Caron went in and found Booger. He was a nice guy and even came out and posed for a picture with Caron. I think we made his day.
I think if I was going to get a shoeshine he'd be my pick!
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
A Shining Booger
On the way to lunch on Tuesday, reporter Caron Myers, myself and a photojournalist from a competing station walked by a barbershop with some interesting signage that I just had to get a picture of. The words on the window conjure up all kinds funny sayings.....
Caron went in and found Booger. He was a nice guy and even came out and posed for a picture with Caron. I think we made his day.
I think if I was going to get a shoeshine he'd be my pick!
Caron went in and found Booger. He was a nice guy and even came out and posed for a picture with Caron. I think we made his day.
I think if I was going to get a shoeshine he'd be my pick!
Another Day in Paradise
Monday's are supposed to be painful. That's just the way life works. But since when is that torture supposed to carry over to Tuesday.
On Monday while your friendly neighborhood Lenslinger was knee high in the judiciary of an 8 week murder trial, I myself was in lockup at another murder trial on it's first day of jury selection.
Jeffrey McFayden is on trial for the deaths of 3 women in 2003 when he allegedly crashed into the limo they were riding in and the limo burst into flame trapping them in the inferno.
Both of these trials are being heavily covered by all of the local TV Stations and the judges have allowed cameras in the courtrooms.
Over in Graham at the Greer trial the protocol for court coverage places one camera at the back of the courtroom and while one station's photog mans the camera the other stations record the video from another room.
In the Guilford County Superior Courtroom there is a private room built into the courtroom, with a small window for us to video and photograph through.
This room is a great idea except for a few basic flaws.
Number 1- The window is only big enough for one camera. We still have to hook up all of our recording devices and have one shooter do all the work.(OK so that's actually a good thing.)
Number 2- The door to leave the room leads into the courtroom and the judge ordered us to stay in the cell except during breaks. That pretty much makes us inmates of the Superior court for the day.
Number 3- The judge says the light in the room MUST be OFF during court. So not only are we incarcerated, we are tortured in this abysmal chamber.
So there I was, all day Monday, stuck in this dark confinement with 3 other photogs. We spent most of the day with our faces in our hands. I found myself at one point flat on the floor in a failed attempt at comfort. Occasionally one of us would get up and roll tape on a few more minutes of the painstakingly long jury selection.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning.
"Take Live 5 to Graham with Caron for the Greer Trial" spoke the Omnipotent Assignment Manager.
I gave him the shocked but 'OK, I'm on it...' look and took off to the other side of Alamance county.
With the jury now into their second day of deliberations, us TV journalists covering the event found ourselves looking for ways to cope with the slow pace of waiting for news.
We watched as State Law Enforcers played Video Games on laptops.
We cackled as we told each other 'war stories'.
We jumped each time the balif walked to to door of the jury room.
We fournd ourselves trying to guess the exact time the verdict would come in.
We were all wrong.
We (I) voiced displeasure at my being excused from the courtroom for wearing shorts.
Not that I was the only one in shorts. My fellow Phojo's from the big 2 (forground) and XII(big guy at the right rear) were also in shorts. Luckily the pool photog and another photog had their long pants on. I was only worried when they took their bathroom break at the same time.
And what about the ladies??? Women in short skirts and midriff showing shirts? I digress....
I didn't have to be inside the courtrooom on this day, but had walked into the courtroom several times over the course of the day for various reasons including technical assistance to the pool photographer. So this one time when I went in to ask my co-worker a question, the balif promptly called me down. His boss, Sheriff Terry Johnson, later told me the baliff was following the judges order of no shorts in the courtroom, but Johnson talked to the judge and all was cleared for me to head back into court if I needed to.
Like Lenslinger on the previous day, I talked blogshop with fellow J-blogger McCall Pera. What a great personality she has. McCall is a true proffessional. A dedicated and hardworking journalist. (you didn't here me say this, but, she deserves better than you know where.)
