D.St.
Well-known member
There's nothing notable about my first package, since I had been shooting for about 9 months before I shot a package (I had been VO/SOT boy before then). I'm sure it sucked then, but it was nothing I got yelled at for.
However, my first big assignment was a bit hairy (AB, if you're reading this, you'll probably remember this too).
Until this day, I had shot nothing but high school football. I was working part time, and I shot only HS football on Friday nights.
Along comes the big matchup between Clemson and South Carolina. The chief photog asks me to shoot the game from the photo deck. I was ecstatic. Me, getting to shoot the Clemson-Carolina game.
But, just about everything that could go wrong did. I was on the photo deck an hour in advance of the game, ready to go. I adjusted the tripod, white balanced, had the power supply, all of my tapes labeled, etc. But when the game began, the camera wouldn't fire. It wouldn't roll tape.
I got the reporter I was with (who still shot at the time), and he couldn't get the camera to work. I just wouldn't fire.
He sent me back to the station to get another camera. I didn't get back until the end of the third quarter. By that time, the game was pretty much decided, and the reporter said I should just shoot his standup and post with the USC head coach.
I setup in the post game room, plugged my channel 1 into the mult-box (still a new concept for me). Keep in mind the channel 1 part. I had no earpiece, so I didn't monitor audio (a mistake I have yet to make since then).
Since I had worked at this station, I was taught that channel 1 was the hand held mic, and that channel 2 was the on-board mic. No one had ever shown me the audio switches on the deck, and it just so happened I had the camera of the one photog on the staff that shot with the on-board mic feeding into channel one.
Needless to say, the audio from one of the biggest sports stories of the year sounded like dog feces. However, I didn't find this out until later.
On the way back to the station, I got into my news unit (an old Taurus), and tried to release the parking break. The cable to the release broke, so I had to crawl under the car and release the break manually (I'm fairly auto savvy). About that time, one of the most well-repsected broadcasters in SC (Bob Fulton), was walking up to me, and took out his hand for me to shake. As I was about to explain that my hand was full of grease, he grabbed my hand for the handshake and a hand full of grease.
So after this embarrassment, I get back to the station, find out from AB that my audio was crap because of the switch thing. The reporter I was working with told me the news director wanted my head. After all of this, I was fairly certain I would never be asked back into the station again.
I'm now the senior photog at this station, and the primary sports shooter. Needless to say, I got my act together.
However, my first big assignment was a bit hairy (AB, if you're reading this, you'll probably remember this too).
Until this day, I had shot nothing but high school football. I was working part time, and I shot only HS football on Friday nights.
Along comes the big matchup between Clemson and South Carolina. The chief photog asks me to shoot the game from the photo deck. I was ecstatic. Me, getting to shoot the Clemson-Carolina game.
But, just about everything that could go wrong did. I was on the photo deck an hour in advance of the game, ready to go. I adjusted the tripod, white balanced, had the power supply, all of my tapes labeled, etc. But when the game began, the camera wouldn't fire. It wouldn't roll tape.
I got the reporter I was with (who still shot at the time), and he couldn't get the camera to work. I just wouldn't fire.
He sent me back to the station to get another camera. I didn't get back until the end of the third quarter. By that time, the game was pretty much decided, and the reporter said I should just shoot his standup and post with the USC head coach.
I setup in the post game room, plugged my channel 1 into the mult-box (still a new concept for me). Keep in mind the channel 1 part. I had no earpiece, so I didn't monitor audio (a mistake I have yet to make since then).
Since I had worked at this station, I was taught that channel 1 was the hand held mic, and that channel 2 was the on-board mic. No one had ever shown me the audio switches on the deck, and it just so happened I had the camera of the one photog on the staff that shot with the on-board mic feeding into channel one.
Needless to say, the audio from one of the biggest sports stories of the year sounded like dog feces. However, I didn't find this out until later.
On the way back to the station, I got into my news unit (an old Taurus), and tried to release the parking break. The cable to the release broke, so I had to crawl under the car and release the break manually (I'm fairly auto savvy). About that time, one of the most well-repsected broadcasters in SC (Bob Fulton), was walking up to me, and took out his hand for me to shake. As I was about to explain that my hand was full of grease, he grabbed my hand for the handshake and a hand full of grease.
So after this embarrassment, I get back to the station, find out from AB that my audio was crap because of the switch thing. The reporter I was working with told me the news director wanted my head. After all of this, I was fairly certain I would never be asked back into the station again.
I'm now the senior photog at this station, and the primary sports shooter. Needless to say, I got my act together.
