Back to Elmira Jackals Hockey Tonight…Hoping to keep the 6 Game Winning Streak Going!
But before I head out to First Arena, I thought I’d add Part 2 of my NHL Experience this past Tuesday Evening, with much more to come!
GREAT Game & Fine Shooting on Tuesday Night, the RANGERS came out on top 4-2 in the end. Ran into countless Elmira folks who also shuffled on up to Buffalo. It was a beautiful drive…73 degrees in places along the way! A bit different from last years slog when it was around Zero going up, then -18 coming back! No Climate Change here folks!
Anyway…I’m working my way through the First Period now, of nearly 2000 shots, so here’s just a tease till I get through all of them and post some full Blog Galleries! Hope you enjoy looking, as much as I did capturing. And make sure you click on each image, as they pop open pretty big!!!! God I Love What I do! PS: as usual, Thanks Jared for hooking me up!
I posted this on Facebook from the game, but I had the pleasure to meet and have dinner with the Buffalo Sabres Team Photographer Bill Wippert. Here I thought I’ve been shooting for the Jackals a long time now in season #16, but that’s NOTHING! We’re the same age, and Bill’s been shooting for the Sabres for FORTY ONE FRIGGING YEARS!!! Unbelievable!
The other day I saw some Facebook Friends & past Wedding Couple, post some shots of a new painting scheme that they have underway, and the bold butterscotch color they were applying. Yeah, it was a little brighter than most people would use, but then…..why have Zillions of colors of Paint if no one uses them? With that being said, before Wedding Season hits this spring, I had some spare time and just finished repainting my Equipment/Gear Storage & Framing Room….which remained in the Bright Pink color scheme of my previous Studio Partner Maria Strinni, even after she moved out of the area. Just didn’t have the time or desire to change it all up again. Well, times have changed….and this room is MINE Now! So what do you think? Purple Frenzy with Lime Burst! Bright Enough for you?? Even Purple Filing Cabinets!!!!
I LOVE IT!
On this February evening, with temperatures already plunging well below zero, let’s imagine a hot & humid August 2, 1941 afternoon a long, long time ago. It’s that lazy & carefree time, just months before the U.S. entered W.W.II after the attack on Pearl Harbor. We’re just across the busy main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad at Eldridge Park in Elmira, NY, on a Sunny Saturday afternoon enjoying our Annual Outing as an employee of the Elmira Knitting Mills, who’s former building was just burned to the ground in a massive, multiple alarm warehouse fire on January 31, 2016.
Here is my Photographic Composite & Photoshop rendering of the Official Outing Photograph, shot 75 years ago, by Personius Studio of Elmira, and the Photoshop re-rendering by me. The print is so wide that in order to capture all of the original detail I had to shoot it in 7 different sections, which I then had to seamlessly paste & blend together.
Take a close look at all of these ghostly faces. The Big Boss in his woolen three piece suit complete with pocket watch & chain, with all of his underling “Yes-Men” sitting close-by. Then, the ladies, with their bobby socks & saddle shoes, and those ’40’s dresses & hair styles (just like my mom wore!) Then there are the young men captured here. How many of these young boys would soon be fighting in Europe or the South Pacific? If any of these people are still alive, even the young children seen in this picture, they would be at least 80-85 years old today. And then look deeper into the park background…..after spending nearly every single Sunday afternoon at the park myself as a young boy growing up in the ’60’s I still vaguely remember those outing buildings, and that yellow, cinder block restroom building up on a hill, poised above the rest of the parks amusements. Then there are all of those long gone, mighty trees that covered this area of the park with a dark, cool blanket of shade on these brilliant afternoons. I can almost smell the steamed clams, hot dogs, and beers in the air!
Let me know if you recognize or know any of the faces seen here….I’d love to know! I already had a childhood friend identify his Mom as one of the ladies sewing in one of my earlier images of activity at the mill.
*Make certain that you click on the picture a couple of times to pop it open to full size, and then use the slider at the bottom of the page to view the entire length of this massive print! It’s over 72 INCHES LONG!!!
Last week I shot the images of the Elmira Knitting Mill as unforgiving fire roared through it’s long dormant shell.
Tonight, I shot these images of the very same location for the Heights Historical Society. Lets go back to the early 1940’s, while World War II was roaring, The Knitting Mill was humming with activity. How cool would it be, to go back in time and be able to walk though this place during it’s prime.
Employment Application
Sewing Department – Pants & Polo Shirts
Cloth Finishing Department
Sewing Department – Infants Wear
Spring Needle Knitting Department
Latch Needle Knitting Department
Order Filling Department
The Shipping Department
Had to laugh….I was called in by my Buddy Horseheads FD Chief Artie Sullivan…so I dusted it off & grabbed my trusty old T&C Helmet with my nickname, the trademark BATMAN logo on it. When I got to the scene Artie and Heights Chief Mike Cadek gave me the OK to shoot away among the Fire Troops inside the FD crowd ropes…..while doing so a Heights PD Officer came up, thought I was just an ordinary civilian and was going to move me back….
I explained to him that I had permission to shoot there…..
He asked “Who are you?”
“I’M BATMAN”
End of story……..got lots of great stuff, and lucky for all of us….it was 54 degrees out this January 31st! Felt like a Spring Drill.
Good Ole’ Bill Shaw, the gentleman in the Yellow Fire Police Jacket & who has been in the Heights FD since he was 9 years old kept saying all night long…”I’ve been waiting Seventy One Years For This S.O.B. to Burn Down!” Well there you go Bill!!!
You don’t see this very often…but when you do you NEVER see a guy jumping quite this high to screen out the other teams Goalie while at the same time trying to make a path for the puck to possibly squeak through if you’re lucky! ALSO, seeing that I’m posting something tonight….how ’bout a few COOL SNOWMAN shots!!! Remember….ICE IS NICE!
And finally……the Pre-Game Goalie Ritual just before hitting the ice, in Classic, old school B & W.
On Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Elmira Jackals early afternoon matinee game against Brampton, the Jackals Organization went out of their way to help Fan the Flames of Ambition and Aspiration in the Bodies, Hearts, Minds & Souls of these budding little, hopefully someday, NHL Super Stars! Great Job Boys!!!!
There wasn’t a lot for Elmira fans to get excited about at Sunday’s Jackals game, but here’s a “COOL” shot from the Jackals Debut of Goaltender Alex Vazzano. Hey….isn’t there a Bridge in NYC named after this guy??