Interupting all of our 'fun', the jury came out of 'the room' several times. Each time was for a break, or lunch and finally, just to go home for the day.
The deliberations will continue on Wednesday and we'll be back. It may be the same group or hopefully our co-workers. Whatever the case we will find a way to pass the time until the mayhem called post trial coverage takes over.
On Monday while your friendly neighborhood Lenslinger was knee high in the judiciary of an 8 week murder trial, I myself was in lockup at another murder trial on it's first day of jury selection.
Jeffrey McFayden is on trial for the deaths of 3 women in 2003 when he allegedly crashed into the limo they were riding in and the limo burst into flame trapping them in the inferno.
Both of these trials are being heavily covered by all of the local TV Stations and the judges have allowed cameras in the courtrooms.
Over in Graham at the Greer trial the protocol for court coverage places one camera at the back of the courtroom and while one station's photog mans the camera the other stations record the video from another room.
In the Guilford County Superior Courtroom there is a private room built into the courtroom, with a small window for us to video and photograph through.
This room is a great idea except for a few basic flaws.
Number 1- The window is only big enough for one camera. We still have to hook up all of our recording devices and have one shooter do all the work.(OK so that's actually a good thing.)
Number 2- The door to leave the room leads into the courtroom and the judge ordered us to stay in the cell except during breaks. That pretty much makes us inmates of the Superior court for the day.
Number 3- The judge says the light in the room MUST be OFF during court. So not only are we incarcerated, we are tortured in this abysmal chamber.
So there I was, all day Monday, stuck in this dark confinement with 3 other photogs. We spent most of the day with our faces in our hands. I found myself at one point flat on the floor in a failed attempt at comfort. Occasionally one of us would get up and roll tape on a few more minutes of the painstakingly long jury selection.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning.
"Take Live 5 to Graham with Caron for the Greer Trial" spoke the Omnipotent Assignment Manager.
I gave him the shocked but 'OK, I'm on it...' look and took off to the other side of Alamance county.
With the jury now into their second day of deliberations, us TV journalists covering the event found ourselves looking for ways to cope with the slow pace of waiting for news.
We watched as State Law Enforcers played Video Games on laptops.
We cackled as we told each other 'war stories'.
We jumped each time the balif walked to to door of the jury room.
We fournd ourselves trying to guess the exact time the verdict would come in.
We were all wrong.
We (I) voiced displeasure at my being excused from the courtroom for wearing shorts.
Not that I was the only one in shorts. My fellow Phojo's from the big 2 (forground) and XII(big guy at the right rear) were also in shorts. Luckily the pool photog and another photog had their long pants on. I was only worried when they took their bathroom break at the same time.
And what about the ladies??? Women in short skirts and midriff showing shirts? I digress....
I didn't have to be inside the courtrooom on this day, but had walked into the courtroom several times over the course of the day for various reasons including technical assistance to the pool photographer. So this one time when I went in to ask my co-worker a question, the balif promptly called me down. His boss, Sheriff Terry Johnson, later told me the baliff was following the judges order of no shorts in the courtroom, but Johnson talked to the judge and all was cleared for me to head back into court if I needed to.
Like Lenslinger on the previous day, I talked blogshop with fellow J-blogger McCall Pera. What a great personality she has. McCall is a true proffessional. A dedicated and hardworking journalist. (you didn't here me say this, but, she deserves better than you know where.)
Interupting all of our 'fun', the jury came out of 'the room' several times. Each time was for a break, or lunch and finally, just to go home for the day.
The deliberations will continue on Wednesday and we'll be back. It may be the same group or hopefully our co-workers. Whatever the case we will find a way to pass the time until the mayhem called post trial coverage takes over.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Another Wild Ride
At least my Thunderbird Flight in my last entry didn't go like this....
You probably remember this September, 2003 crash of the Number 6 jet of the USAF Thunderbirds.
Reader's Digest just had a story about it with the pilot's account of the accident. There is also more information at this website, including links to the official report detailing how pilot error caused the crash.
