Last week, St Kilda unfortunately lost one of it's iconic beachfront restaurants, as The Stokehouse burnt to the ground.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the only professional photographers on the scene with proper gear. After thinking I'd missed the whole event and everything was controlled, tweeting / facebooking as much for St Kilda News' via my phone photos, I had to very quickly correct the details when fire erupted from the roof. I literally ran home to get my kit, with the expectation that this old, wooden structure, without any hoses dousing the flames yet and despite many trucks on scene, was never going to end well. I had to get the shots.
On the return journey, as I went passed the St Kilda triangle site, I could hardly see more than a metre in front of me, and I inhaled a lot of smoke. I made a futile attempt to breathe cleanish air through my t-shirt, my eyes stung, but I had to push through.
When I arrived on the boulevard, I was shooed away from any areas where I could get a good shot, so I repositioned to the beach side and found very easy and safe access to see what was happening. And as I looked around the mix of diners, drinkers, and locals (in their PJs in some cases) gawking and gasping, it was very evident this was a big deal, but from a personal stand-point, while there were thousands of phones pointed at the inferno, there was no sight of news reporters anywhere so I had a chance to be the one.
At one stage, on the beach I was approached by a Channel 9 producer and told that all their crews were up in bushfire zones and if I could shoot video footage, there was a very good possibility they would buy my exclusive footage. I snapped and filmed from about 11.40 - 2.30ish trying to get some stand-out vision. I'm pretty sure I did.
Channel 9 decided that they would like my footage but would only offer a credit - apparently a Cameraman turned up on the other side of the building at some point, and all networks received some footage but boy did they miss out.
As I returned in the morning to review the damage, I ran into a photographer whom I know from the Spring Racing Carnival, and she informed me there were no good shots of the fire from the night before... there was my chance! But social media images were being stolen left, right and centre, often without payment or credit, so while I had to get the word out, I had to protect myself too - this involved some of the most heavily, and honestly quite offensive watermarkings I've ever done:
Hayden Charles' Flickr - Stokehouse Set
Horrible aren't they?! But it worked, and the Herald Sun requested three images for a reasonable price.
I did get an email later that night that made me skip a heart beat - roughly it said "thanks for the images, but we're now only going to use one..."
pause
"but it's going to be the cover of tomorrow's paper, I hope you don't mind?" haha... not at all!
Anyway, there's my little "pat myself on the back for the day" - thanks for having a read.
I will put images up on my proper websites soon without watermarks, so please have a look at:
http:www.haydencharles.com.au and http:www.eventsmedia.com.au if interested.
H
