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In typical DC fashion the first day of March brings us the first ‘real’ snow of the winter season.

I’m dreaming of a white ides of March

Ok, all bad lyrical destruction aside, snow day in DC means delays and havoc, and OMG the world is ending!!  Well, maybe not that bad.

The one event I was slated to shoot was cancelled, probably for the safety of the kids.  A rescheduling is happening.  This was the first of three events on the calendar for the week.  A visit to the National Press Club and maybe Miami (on Friday) will round out the shooting for the week.  Hopefully details will be coming soon so I can book travel plans for Friday.

The building is pretty quiet today thanks to the 2-hour delay and the unscheduled leave many people are taking advantage, and why not?  Sure I got in regular time, but that is more so I don’t have to worry about metro delays and a visit to the gym.

So today I will be in editing heaven for both still and video.  And since it is quiet here I have Icon of Coil blasting in the studio - I love isolated working spaces for jsut that reason!

I know I am behind in updating a few things here.  There are two trips that I need to write up, and maybe some other observations .  But I wanted to pass along a quick tale real quick because what happened was so funny.

The new year brings us changes and new bosses. These few weeks afford us the time to build a game plan for how to attack not only the coming year but also the needs of the incoming administraton.

Little chat sessions in the office help hammer out details on what equipment and software we need to provide … Wait did you hear that?  There it is again. What the helll is something crawling up there?

Yup, something was crawling in our ceiling tiles. We knew it wasn’t just people pulling cables - one of the cable pullers was in our space asking us a question soon after we discovered the sound. So we figures we either had a rat or a squirrel playing around up there.

We were trying to follow the sounds - I think it is over there, listen … Shit!  It sounds like there are ages of them. WTF dude.

Paul called the building peipleto tell them and we tried to go back to work. Have you ever tried concentrating on work when there are critters scurrying over head on ceiling tiles you just know will crumble any moment?  If not then let me tell ya, it ain’t east.

A few people cam in and we shared in the creepy sounds of the studio.  There we were 4 guys being all tough and hardened.  ”Just grab a ladder and see what is up there” was thrown out there. “oh it will be scared if it sees anyone so let’s do it”, sure these suggestions were placed on the table but no one actually was stepping up to the plate to do any of it.

We tried, again to go back to work and ignore the visitor. GSA wouldn’t be by until the morning to do anything so might as well move on. A minute or two later we heard a noise around the corner - a corner ceiling tile had fallen down. Paul and I went to investigate and we ended up doing a scene from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. Out popped a little head - as we were checking out the hole - and we both jumped back and said, not too quietly, SQUIRREL!

Haha, you should have seen us. We were laughing our asses off because of this little furry thing poking out and startling us. After seeing the little nose pop put a few more times we, the photographer, finally realize we should be shooting this. Paul grabbed the vid cam and I did a brief intro (I need to see if I can grab the video to see my goody self) - to get the audience up to speed. And then … Nothing.

We heard some noises but after a few minutes nothing. Our little friend either went elsewhere or found its way back out.

For the rest of the work day we heard nothing - all this started about 3:30 btw.  So our adventure with the furry friend came to a close … for now.

Things are relatively slow around here so I thought I would take a few moments and talk about one of the regular jobs that get tossed our way and how I shoot it.

I have noticed that for events that take place in the auditorium I follow certain steps.  When it comes to presentations in our auditorium there isn’t much change from one event to the next.  The podium stays in the same place, some times there is PowerPoint and other times not.  Other options are panel discussions or not.  But aside from the random event, nothing is that much different.  Sure it is a little repetitive but in my former life (previous job) I was stuck in the booth running the events so at least I’m given a different angle to work with.  There are the fun events - especially off-site visits - and it isn’t like these events are horrible, they just are part of the routine.

In the back of the auditorium there is a half-height wall that separates the seating from what we use as the press area.  Typically that area goes unused (unless large events occur) so I can set up shop back there.  For these events I swap back and forth between the 17-55 and the 70-200.  Taking up the table I tend to lay out all my gear so I can quickly change out the lenses.  I have debated on pulling up the D2X with me and slapping a lens on each but I really love the way the D3 has very little noise on higher ISO settings, around the 2000 range.  I like how using a setting of 2000 I can get a more dramatic image and retain what is being projected on the screen since I don’t have to use a flash.  Tossing the long lens on the D2X and using a flash from the back of the room works out ok, but again, the deeper image from the non-flash D3 images look better to us.

Today was a fun day of shooting video and the beginning of the editing process.