It happened because the pilot mis-calculated the altitude he needed to make the loop on the way back down(he needed to fly higher because of their height above sea level).
I just though it would be cool to share these two video clips. This next one is the in cockpit video of this 22 second flight.
The video brings back more memories of my flight. They gave me detailed instructions on how to bail out like that....and the ramifications. The pilot told the Reader's Digest that he lost 2 inches of height because of compression in his spine from the 15g's of force in the ejection. The military will only allow pilot's to eject from a jet twice before grounding them permenantly.
More TV News Next Time. I promise. Really.
You probably remember this September, 2003 crash of the Number 6 jet of the USAF Thunderbirds.
Reader's Digest just had a story about it with the pilot's account of the accident. There is also more information at this website, including links to the official report detailing how pilot error caused the crash.
It happened because the pilot mis-calculated the altitude he needed to make the loop on the way back down(he needed to fly higher because of their height above sea level).
I just though it would be cool to share these two video clips. This next one is the in cockpit video of this 22 second flight.
The video brings back more memories of my flight. They gave me detailed instructions on how to bail out like that....and the ramifications. The pilot told the Reader's Digest that he lost 2 inches of height because of compression in his spine from the 15g's of force in the ejection. The military will only allow pilot's to eject from a jet twice before grounding them permenantly.
More TV News Next Time. I promise. Really.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Wild Blue Yonder...
In 1995 I was just a fledgling 22 year old photojournalist with just 2 years of professional TV experience under my belt. But even in that short amount of time I must had made a great impression on the PR guys and gals at Seymour Johnson AFB there in my hometown of Goldsboro, NC, because when the Thunderbirds came to town that year they asked to fly on the media flight.It was a no brainer. I had wanted to be a fighter pilot as a kid so Hell Yeah I was gonna fly.
Let me just say, it's like nothing else in the world!!!
PUSH Play or CLICK HERE and laugh at me or with me....either way it was great.
It was really cool how proffessional they are and how they treated me. For pulling the 9g's I received a tie pin that I still have. I was also given a large personalized poster, a flight certificate and they took a roll of pictures documenting the day that they also handed over to me.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Photog Bloggers Unite
If you went out on any street in any town and asked anybody to name any three things a TV Cameraman needs to do his/her job you would probably get these answers, maybe not in this order...
NEW VEHICLE
VIDEO CAMERA
MICROPHONE
Those three items are the basic tools of the trade, but logistically, there is a lot more equipment, big and small, involved in gathering the news on a daily basis.
Some of which is used on a daily basis, some things are just stuffed away and forgotten about until needed.
My news vehicle is my office. This is it. A 1999 Ford Explorer with simple logos to let the viewer's know we are on the road. (so they can call our bosses if we drive to bad)
It's not too crowded up front, but with my two scanners on the podium in the center I can keep up with the goings on in all of the counties in the market.
And news gathering can be rough on a vehicle. With 144-some-odd-thousand miles on the odometer, it has taken it's share of bumps and dings.
Into the back seat there is little room for passengers with my stash of maps, notebooks, boots, leftover lunch bags and drinkcups, and other items that I may use one day.
I try to use an old milk crate to keep everything organized but it just spills right out.
Open up the rear tailgate and you find the business end. On the right, a Port-a-brace Camera bag. In the middle, several more milk crates of varying sizes. On the left a light kit and my tripod.
The milk crates makes it easy to carry all of the accessories of news gathering and quickly make the transition into a live truck on any given day.
My tripod goes on the far left on top of the light kit. It is imperative to be easy access for getting out quickly and getting shots of quickly developing news scenes. My 'pod is a Gitzo brand tripod with an oversized O'conner head.
My Sony XDCam is about 6 months old now, but it is a gem of a camera. It uses a Proffessional Disc that is housed in a cartridge. The disc will hold up to 90 minutes of video. I love the XDCam. I could go on and on and on....but I won't. That's what the XDCam links are for at the bottom right side of this blog.
