Waiting for "Idalia"

About the shot above - 2:45 PM EST - I grabbed my camera and decided to head to the beach, only a couple miles away. The rain was coming down so hard, I could barely see to drive, and gave up. You'd think there was a hurricane! The water coming out of one downspout looked like a hydrant that had been left open - it's going to be a long night.

Tracking the storm from NOAA

by Skip Cohen

​This is a very short post today because I live south of Sarasota, FL, and the hurricane is about to land on our doorstep. I've still got a few things to bring into the garage, but going through the process again (having lived here for both "Irma" and "Ian"), there are some observations I want to share about how much I appreciate our industry and imaging. 

• To start, I've taken pictures of everything in the house, along with the front, back, and sides of the house itself. If we get hit hard, I'll need photographs when it comes to dealing with the insurance company.
• Next observation - we've been glued to the weather channel as well as local reporting and online. We're following weather maps and images from other areas that have experienced a hurricane of this magnitude and the impact of storm surge, wind damage, etc.
• Last on the list - all of our family photographs. I took a few minutes yesterday - the sun was out, and it was beautiful. I found myself thinking about the contents of our home, and the only thing that could never be replaced were all the pre-digital photographs - some in albums, others in boxes.

But there's one more aspect to facing a fight with Mother Nature that I've been thinking about - It's the power of social media and keeping in touch with friends and associates. I posted a short post on my Facebook page yesterday about the storm coming in. Within minutes, a few dozen friends had commented. At the same time, I could keep in touch with what was going on with other friends dealing with similar challenges.

As much as I hate Facebook at times - so often, it's the mortar holding the bricks of friendships together.

Here's my point - we're part of a fantastic industry. Where would we be, or the world for that matter, without imaging, without our ability to share photographs and videos, and without the ability to document each event in our lives?

Stay safe, everybody, and prayers for everyone north of us as "Idalia" hits the coast.

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