One question that I am asked a lot is if anyone can submit a photo or if you have to be a firefighter. I do not care if you are a firefighter, buff, or garbage collector. If you took a photo or photos that others might be interested in seeing, then by all means submit it. With that, there are some guidelines that must be noted.
Apparatus: 3/4 angles for posed shots are preferred, but not required. A side shot is ok, but I will not use head on shots, rear-on shots, and close ups of lightbars, bumpers, and wheel covers. Apparatus can be from anywhere in the world for the weekly, but for the most part, only New England apparatus will be archived. I will only use inside shots in the archive if no other photo is available. It is much nicer to see a truck outside than jammed between the wall and another truck. Special exceptions will be made for no longer in service apparatus that have gone the way of the Dodo bird. Many times it is a rare treat to see a photo of these gems at all, so I'm not going to be picky. I may use a close up of a graphic if it's interesting. Due to the amount of time it takes to update the site, I may not post your photos to the archive right away. That doesn't mean I'm not using them, it only means I haven't had the time to work on the archive. Sometimes it may be the better part of a month before I get caught up with the archive submissions.
Stations: I will accept photos of all New England stations, but try and keep the photos in a decent lighting. I will use non-New England stations at my discretion on the weekly page.
Police Vehicles: I will use unique police vehicles on the weekly page and may keep some on the misc page. I am not interested in plain cruisers.
Fire Scenes: I will post fire scene photos to the weekly page as well as the archive. However, when submitting these photos, please send the date of the fire and location.
MVA's and other incidents: I will use these on the weekly page, but as with fires, please send in a little information about the photo such as date and location of the incident.
Candids: Candids are great, but for some reason I get a lot of these with no information. If you can, please include the names of people in the photo and where it was taken (IE after a fire, at a training drill, ect).
Other: If it doesn't fit in the above category, ask. I like variety on the weekly page and enjoy posting different types of photos.

When submitting photos there are a few things that are a must. Please sign your name to the email, even if you've contacted me before. I get tons of emails every week and I don't always remember everyone's name. Credits are a must on the photos. If you want to use your initials or say the photo is courtesy of a department, that's fine. But I will no longer leave the credits blank.

If you didn't take the photo the actual photographer's name MUST be included with the email. And, you MUST have his/her permission to use the photo. The only exceptions are:
B) A department official may grant permission of a fire department photo. This means the chief or his designee such as the deputy, PR officer, or webmaster. The guy that just got hired last week doesn't count unless he took the photo.
C) Photos that are over 25 years old that are part of your collection may be submitted so long as you say they are part of your collection and don't lead me to believe you took the photo. You can not say a photo of a 2007 Pierce Saber that was delivered ten minutes ago is part of your collection.
D) I know that some photographers would rather not use their names and either want the use of initials or "courtesy of XYZ Fire Department". That's fine as long as the actual photographer/department official grants permission to use the photo. And, from now on I will only use an actual name, initials, or department credit. No more "Battleship Bill" or "DowntownTruck53".

For email submissions, please make sure the photo is at least 640X480. I am now using a batch editor and need to save several times during the photo editing process. Large photos are fine, but if it's too small the photo won't look good when displayed on the page. You can submit as many photos as you like, but in the case of multiple shots of the same fire or multiple angles of the same truck, I will usually only pick one to use.

If you do not have a photo scanner, I will be happy to scan the photos for you. Since time is limited, please keep your package of photos to no more than 25 prints per mailing. If you'd like them back, please put a note with your return address inside the envelope. And, even if you don't want your prints back, let me know who the photographer is. I've had a few instances where someone mailed the photos for a friend, but didn't let me know that. I wasted an hour formatting these photos only to have to do it all over again. Snail Mail submissions can be sent to:
John Galla
Stoneham Fire Department
25 Central Street
Stoneham, MA 02180
Please let me know by email if you are going to send prints so I will be on the look out for them.

One subject that comes up fairly frequently is the New England archive. No one owns rights to a particular truck or department. Best photo wins. I've replaced plenty of my own photos because someone sends in a better shot. If the photo online is an inside shot and someone sends an outside shot, then the old photo will be replaced. If the photo online has the truck in the shade and someone sends a nice photo of the truck in the sun, it will be replaced. If the truck online is a 3/4 shot in bright sunshine, then it probably won't be replaced unless the truck is refurbished or drastically changes. The site takes 10-12 hours of my time every week, so if you can check to see if I need a photo of a particular truck first, that would be great. I spend at least an hour a week checking submissions against the archive to see if the photo replaces one already online and if so, which one is better. If you think your photo is better than what is currently online, then go ahead and send it in. But, I'm not going to replace a perfect photo with one that was taken inside the firehouse. The site is online for the benefit of everyone that visits it. It is not here for any one particular person, myself included. When I use photos, don't use photos, or replace photos I am always thinking of what the best interest of the general populous is.

This is my site and I call the shots regarding what photos I use. I reserve the right to accept or reject any photo submitted. Just because you submit a photo, doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to use it.