I have a Sennheiser Shotgun mic mounted to the camera on a quick release mic holder. It is ideal for the on the run interview. The Sennheiser shotgun is a great directional mic that picks up exceptionally clear sound from long distances.
My wireless options include these two Sony UHF wireless transmitters. I prefer the 'cigarette pack' style lavalier, but the Sony wireless stick mic comes in handy also.
Powering the camera are these Anton Bauer Dionic Batteries.
They have a digital readout on the side that tells me how much power is left in the battery. The 3 that I have are a far cry from the 10 NP-1s that I used to carry.
I take my camera home most of the time but when the time comes to leave the camera at the station I head to the Swamp. One might expect to find cadavers on slabs behind those doors, but aside from the occasional DOA Camera waiting for it's XD replacement, these boxes are the homes for Camcorders, batteries, tapes and whatever else we can stuff into it.
My box, which is in need of a long overdue clean up, holds lots of tapes and paperwork and a calendar or two. I post news, jokes and pictures on the inside of my door to add a little personal flair.
All that's really just a fraction of a fraction of the must have items to be an effective TV News Photojournalist. I will certainly be sharing more as the days, weeks and years go forth.
Here's the all the photog bloggers that are doing the show-n-tell today.
Be sure to check them out!
lenslinger
tv photog blog
newshutr's views
beFrank
kazz's world
little lost robot
smitty
erin winking
colonel corn
Dressed for NASCAR
Who'd have ever thought that I would get dressed up to go to a NASCAR event.
But I did just that today as Governor Mike Easley, NEXTEL and Lowe's Motor Speedway brought racecars and racecar drivers to Raleigh today to get the politicians of the state to support keeping NASCAR in North Carolina.
"You will be going into the Legislative Joint Session", I was told by the assignment manager.
I've been lucky for years to rarely pull Legislative duty but I knew immediately that the assignment meant coat and tie.
And since I can be found dressed in a coat and tie so rarely that some would say there is a better chance of being struck by lightening than seeing me like that I had to go home and make sure my Sunday bests were still good.
I went from casual phojo on Monday, covering a high rise fire in High Point.....
Photo Credits....Photos 1, 6 Eric White----2,5,7 Caron Myers----3,4,8,9 Chris Weaver
But I did just that today as Governor Mike Easley, NEXTEL and Lowe's Motor Speedway brought racecars and racecar drivers to Raleigh today to get the politicians of the state to support keeping NASCAR in North Carolina.
Or better stated, to make sure it doesn't meander away from Caron the state as NASCAR continues to grow, spread and diversify.
"You will be going into the Legislative Joint Session", I was told by the assignment manager.
I've been lucky for years to rarely pull Legislative duty but I knew immediately that the assignment meant coat and tie.
And since I can be found dressed in a coat and tie so rarely that some would say there is a better chance of being struck by lightening than seeing me like that I had to go home and make sure my Sunday bests were still good.
I went from casual phojo on Monday, covering a high rise fire in High Point.....
But not all of the Photogs covering the event were dressed up. Some were not to going inside the Legislative building, while other's like WRAL's Don Ingle told me he got the call too late to break out the suit and tie this morning. He was able to gracefully decline the dressy indoor duty.
Photo Credits....Photos 1, 6 Eric White----2,5,7 Caron Myers----3,4,8,9 Chris Weaver
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Falling TV Cameras
One of these days I am going to post about the camera I once totaled at my very first TV Job. It was the day I thought I was going to lose my very first TV Job, but didn't.
Somewhere exists a videotape with the footage as my camera went from gathering a nice wide shot of the Gold Leaf Festival in Wilson, NC, to crashing to the ground on the collapse of a lightweight tripod.
Until I find the video evidence I leave you with this link. Billy the Blogging Poet has penned a prose that is particulary poignant for this event.
And I promise....as soon as I find that tape it will be posted.
Somewhere exists a videotape with the footage as my camera went from gathering a nice wide shot of the Gold Leaf Festival in Wilson, NC, to crashing to the ground on the collapse of a lightweight tripod.
