Effingham Photographer // 2014 SYNC Seniors Journey by Loker Photography

February 05, 2014

Effingham Photographer // 2014 SYNC Seniors Journey by Loker Photography

You ever watch a movie and feel like you are a part of that movie? I used to be a movie junkie and watch what people call "scary movies." The new thing to hit America is zombies this and zombies that. I felt like I was in an apocalypse on my way back from my photography workshop. But let me start from they beginning.

I had a goal. My goal was to win some awards of excellence and to win "The Breakout Award" at SYNC Seniors held in St. Augustine, Florida. It's crazy, because Florida was supposed to be warmer in the winter than up north. I guess the polar vortex had something to do with that. I am very competitive, which helps me to grow and learn as a photographer. So with a goal of winning some huge awards held at this national workshop, it compelled me to go for it.

Moving on, it was the night of the awards, and I couldn't believe my ears. I waited nervously, and was sweating bullets, hoping to hear my name. Twenty-five minutes into the ceremony, they finally reached the point of the Break Out award, and wait for it! Just a little bit longer--Yes, my name was on the screen. I had reached my goal and it was just before my eyes. Not to mention, I was able to place 3rd in the guy category over everyone as well. That's exciting to me. I've been shooting professionally for 3 years and 1 year full time. I was going up against the cream of the crop. People shooting for 30 plus years in the line of work. Not only that, but I won 8 national awards of excellence (will post below in no specific order).

I remember walking on stage, in which it seemed I could see myself walking on stage. Real? Yes! That only means that 2014 is going to be awesome, because I have set new goals. That means, I'm going to work even harder with the knowledge I have to create even crazier cool portraits.

But the journey was just beginning. After the awards ceremony, I found out my plane ride was canceled. Which isn't a big deal. They organized me a new flight to New York, Detroit, then St. Louis. By the time I was able to fly, have lay overs and be there early, I was going to spend tons of time wasted anyways. I had gracious friends (Jeremy, Wes, Brent, and Jason) out of Fairfield, who took me in their mini-van for a supposedly 14 hour journey back home. This is where it begins to get crazy.

We packed up on a Tuesday at 730 am, in a overly crowded mini van with five of us. The wheels hit the pavement, and after four hours, we entered the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The snow seemed to trickle down, but because the day before was 50 degrees, the snow was melting as it hit the pavement and became instant ice. Due to the lack of organization from the Mayor, the city was an instant snow apocalypse. We ended up driving from about 11:30 am to 6:30 pm and went 15 miles. It came to the point that the roads were so packed with people stuck, not moving, in wrecks, and lack of space for the workers to get through for us to try any farther. Of course, the city was closed due to the ice which means, no restaurants were open to eat. This is where Kroger comes in to play. We decided we'd go to Kroger and catch up on the news, figure out the traffic report and see what we should do for supper and a place to sleep. To make a long story short--Kroger was super gracious and was feeding everyone stranded. They provided fried chicken, lasagna, salad, soda and water. A beautiful story of serving people and loving. Every one of the workers had a smile on their face. At this point, I was impressed with them. I know at one point, one of the workers was holding a 5 year old girl in her arms so she could sleep. This gave the mother a chance for a break and to make the phone calls she needed to make. Eventually, they fixed up a shopping cart with coats to lay this poor girl down to sleep.

My friend, Brent, had a cool idea of shooting portraits for them to give back. Since we just came from a workshop and they had their equipment, it was obvious to us, this was something needed. Plus, it would pass 5 hours really quickly as we set up, shot, and tore down. This sparked conversations and opened up doors for simple chat and instantly tear-jerker stories were told by the workers. One for example, was a middle aged man, about 4 feet 8 inches tall who had a limp. He was the shopping cart guy. He's been at that job for 20 years with a gimp and smiled every day. Come to find out--most of the workers have never had a professional portrait taken. Could you imagine with me for a second. A portrait is a memory captured in time to give us something to look back on years down the road of who we were and what was happening at that time. It's sad to think, we live in a digital era, and millions have never had a portrait printed. It was a big deal in which we found out over the course of the 5 hours that this is something they would never forget. They may not remember who we were, but the prints will be something captured in time where they can say, "I remember this ice storm in January 2014. It was crazy. Hundreds of kids stranded on school buses, in schools, in cars, in hotels, in stores, babies being born on the interstate…and we were able to feed hundreds."

At this point, I haven't mentioned my wife much. But you have to know, I calmly talked to her and had her pray for our safety. Also to not worry because the phone lines were up and down constantly, let alone phone power. She didn't realized we eventually at 3ish a.m. made it to a hotel in Tennessee. I know she was on edge, but I had expressed to her what was going on at Kroger and their serving hearts.