The big trick in filming people is to make them as comfortable as possible.  Many of the people that come into our studio do not have experience in talking on camera.  Sure they have experience talking to huge crowds of people while giving presentations, but sitting in a room with nothing but a couple of people and a camera to stare down.  Not having others to play off can be a daunting task and not working off a script can only elevate the nervousness and tension. It isn’t their fault really.  It is not their job to be camera savy.  It is out job to make sure they are made comfortable and confident.

Aside from setting lights and sound, starting the camera, and coaching the talking heads, reassurance is needed.  Having to do several takes for a segment really isn’t a bother.  Thanks to digital production we can shoot all day and not have any wasted tape.  As long as you reassure the person that not everyone is able to be a one-take charlie.  Calming down the frustration and embarrassment some might feel after take 12 is all in a day’s work.  Telling them, “Oh yeah, we have had much worse in here”  and “don’t worry, you are doing fine”  comes with the territory.  And as you are saying this you quietly hope that you can do some quick enough dissolves to hide the face they made at the end or the rolling eyes - no matter how many times you told them to just hold until being told recording has stopped.

Putting the pieces of the puzzle together is where the real fun begins.  It is always a good day when the video will contains slides - like the one today did.  Slides help mask all sorts of odd visual cuts as long as you make the audio work.  This afternoon I slaved over a hot computer, well ok, it wasn’t that hot, prepping the clips and dropping them on the timeline.

A 45 minute shoot (for about 10-15 minutes of footage) is reasonable for the inexperienced, but when they don’t give enough time for a production meeting before the shoot day surprises can pop up.  The surprise today - aside from no script even during the shoot - is that they need the video to be ready for shipping on Friday.  This after we first mentioned on Monday we aren’t sure how fast we can turn it around thanks to a full schedule and only two bodies in the studio.  But everything is on schedule and on its way to completion.

Sure working in a studio can make life easier than shooting an event.  You have total control over the lighting, camera position, and the person in the spotlight.  But all that control only helps so much when you have people who are not only not used to the situation but also are not prepared.

Just another day in the studio.

Since I have been enjoying a relaxing flex day today I figured this was the perfect opportunity do a look-back on everything so far.

Where do I begin?  I know if I tried to cover everything in one post then I think chapters would be needed.  Well, let’s see what happens.

The one thing I am trying to get used to is having people support me instead of the other way around.  For so long I have been a tech with little back background support and now everything is different.  It is a nice feeling to know all I have to do is pick up the phone or drop an email and there will be a response.  I’m not one that likes to be waited on, and I’m not taking advantage of the situation.  I’m just happy that someone will stand up and make sure things are working like it should be.  With that said, I’m still figuring out who to turn to for issues and equipment needs.  I have my boss for office oriented needs and we (the studio) has a tech person we can go to for all our tech needs.

Of course being backed by different suppor people doesn’t mean everything runs nice and smooth, especially with dealings with paychecks.  Ugh.  I turned in all my paperwork for direct deposit and was looking forward to the first payday - who wouldn’t?   While I was in SC I received an email asking for my Direct Deposit form.  I immediately emailed back saying I already turned in the form but if I need to fill out another I can.  Later that day I received another email stating they have my form and everything was ok.  Ok, back to waiting for payday.  The day before payday I received a ‘live’ check in the mail.  Well ok, I figured the information wasn’t able to get put in the system early enough to allow for the first check to be deposited, no big deal.  Yesterday I decided to just double check that the form is in and the next check will be sent to the bank - I did so by replying to the email saying they have my form.  Surprise surprise the response was “We need your info to check and see if you ever turned in a form.”  Da hell?   Instead of going through all the different call sto HR let me sum it all up:

• We have the form and will put it in
• We don’t have the form because we thought we already entered it in the system and now the form is destroyed so please bring us the info again
• We found your form clipped to another person’s paperwork.

So now I am curious what will happen in a couple weeks when payday rolls back around.  Of course I don’t know how al this DD confusion is going to hinder me getting my reimbursement from the SC trip.  Typically reimbursements are processed through the system and is directed to the DD on file.  Hopefully if everything went through before yesterday - reimbursement - then I will just receive another check in the mail.

But, issues aside, membership does have its privileges.  Yesterday I went upstairs to pick up a delivery - a new lens for both of us.  Two AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED.  This puppy has some nice clean glass on it and thanks to the constant 2.8 it is fast too.  Pair the 2.8 with the vibration reduction another potential 3 stops.  With the nice results with an ISO2000 the world really opens up with potential for images - especially when a flash isn’t an option.

Well, there is more to type but I think that is good enough for now.