NAB 2010 - Day 2 Converging Medium

You may think this is some fancy pants operation....Stewart, Rick, Adam and me running around Las Vegas pretending to know what we're doing....well...we know what we're doing but how we're doing it is nothing short of piecemeal.



From Adam's consumer JVC HD Camcorder to my $25 Radio Shack adapter cable we're carry far fewer dollars worth of equipment than during our 9 to 5 routine.



But we like to think we're giving it our best effort despite our lack of fancy pants equipment. I mean look at what Lenslinger had to resort to for his blog because his laptop is at home in a hundred pieces!



Equipment...that's just a money thing. Maybe some of our new aquaintences will pony up a nicer camera and a wireless mic for us to use next year....or maybe I'll just by one.

NAB 08 - Video 4 Kevin Johnson Interview

Kevin Johnson built a website on a whim in 1996 to share pictures with his family.

What it became is certainly a tribute to his chosen profession as a Television Photojournalist. B-Roll.net is a place where TV Photogs all over the world hang out in their down time and share tips, tricks and overall (as Lenslinger might say) tomfoolery.

This is the first of two videos that make up about a 12 minute interview by Stewart "Lenslinger" Pittman with B-Roll.net creator Kevin Johnson.

(Part 2 will be here as soon as it uploads)



PART 2....

NAB 08 - Video 3 People and Their Peds

Sure, the N in NAB stands for National, but people travel from all over the world to come to NAB in Las Vegas and check out the latest greatest in TV gadgetry.

And the sheer amount of new stuff on the floor demands a sizable amount of space putting these peeps and their peds through the paces.

NAB 08 - Travel Tech In Flight GPS

Have you ever done this?



My trip to Las Vegas last week is the first time I've flown since I've had my GPS and I was eager to see how it would work from the confines of the sardine tube in the sky.

The answer is GREAT. Other than taking a bit longer to lock onto the satelites it easily tracked the speed, altitude and location of the aircraft.



I was even able to attach the GPS to the window of the plane so I could have it in front of me for the entire flight.



It was neat to follow the map and be able to identify the cities, towns and even bodies of water we were passing over. If you noticed the power cord coming from the unit, that's because I attached it to my laptop to power it for the duration.



The only downside is the restrictions on using electronic devices below 10,000 feet. (It would have been cool to see the GPS track us right down to the runway!)

NAB 08 - VIDEO 2 As Seen on TV

In TV lights provide the illumination that make the pictures look pretty and what would a good script be without a way to read it live on TV. In Video from Vegas number 2, Lenslinger and Turdpolisher take a (not really close or in-depth) look at fancy new L.E.D lights for cameras, a big light that rivals the sun, a soft box that can backlight the paranoid, a frezzi that can't add intelligence and they even take a stab at the Gettysburg Address.




(SAME VIDEO UPLOADED TO YOUTUBE)

NAB 08 - VIDEO 1 Welcome to NAB...TV Photog Style

As Promised here's some video. One of several to come. This is just an introductory look...a teaser if you will...at some of the things we saw at NAB 08.

NAB 08 - (Not so)Live from the Floor with Lenslinger and Turdpolisher

In what seemed to be a weeklong trip, Stewart "Lenslinger" Pittman, Rick "Turdpolisher" Portier, and I made the trek to Las Vegas for NAB 2008.



We hung out with friends old and new, roamed the NAB floor, partied with fellow photogs at the B-Roll Bash, got way to little sleep and have now all returned home with hundreds of pictures and hours of video.



Now comes the hard part....making something out of all of that material.



Coming up in the next few days to a week check out this site, along with Turdpolisher's and of course Lenslinger's for in-depth and sometimes amusing (to us anyway) stories from the floor of the Las Vegas convention center and NAB 08.





Some of the topics on tap include - 3 almost famous and righteous dudes, the little car that could, the capital city sprinter mobile, how to light video with AA batteries, why supermodels are better than a camera dolly, how Abe Lincoln got through the Gettysburg Address and best of all, an in-depth interview with B-Roll.Net owner and founder Kevin Johnson.



(and now to sound like a cheesy TV tease...) All that and more coming up as quickly as I can compress video and press publish.



For now...Here is a link to the pictures the 3 of us took. Check 'em out while I get cranking on the video.

INTRODUCING Photojournalist Weakly

From the creative mind of a colleague of mine and Stewart's...Jamison Forst has created a series of faux magazine covers dedicated to the lowly Television Photojournalist.



In this first edition of "Photojournalist Weakly" Stewart "Lenslinger" Pittman poses gayly, yet manly, as he ponders where the digital image may turn up in the future. Now he knows.

The cover speaks for itself.

Stand by for Volumes 2 and 3 that have already been created with 2 other photojournalists as the featured cover models.

Lenslinger - Published Book Coming Soon?

I don't have to write a word for you to know what the below picture means...



Published from a blog entry of Stewart's with a few 'tweaks' for the magazine, these pictures depict his work that adorns pages 20, 21, 22 or the January 2007 edition of NPPA's News Photographer Magazine.



It's a great article and although it's loaded with a cup of satire, a tablespoon of sarcasm and a pinch of reality it's all excellent advice for any reporter who has the fervor and ability to produce great work, yet doesn't take themselves too seriously.

Hey Stew...The editors paragraph at the end of the article put's the pressure on for 2007.

Lenslinger's Christmas SurpriseA Blog Come True

Way back on Halloween Stewart was already assembling his Christmas list. Sure, he needed to fill the pages of his blog with something because for the mighty Lenslinger a day without a blog-posting is akin to someone swiping your nicotine patch.

Honestly, he has been drooling out loud over the 12-inch mini TV Photog Ken Doll type War Journalist dude for a while now. And anyone who knows (or has read) Stewart knows how he loves knick-knacks, especially TV related things.

So when he posted his "All I Want for Christmas" blog back on Halloween I didn't even think twice before reaching out to several of his other blogging buddies to jump in and make this thing happen.

The video below is what happened...



I would also like to thank those of you who helped make this happen, including Stewart's wife, Shelly and my wife, Julie!