Until I find the video evidence I leave you with this link. Billy the Blogging Poet has penned a prose that is particulary poignant for this event.
And I promise....as soon as I find that tape it will be posted.
Friday, May 06, 2005
THE BIG LINK
The Big Link this week..... The Optimistic Pessimist.
His glass is half empty, unless it's half full.
His glass is half empty, unless it's half full.
Fear Factor
The newsroom emergency scanners crackled to life this morning with 3 letters that got the newsroom hopping....and pulled me away from an edit session scheduled to last most of the day.
W__M__D. They couldn't be found in Iraq, but the Greensboro Fire department had been dispatched to a local financial institution for a possible discovery of said three letters. An unknown white powder, inside a deposit bag that contained a local restuarant's deposit.
I arrived at the bank as backup. My colleague Matt Jensen was already roaming the perimeter looking for new angles from which to document the brick establishment surrounded by fire, rescue and hazmat apparatus. My colleauge Eric White was working all the angles related to getting sound on tape....Interviews....the information our viewers need to understand what is happening.
A News and Record Photographer was also staking out the joint, large lenses and a portable scanner in tow. His fellow wordsmith roaming the scene also looking for answers.
There wasn't much time to waste, it was all happening in the 11 o'clock a.m. hour. I grabbed the keys from Jensen and set up the live truck in anticipation of a Live Shot at noon. Matt jumped in the truck and edited a 30 second collage of the firefighters entering the building and EMS bosses scurrying for answers.
Eric had enough answers of his own just before noon to go to air with the story. Some flour (as in the kind used to make biscuits) had apparently gotten into the area of the money and ultimately made it's way to the bank. That was it. Period. No W_M_D. No biological agents. No Danger.
The Live Shot was off. The story turned into just a quick mention at noon. Eric and Matt were on their way back to their previous assignment. I was going to lunch, and then to finish editing that story you may have seen being promo'ed for Sunday.
Before I took off though I talked to an old buddy of mine, Chris Roseboro. Today he was one of the first firefighters in the building. He used to work with us at Fox 8, he has been on Fear Factor and now he is now employed by the Greenboro Fire Department.
Now he gets to play Fear Factor everytime the crackling box of emergency notification comes to life.
W__M__D. They couldn't be found in Iraq, but the Greensboro Fire department had been dispatched to a local financial institution for a possible discovery of said three letters. An unknown white powder, inside a deposit bag that contained a local restuarant's deposit.
I arrived at the bank as backup. My colleague Matt Jensen was already roaming the perimeter looking for new angles from which to document the brick establishment surrounded by fire, rescue and hazmat apparatus. My colleauge Eric White was working all the angles related to getting sound on tape....Interviews....the information our viewers need to understand what is happening.
A News and Record Photographer was also staking out the joint, large lenses and a portable scanner in tow. His fellow wordsmith roaming the scene also looking for answers.
There wasn't much time to waste, it was all happening in the 11 o'clock a.m. hour. I grabbed the keys from Jensen and set up the live truck in anticipation of a Live Shot at noon. Matt jumped in the truck and edited a 30 second collage of the firefighters entering the building and EMS bosses scurrying for answers.
Eric had enough answers of his own just before noon to go to air with the story. Some flour (as in the kind used to make biscuits) had apparently gotten into the area of the money and ultimately made it's way to the bank. That was it. Period. No W_M_D. No biological agents. No Danger.
The Live Shot was off. The story turned into just a quick mention at noon. Eric and Matt were on their way back to their previous assignment. I was going to lunch, and then to finish editing that story you may have seen being promo'ed for Sunday.
Before I took off though I talked to an old buddy of mine, Chris Roseboro. Today he was one of the first firefighters in the building. He used to work with us at Fox 8, he has been on Fear Factor and now he is now employed by the Greenboro Fire Department.
Now he gets to play Fear Factor everytime the crackling box of emergency notification comes to life.
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