To move forward some, we took portraits until 1 a.m. and thats when we decided to be silly and leave Kroger to make it on the interstate. We assumed it would be more clear from people getting off the interstate to find refuge. So we load up, drive up a hill or tried and got stuck 500 feet from Kroger. Four of the five of us jumped out to push the van up hill on the super slick ice rink roads and didn't get anywhere. To our dismay, a young gentlemen came to our rescue. He had a smile on his face, and a hop in his step. He shared with us how to move on up the hill due to a dry spot on the pavement. As we are moving the van up the hill, he was able to share who he was. He was from Chicago and had recently moved to Atlanta. He said this was normal and since he lived only a few blocks away, he wanted to give back and help. He had been at this particular spot on a hill by a stop light pushing and guiding cars for 3.5 hours and still had a smile on his face. after 15 minutes, we made it up the hill and ran the stoplight (no one was coming at us by the way), because we knew if we stopped, we'd be stuck. We continued on the side road towards the interstate following hundreds of cars stopped and stuck on the 4 lane side roads. At this point, we were like, "We should've stayed at Kroger's. They had food and it was warm and we weren't stuck in a tight mini van with 5 people. This is where it gets a little more crazy. Because two lanes were headed north and two lanes headed south, the north side was packed, so we had the brilliant idea of driving on the oncoming traffic side where no one was coming. We didn't get stuck. We just passed everyone on the wrong side of the road which was awesome. I don't think at this point, cops were around on the side roads to pull us over. So for the next mile, we weave in and out of traffic on the side road just to get to the interstate, where again we assumed we would have it a lot easier.

Now the journey gets better but turns into a movie plot--Will we make it home through the ice. Here's why. The interstate was still packed like crazy. Unbelievable. We drive about a mile on the interstate and see tons of break lights. Again, we were like, how dumb can we be, we should've stayed at Kroger. But to our dismay, we drove about 3 mph and began to weave in and out of traffic. Jason Wilkey began to record this tragedy from the snow apocalypse (link to be posted soon). All we had to do is go 15 miles and we were set for a more clear area that had been salted according to the phone traffic maps. I believe and could be wrong, but I think it took us about 1.5-2 hours to drive those 15 miles. Past that, we drove til 330ish am to a hotel for rest.

Ok, that was all from Tuesday from 7:30 am to Wednesday 3:30 am. I honestly don't know where we stopped but we took our time to rest for the rest of the roughly 4.5 hour drive ahead of us to get home. So 10:30 came and we loaded our vehicles to go eat at Bojangles (introduced to me by Wes last year on this same workshop). This puts us in Tennessee close to Nashville and all of that area is mountains and huge hills. So we first have to recognize that van may have been put to test some. There are 5 of us plus luggage. Travels began well, but it didn't end there. I'll make this part fast. We checked our phones and gps to figure out the exact time of arrival so our families would know where we were and when we'd be home safely from this crazy journey. Supposed to be home by 5pm in Fairfield, IL. But our luck once again changed. We made it just past Nashville, (not even a mile out) and the van died on us in the middle of the interstate. Wes was able to maneuver the van to the side where we tried a few tricks (more Jeremy than anyone else). It worked for a mile and died again. Phones came out and calling family and friends and dealerships, and also posting to FB. I had so many people tell me, we gave them a story that kept them on their toes (friends from the workshop whom were stuck at the ATL, airport for 2 plus days).

Tow truck comes and loads 2 of the 5 of us to the dealership, while the other 3 had a friend pick us up and take us to a mall. The news made it to us from Wes. The van alternator went out but they were closing and it would not be fixed until tomorrow (Thursday) at noon. Again, when life throws a curve ball--make the most of it (Pictures below to come of us having a crazy time, even on the side of the interstate).

The rest is history, we got a rental, went to a mall where we ate and bowled. I can't complain, I was just happy to know we were safe and had fun. The van was fixed. I was able to drive the last 4 hours home and had a happy wife to see me. The experience was worth it (maybe not to Mallory). But if I was asked would I ride along or fly--I'd definitely ride along. That's the whole point of life--enjoy and make memories, even in the worst of situations. I think we all laughed and had more fun just because we all became instantly optimistic and knew GOD was in control of the whole journey. HE puts us where we need to be. I know God gave us people to touch our lives, but also, put us in the right spot to share God's grace to the world.

If you follow below, I will do my best to post pictures in order as they happened. Please click the links to watch a few videos of our journey. Thank you Jeremy, Wes, Brent, and Jason for allowing me to ride along and create a cool experience I won't forget.