Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to meet up with a future bride and groom about their upcoming wedding, my phone began to blow up with messages from friends. A friend of mine from highschool had been shot and killed while on air reporting for a local news station. I was fortunate to have known Alison Parker personally in high school through athletics. She was always a caring, fun, care free individual, and a loyal friend. Our thoughts and prayers, as a community, go out to the Parker family and the Ward family as they struggle through the chaos and lost feeling that is losing a dear friend.
We, the staff of Fstoppers, are a community of cameramen, photographers, and news writers. Shootings are normally well outside our realm of coverage, however, in this incidence, it has hit close to home. This horribly tragedy hurts not only because I personally knew one of the victims, but because all of us as creatives have a passion and love for what we do. After such terrible events, we should all stop and be reminded that even the heaviest hearts crumble at the thought of what happened yesterday. Alison Parker and Adam Ward were beautiful people who shared the same love and passion that all of us share within the Fstoppers Community. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to their family and friends.
Both James Madison University and Patrick Henry Community College, along with the PHCC Foundation, have set up memorial funds in honor of Alison Parker. The proceeds from both funds will be used to help future students follow in Alison's passion for media and media production. More information on these memorial funds can be found on JMU's website and Patrick Henry Community College's website.
Sorry for your loss man ! He was also a cameraman ! and hope everything is better soon ! MAKE A CAMPAING IN AMERICA ¨NO GUNS ALLOWED ¨ .
This isn't the time and place to be making gun control comments.
On the contrary, it's precisely the best moment to do it.
Wow. I never had the opportunity to watch that newscast, but I always heard that she one of the best. She was taken from the world much too soon, but we can all thank God for the time she was alive. Truly tragic.
If you don't want to own a gun, then don't buy one! but don't try to strip away the rights of Us! Americans.
politicians and their bodyguards are sick twisted entities, but no one is forcing them to turn in their guns.
I'm sorry but this is suppose to be a Photography and video website NOT a News reporting site and surely not a place to post dumb ass anti-Amendments comments.
Being pro gun control is not being anti-amendment. Neither is being a Democrat being un-American Grow up and respect that every citizen has a right to add to the discourse of how we live and exist with each other. I support your right to own a gun; however, I believe that gun safety certification, criminal checks, and restrictions on gun types are reasonable. This is no different than the state's issuing regulations on what type of car you drive down the road and your understanding on how to operate it. Will all live under restrictions; we get to determine how much.
I know that none of this would have prevented this particular case, and we can go round and round arguing stupid hypotheticals, but common sense should tell you that you have some responsibilities to your fellow citizens that may require some compromise of your own freedoms. They call these social contracts and they are the principles that the first amendments are based on. By the way they call them amendments because the founders realized they may have not been entirely right and they may need to be amended by future generations.
My Dad gave me my first gun. I held it for five minutes, then he took it away from me and said that was enough. "Tomorrow you get it for 10 minutes. " He understood that I needed training before I could handle the responsibility that comes with a gun. And trust me my 20 year military veteran Dad was not a powder puff. He always said don't point the gun unless you mean to kill. All these lessons come with a gun so that we don't infringe an another person's right to exist. You see the BIll of Rights are not your rights; they are the responsibilities that we each have to protect the each others' rights.
Hey, everyone. Before this spirals into chaos, let's get some perspective. This post was about a member of the close-knit Fstoppers team mourning the loss of a friend and given the personal relationship as well as the involvement of photography professionals, the site chose to run this story to memorialize the lives lost and to offer links to memorial funds that have been created. At no point was there a hint of any political rhetoric and I think it's plainly obvious that that was never the aim - primary or tangential - of this post. Steering it in that direction is disrespectful to Stephen, who has lost a friend, and is disrespectful to the victims, who deserved more than to have their lives reduced to the fury and vitriol of internet "debate" and mudslinging. I would respectfully ask that if you feel the need to discuss the political issues you see tied to these events, you do it elsewhere. This post is very clearly about mourning and charity in the wake of a tragedy.
I couldn't have said it better Alex
Alison was my girlfriend's best friend. I was with her all morning as everything was happening. I was fortunate enough to have hung out with Allison a couple times on double dates. Thanks for sharing these. Thoughts go out to you as well as everyone who has been affected.