New Blog Location

It’s been a long time coming but I have finally moved my blog over to my website. I hope to resume writing and photographing the world around me again soon. For now, I’m going through the archives and posting some past fires that never made it on to the site – primarily because they occurred before the site existed! I hope those of you that followed my blog before will follow me to the new location and continue reading as I resume writing. There will be some growing pains I’m sure but I look forward to working through them.

You can now follow me at http://www.dutyflick.com/Blog

Hope to see you there!!

MK

2014 Sonny Chung Memorial Softball Game – 6/29/14

June 29, 2014 – Members of the Gates, NY Police and Fire Departments faced off on the softball diamond once again to honor the memory of a fallen brother. In addition to the police and fire teams, Gates Ambulance fielded a squad, along with a combination team of the public safety wives. The event raised over $1,400 towards the education of the Chung children.

The top-billed game between Police and Fire came down to an exciting finish as the PD was able to pull off a 7-run rally in the final inning and walk away with a one-run victory. A base hit into the outfield by Officer John Ossichuck drove in the winning run, Investigator Sue O’Mara, from second base. This was the first victory in three attempts for the PD.

Sonny Chung was a Gates Police Officer who was forced to medically retire following an on-duty crash while responding to a call in 2002. Sadly, a second accident claimed his life in early 2012.

More photos of the action – http://bit.ly/VRlQs8
Photos from the 2012 game – http://bit.ly/1xDJYfb

Here is a YouTube video by Joe S that I came across. It is dedicated to the life and career of Officer Chung – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzeuc1Pp1eo

Building Fire – Gates, NY 2/7/14

*Somehow I missed posting this one here back in February*

February 7, 2014 – Shortly before midnight Gates firefighters were dispatched to a business on Buffalo Rd. for the report of smoke coming from the building. Arriving shortly after the Gates Police, firefighters reported smoke showing and began an aggressive interior attack. Once inside, crews encountered heavy smoke and fire toward the rear of the structure. The fire had extended to the attic and was working its way to the front of the structure so firefighters began pulling ceilings throughout the building to expose and attack the fire.

During the operation firefighters became concerned with the structural integrity of part of the building and established a collapse zone around the back. The building, which contains a two-story office building in the front and an attached commercial garage in the rear, suffered extensive damage. The back wall of the structure was burned through and that section also suffered a partial roof collapse. After approximately 80 minutes, the fire was declared under control at around 1 a.m.

More info and photos – http://bit.ly/1bA5HZ6

Video and photo slide show with dispatch audio – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5V7ivUrfL8

 

Airplane, Gear Up Landing – Rochester, NY

November 9, 2013 – Rochester Airport Firefighters responded for an aircraft that landed with its landing gear up. The incident was declared an Alert 1, which added Engine 7 from the Rochester FD to the response. Airport Fire equipment arrived on scene quickly and Rescue 1 reported an aircraft that landed with its gear up, the lone occupant had self evacuated and there were no other hazards present.

After the scene was secured by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, all equipment went back in service with the exception of Rescue 4, who stood by at the scene to assist Airport Operations and an outside towing company with the aircraft recovery. The incident was terminated at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Photo © 2013 Michael H. Knorr, Duty Flick Photography
http://www.DutyFlick.com
All Rights Reserved

Duty Flick is now on YouTube!

I’m excited to announce that I recently created a YouTube channel! I plan on creating videos of some of my photo series, especially those covering emergency scenes (which WILL have dispatch audio when it’s available). I’m interested to see which direction I take it as I get more proficient with my video editing, but the ideas are already circling in my head. I’ve created two videos so far, one of which is a tribute to my niece who was recently killed in a car accident (more on that in a future post). Take a look, let me know what you think and watch for lots more in the future!

http://www.youtube.com/user/dutyflick

 

Basement Fire – Gates, NY 11/9/13

November 9, 2013 – Gates firefighters responded for multiple calls reporting smoke from a house on Spencerport Rd. just after 9 a.m. First arriving units reported smoke from the structure and declared a working fire. Crews stretched multiple handlines inside and down into the basement where the fire was located. The fire was under control in less than 30 minutes but the home suffered enough damage to be uninhabitable.

