News Photography

One of the firefighters in my hometown of Norris City, fighting a house fire.

I was so happy to find this picture! It was taken for the local paper back in 1980 and I thought I didn't have a copy of it for my files. I was going through one of my file cabinets and found a copy of the old newspaper it came from and scanned it into my computer. The guy driving the truck was unfamiliar with intersection where the accident took place and turned his truck over. I don't think he was hurt. I shot the pictures and took the roll to my town's local newspaper. They let me use their darkroom to develop the film, select what I felt was the best shot and then print it out for use in the paper. I used Kodak D-76 to develop it in. Camera: Minolta XD11 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 ASA B&W 35mm Date: The week of August 20th, 1980 Location: Near Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Truck Wreck, August 20th, 1980 3gf

A semi accident I covered for the local newspaper back in 1981. Camera: Minolta XD11 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Kodak Tri-X, 400 ASA 35mm film Date: 1981 Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Semi Wreck 1981 8ef

A house fire I covered and this image made it in to the local newspaper. Camera: Minolta XD11 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 B&W Date: August 13th, 1980 Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Minolta Tri-X Basil Arnold 1980 09df

From a house fire that happened in 1981.

This shot was taken with a Minolta XD11, circa 1980.

There were semi trucks hitting this overpass all the time because the height of it wasn’t marked very good. This is another accident that resulted from it not being tall enough. A shot I took from this sequence was picked up by some local newspapers. Camera: Minolta XD11 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Kodak Tri-X, 400 ASA black and white film Shooting Program: Aperture Priority Date: May 15th, 1980 Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Minolta Tri-X Semi Wreck 1980 15ef

My town had a complete power blackout back in 1981, so I went around and got some shots that night. This was taken at one of our local grocery stores,

A two-car accident that happened at the edge of my hometown back in 1981. There was at least one fatality that I heard of. I think the local papers picked up two of my shots from this event. Camera: Minolta XD11 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Kodak Tri-X, 400 ASA black and white film Shooting Program: Aperture Priority Date: 1981 Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Minolta Tri-X 1981 Accident 07ff

The wrecker at a two-car collision just outside of my town back in 1981.

This little Ford Pinto wagon looked to be in pretty good shape until it get ran over by a semi. This shot made it to the local papers in 1981. It's a good thing it wasn't rear-ended!

I used to live by this viaduct and many semi trucks didn't realize it wasn't high enough for them to fit through until it was too late. Here was one such incident, (of many!) where I happened to photograph it when a train was going by overhead. The truck driver had much bigger things on his mind than the train above!

Local firefighters tackling a blaze that was across the street from where I live. This shot made the local newspapers.