Hello! Welcome to Day 8 of the 2022 First Responders Are Human event. The event hopes to encourage mental wellness in first responders through physical fitness. Participants should engage in one deliberate physical activity each day of the event. We will also be sharing a daily resiliency tool that can help first responders be resilient on and off the job. While many of the stressors first responders face are systemic, it is still important that we be able to work on our own self-care.
Day 8 brought to us by Steve Davey Sr. (Pennsylvania)
Today’s Tool: Photography
Before spending the last 20 years in EMS I spent the previous 20 in the photography business. Although the dream was to be a photojournalist, the reality became a career working in the lab but I did side work as a wedding and sports photographer. Although my career in photography ended, my passion for it did not and it has become a valuable tool for me in regards to my mental health.
We all experience those moments of feeling overwhelmed by this job. Sometimes from a difficult call, sometimes from the trappings in EMS, and sometimes even the monotony that can befall us. When I feel that darkness settling in I tell myself that I need to find some beauty in the world, grab my camera and go. I have found that there is beauty everywhere if you just take that moment to look.
Sometimes all it takes is a walk around my own backyard.
But other times it can take a road trip or a hike.
The search is therapeutic in its refocusing and settling of the mind, but there are times when the shot just finds me.
We were participating in a 9/11 Memorial Ride. The ride had already taken us to The Flight 93 memorial and past The Pentagon, but on this day I was going to pay my respects to Dennis, my cousin, who perished in the North Tower that day. The city is never quiet and adding over a thousand motorcycles, plus emergency and support vehicles to the mix ? Well, the sound should have been deafening but I was somewhere else. Lost in my thoughts of Dennis, his daughter who was five years old at the time, and his mother, my Godmother, who had lost her son. I started reliving the day, watching where the plane hit and knowing he was gone, the helplessness, the sadness, the waiting....
Then things got really loud, instructions were being barked, ignited engines roared to fall in line, and then I saw this. Just one of my ambulances waiting to get in line, in a spot, next to a sign, that I could not have staged better if I had the thought. To this day it is one of my favorite photos and an inspiration still.
This one isn't so profound but is another example of being given what I needed.
I was on one of those road trips, just out and about taking pictures of the farmland around me. Couple of shots of barns and fields, a lone tree here or there, and finishing with a shot or two of a newly born colt I came upon, but it wasn't until I realized what road I was on that I knew I was done.
A simple photograph can be healing.
There was a creek running behind the fire station I was at to photograph the arrival of The Muddy Angels. I had some time so I walked along the bank and followed a bullfrog popping up now and then in the water. I tried to catch a shot of it but he eluded me every time. I was packing it in and surveying my options to set up for the cyclists' arrival when I heard a young boy call out to me. He asked if I was trying to take a picture of the frog and his two brothers chimed in very excitedly that they knew where he was. I was sure their commotion would alert said frog and he would be long gone by the time I got there. They met me about 10 feet out and began to whisper, shushing me, while silently motioning me to the spot. It was almost like the frog was waiting, posing. I knelt down, zoomed in and clicked away. When I started to get up the oldest asked me if I got it and when I said yes the other two erupted in celebration. The elder joined them and it was like watching a mound celebration after a team wins the world series. I let them each peruse the digital images I had taken and all agreed on their favorite (the one pictured). As this was going on the two younger ones bolted toward a woman walking towards us. Mom! Mom! they screamed recounting the adventure of the frog along the way. She hugged them both and the older boy and I joined them. Come on she said, telling them that the ceremony was about to start while straightening their shirts. I started to apologize thinking I had caused an unwelcome distraction, but the older boy grabbed at my camera and said show her, show her!. I did and told her that her boys had been a big help in the capture. For a moment she seemed to lose her breath, then quickly fixed her third son's shirt and scooted them out in front of her towards the area of the ceremony. She told me there was no need to apologize, and thanked me for giving her boys a moment today. She told me that the boy's father had recently passed and that the bullfrog was their big connection to him. I was about to offer to send her a copy and get her Email but we had reached the area and there were many hugs waiting for her and we were separated. It wasn't until she was introduced during the ceremony, and her & her late husband's story was told that I realized that I had inadvertently been allowed to become part of something very special. Knowing first hand the impact such ceremonies have on you, I did not expect to see her afterward. I did however get her Email and sent her the photo. Her response was heartwarming. She shared the connection with the bullfrog and that the photo is framed, hung, and cherished not only by her but the boys as well.
And finally, this little guy!
My grandson Ben. How can you look into those eyes and not smile?!
Day 8 brought to us by Steve Davey Sr. (Pennsylvania).
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