Click the link for more info and photos. http://bit.ly/HGA1bG
Video slideshow with dispatch audio –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WsznNVQ6o

Building Fire – Albion, NY 10/17/13

October 17, 2013 – Albion firefighters responded for the report of a building fire on West Ave. Firefighters arrived within minutes to discover the Orleans Pallet Company building fully involved. As many as 16 Fire Department’s either responded to the scene or as fill in companies by late evening. The Orleans County Soil and Water department increased production to ensure adequate water supply, and companies also laid a large diameter supply line nearly 1/2-mile to the Erie Canal for drafting.

Click the link for more photos. http://bit.ly/16hbTI9

New website is LIVE!

The redesign of DutyFlick.com is now complete and has been released for your viewing pleasure! The new design is more streamlined and should be much easier to navigate with new menus and better organized links (highlighted below), all of which is more visible to the user. I have also updated the watermark that appears on the images and hope that it will be slightly less obnoxious, while maintaining the security of my work. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil but I will continue evaluating the best options available. I encourage you to leave feedback on the new look here on my blog, on my facebook page, or on twitter.

Website redesign!

I’m excited to announce that I’m currently finishing up a complete redesign of my website! The new look and layout will make it much easier to browse photos in all galleries. The button to purchase prints, digital copies and a wide variety of products containing nearly any image you desire will be much more conspicuous. Overall, the site will be easier on the eyes, easier to navigate, and hopefully a much more pleasant experience overall. I hope to have it live in the next few days but for now here’s a small preview of what’s to come!

Duty Flick Update

It’s been a while since I posted anything so I wanted to give everyone an update on what’s been happening. My wife recently had knee surgery so the 365 project and most everything else has been put on hold for the time being so I can take care of her. Everything seems to be going well with her recovery so far but we’ll know more after her follow-up appointment next week.

On the subject of my wife, she has done a couple of photo shoots with ROC Pin-Ups, the brain child of one Stephen Craddock, who was also our wedding photographer. Her first session was for a surprise birthday present for me last year. Because that involved some sneaking around, Steve asked me to be a guest blogger on his site to give the husband’s perspective. Apparently I have been much more supportive than some of his other models significant others and he wanted me to put into words how I felt about the whole thing. You can read that post here.

That post involved some writer’s block and took longer than expected but is far from the only thing I’ve been up to. Just before my wife’s surgery we went to California for a week. My cousin was getting married in Napa Valley so we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to leave the dogs with a friend and go visit her college roommate who lives outside of L.A., as well. While we were in Napa, we took a day to do the tourist thing around San Francisco, including a boat tour that went under both the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. The next day we hopped a flight from OAK to LAX, stayed with the roommate for a few days and played tourist again around the Greater Los Angeles area, including downtown L.A., Hollywood, and Santa Monica. We also drove up to Santa Barbara to get up close and personal with some sea lions by kayaking in the Pacific Ocean. Overall, we had a great time and will probably do it again someday (a drive along CA-1, aka the Pacific Coast Highway, is a bucket lister, for sure), although I won’t be moving to L.A. anytime soon.

I’ll post a more in-depth recap of our vacation as I get through some of the roughly 3,000 pictures I took while we were there. I’ve stayed pretty busy with work and am actually preparing for my first wedding shoot this weekend today. To this point, I haven’t taken any wedding or event contracts but I was approached by a friend some time back about being a second shooter so I thought I’d try it out. I have photographed a wedding or two before as a favor to friends but right now I don’t feel I have the time to devote to something so important. As the number two guy, I’m not nearly as involved in the planning and preparation of the day as I would be otherwise. If this goes well, I may look into doing it more often. Only time will tell, as they say.

For anyone wondering about my 365 progress, I have still been shooting (with the exception of this week’s temporary suspension) even if I’ve fallen further behind on posting again. Depending how the wife’s recovery goes, hopefully I can get back into the thick of it here soon.

That’s it for now. As always, thanks for reading and I hope all is well in your part of the world.

~MK