E-Media Tidbits

Alex Miroschnichenko On Oct. 22, this was the view from one CA photojournalist's front door window. This story hit close to home.

When I first learned the Santiago Fire was entering my hometown of Foothill Ranch, Calif., my natural reaction was to grab my camera and shoot. Normally, I shoot stories with an agreement or intent to sell the images. But this wasn't just another photojournalism job. This story literally hit close to home. Thoughts of selling these pictures did not enter my mind. I was too close to this story.

As the day progressed, the Santiago Fire story escalated. Countless images made that clear: media vans, camera crews, satellite antennas, reporters, photographers, news helicopters, etc. I continued shooting as my town burned. My emotions were turning. I was thinking with my heart.

Orange County (CA) Fire Authority The town of Foothill Ranch, CA was at the edge of the Santiago Fire.

Foothill Ranch is a fairly small town and I know many of its residents. I kept running into neighbors through the day. Looking at my camera's preview screen, they were extremely interested in the images I captured. The "e-mail me those pictures" requests were overwhelming: "Don't forget!" "When will you send them?" "We want to show our relatives." "Wow, those are amazing!"

I realized, that, like me, these people also were emotionally involved. These images and this story were important to them on a very deep level.

Flickr was the obvious choice to distribute these fire images to family and friends. Little did I know that images of the Southern Calif. wildfires were starting to have a big impact on Flickr. I soon realized how important and compelling this story was to the online community, and around the world.

Still thinking with my heart, I changed the license for all my wildfire photos to Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic, rather than a standard "all rights reserved" copyright notice. This authorizes anyone to share these images or create derivative works as long as attribution to me is provided.

Even though I sell news photos to media organizations, this time my intent was to share my experience and feelings; to share what it's like to have tragedy hit your hometown. Making a profit on these pictures would be cheating my own heart.

Now (thinking with my head), I also see that through this effort my images and work have gained tremendous exposure. When an image receives nearly 12,000 views in 24 hours, that is a strong message -- including powerful marketing for my photography work. Now, it's up to me to leverage the exposure and contacts I obtained through my Santiago Fire images, for times and stories not so close to my home and heart.

View my Santiago/Foothill Ranch Fire photo sets.

Guest contributor Alex Miroshnichenko is a full-time e-commerce professional and part-time freelance photographer.