jared gruenwald

Photographer
    eagles & the belligerent birds by jared gruenwald  
eagles & the belligerent birds
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Nationality: USA
Biography: Jared Gruenwald is an editorial, commercial and documentary freelance photographer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and available for assignments worldwide Jared Gruenwald Jared Gruenwald Photography... MORE
Private Story
eagles & the belligerent birds
Copyright jared gruenwald 2024
Date of Work Jan 2018 - Jan 2018
Updated Mar 2018
Location Philadelphia, PA
Topics Abundance, Abuse, Action, Advertising, Affluence, Capitalism, Celebrations, Community, Documentary, Editorial, Emotion, Energy, Environment, Food, Football, Gangs, Happiness, Hope, Joy, Lifestyle, Photography, Photojournalism, Reporting, Sports, Street
Story about my experience trying to transmit the photos to my editor by deadline.

So full disclosure: I'm not the biggest football fan. However, I'll never miss an opportunity to celebrate with and document my fellow Philadelphian's indulging in a debaucherous bacchanal. I arranged to shoot the Eagles tailgaters before the NFC Championship game for Billy Penn with the only stipulation being that I'd have to transmit the images by 6:00 as the sports editor wanted to have the gallery posted by the scheduled 6:40 kickoff.

I stopped shooting around 5:00 and set up a makeshift office amongst the throngs of exuberant fans in Lot M. I finished editing lightning fast and was ready to upload the photos with over a half hour to spare. I was prepared to connect to the internet using my mobile hotspot but had a contingency plan set in place just in case this failed. I got everything connected and dumped my edited images into Dropbox. At first, all was well but I began to panic when the time remaining started counting up instead of down! Thirty minutes. One hour. THREE HOURS!!!! This clearly was not going to work. I sprung into action, packed up my "office" and headed towards civilization in search of wifi. 

My plan b was to Uber to my buddy John's house which was far enough away that his service would be unaffected by the gazillions of fans sucking all the networks dry at the stadium but close enough that I could catch a quick ride over. Unfortunately, my phone was useless and I couldn't connect to the app. The clock was ticking, instinct kicked in and my thumb popped up. I'd hitchhiked in the past out of necessity and this seemed like as good a time as ever to try again. I approached the line of cars leaving the lot and started explaining my situation to anyone with an open window. No takers. With all the "friends" I made while roaming the grounds with my camera, I couldn't find a single one to help me in my time of need. 

I sprinted north across Pattison Ave. and noticed what appeared to be a frustrated Lyft driver struggling with his phone as well. I ran over to him and asked if I could somehow book a ride despite my app not working. He asked where I was going and said he needed to escape the chaos and unlocked the door. We just crossed Packer Ave when he pulled over saying he had a real customer and I'd have to get out. I thanked him for the free half a block ride and exited the car. 

Next up, I came across a group traveling in a two-car caravan. I approached one of the vehicles which was packed to the brim just as they were about to pull away. Despite being over capacity, they willfully offered me the ride but we're getting on 76 immediately. I had to decline as I had no idea where I'd end up and their unquestioning and overly enthusiastic approval of my request was somehow a bit suspect.


I forged ahead and saw an SUV in the distance with the headlights on. I walked over and could barely make out who was inside through the tinted windows. I made the universal "roll down the window sign" and was granted an audience with a cheery middle-aged woman. I told her what was going on and although she sympathized, she explained she couldn't accommodate some random transient because she had her two young children in the backseat. As a father, I told her I understood completely and would most likely do the same. 

I walked north a little further, finally reaching civilization (row homes) and approached a group of people standing in front of a house veiled in Eagle's green. I thought these folks would surely welcome me with open arms. In reality, the guy blocking the front door immediately launched into this paranoid tirade about how he'd never let a stranger use his internet and that I'm most likely a hacker trying to steal his identity. I tried to explain to him that if I was such an accomplished hacker, I wouldn't need him to supply his wifi password. I'd simply hack in. This didn't sit too kindly with him and I took off swiftly down the street as threats and possibly a bottle or two were hurled in my direction.

At the end of the next block, I came across an older man standing on a second-floor balcony. It was already after 6:00 so he was my last best hope. I dove into my pitch and he told me he was more than happy to help but there was one problem. He had no idea what his wifi password was. His son set up his network and he couldn't remember. He did, however, offer to bring me down a bottle of water and a sandwich. I didn't really have time for this but he was incredibly gracious and I'd worked up quite the thirst. While waiting, I took a seat on the bench in front of his house, pulled out my computer and checked to see if there was a random open network I could connect to. Luckily there was one and it was ironically named "Please Connect for Identity Theft." I took a chance, opened dropbox and the upload began screaming along. I finally sent the link at 6:23 and the images were posted with 10 minutes to spare at 6:30. With my job complete, I folded up my laptop, grabbed the sandwich and took a well deserved and much-needed bite.

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eagles & the belligerent birds by jared gruenwald
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