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Saturday Night And I Ain't Got Nobody!

 
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Aug 08, 2004 7:34 am    Post subject: Saturday Night And I Ain't Got Nobody! Reply with quote

Saturday Night And I Ain't Got Nobody!


By Maurice Ali, Journalist



What is missing from this picture? A flash card maybe?

Yes it was Saturday night and I didn't have anybody.....so I went downtown to photograph and possibly interview some people who had been sleeping at Toronto City Hall. This was an ongoing story for the last week as politicians wanted to remove the nocturnal visitors because they degraded the landmark for visitors and tourists.


Even turned off the camera lets you know it is empty.....unless
you are me!


So I gathered my camera and audio recorder and away I went to get the story..... I drove around the club district, but everyone had gone home (the block long display of motorbikes has to be photographed to be believed!!!!! The boarders at city hall were there in their sleeping bags and cardboard shelters (where this cardboard goes during the day is anyone's guess). So I parked my car and took my camera and started walking toward the scene.


The flash card still in the card reader at the back of the computer.

I took one quick look at my camera and to my horror.....discovered that the camera was empty! I had removed the flash card to get some pictures for book cover and forgot to replace it in the camera! So I just put it back in the car and strolled around City Hall anyway.


The flash card.....not in the camera!

The people I saw sleeping at City Hall were all male and White, and looked pretty fit, by-the-way! In my story "Trolls Of Toronto", I interviewed a guy presently sleeping outdoors and he look well kept and healthy. These are not the bums and mentally handicapped people so often talked about in the press. Two men who were sleeping at the side of the main buildings got up and cleaned up after themselves before they left; what is the problem? Things were quiet and nobody accosted me for money or impeded my walk in any way. This is community property available for all. If these "boarders" mind their own business, why should they be asked to leave? Anyway; that is my take on the matter.

With regard to my incompetence as a journalist; here we go! My camera is the Nikon D70, the latest "state of the art" digital SLR on the market at the present moment. This camera was criticized for using battery power all the time to display the available shots available when you picked it up. Well the proof is in the pudding, the indicator works, but only if you check it before you leave on your way to the story. Congrats to Nikon as every time I make a mistake (like going manual and not keeping the automatic setting), I can see how Nikon engineered their camera to help avoid that mistake. This is the best camera in the world right now.....period! Anyway, we must prepare better before going for the story. Also, I did not have my backup cameras, nor the cheap camera that was supposed to reside in my car's glove box! Lesson learned and thankfully on a story that did not hurt too much.

Another Saturday night wasted, but a Lesson learned!
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