Juanita Hall, center, sits with her husband Richard at a pickin party on Thursday, January 20, 2011 in Jefferson, Ga. About a dozen musicians joined the weekly bluegrass jam session.
I've never been to a bluegrass house party but theres a first time for everything. Now when i see a Mandolin, 12-string guitar, banjo and stand-up bass, I tend to think punk rock ala Dropkick Murphys (Gratuitous Plug - new album 3/1) but this was a treat.
(Attn Baseball Execs! While you're surfing the internet waiting for your turn at the podium and reading and watching my drivel, draft Bryce Massanari. Class act and a good player.)
Okay, I'm not ESPN and i don't have the resources of the worldwide leader of TV Cameramen getting in your shot sports, but at least i try to make it look good. So in the spirit of Tessie I headed over to Foley Field with a video camera to get practice, interviews, and mix in some game footage i shot 2 weeks ago. (Also found a tripod i left there 2 weeks ago)
Also... I found out that DH Bryce Massanari (he's been mentioned on here a few time) was originally drafted by the Phillies in 2004.
So This past week i got to experience being in the video rotation. We're each taking a week where we are shooting video for our website as well as shooting stills for the print product in an effort to drive multimedia. Of course its a total PITA to actually find any of our multimedia products on our website.
This week i got to do a style piece on Widespread Panic's Sunny Ortiz.
That was fun, obviously i cut back and forth between a static shot on a tripod and a handheld camera shot in B&W. Stylistic and i like it. During the intro of that piece, you see some smoke coming up. One of our new lights started smoking pretty bad and it didnt stop, so I used it as a quick framing device and then changed to another light. I was not going to responsible for killing the basement studio of Widespread Panic.
We also did THREE videos in one day for Georgia Football's signing day.
Signing Day as a whole. (Fellow staffer Trevor Frey did the still pictures in that. I did everything else.)
Head Coach Mark Richt's Presser: (Mainly cut by me and cleaned up by our News Director Melissa Hanna)
Prince Avenue Jon Richt's signing with Clemson (Shot by Me, completely edited by Mel Hanna)
So my thoughts as a whole: In order for Multimedia & the web to somehow be the savior, the marketing & advertising people need to know how to sell it. The print product that i work for has for years had an economic model set up to sell ads, and sadly that model is falling apart... mainly because big corporations still want huge profits. Either way, the ad gurus need to find a way to sell ads for the web and actually PROMOTE our products. Its just not profitable to do video for video's sake. My personal goal is to keep my video from looking like television. It took me forever to find those videos
Equipment wise - You can't do video effectively without a decent camera. The camcorders that i use just aren't pro quality. We make the best of it, but the audio is really lacking, IMO. Its a pain to be both cameraman and audio guy at the same time. We need better cameras that actually have microphones that are more than the stock built in.... but we can't exactly justify those if no one ever looks at the videos.
So all in all, i can shoot video and i will shoot video, I just don't want to enterprise and go out and find a video to make. I want to focus on my still pictures and audio slideshows. Video just isn't a huge priority for me., unless its done in a cool way.
This is especially for those of us who suffered through my Florida newspaper's attempt at video. The last straw was when they wanted me to use my girlfriends video camera.
Okay UGA kids. Time to eat one of your own. Don't be like this UGA video guy who's out on the field, shooting video of the Clarke Central marching band, in everyone's picture. No he wasn't working for the band (i asked) but i did find out he's a UGA technology kid who seems to think that the FOXsports way of putting a camera on the field from third to home is the right way of doing things.
Well guess what? Its not. Its rude. I was annoyed, the school was annoyed and the band wasn't happy either. (What they had to say was far more explicit then i tend to share here)
You simply don't belong on the field and you don't have any more of a right to go out and get that shot just for yourself then i do. So get off the field, jerk.
David is an award-winning photojournalist based in Orlando, Fla., specializing in editorial, corporate and sports photography. David is the 2010 Georgia Photographer of the Year as well as the 2010 runner-up Photojournalist of the Year (Smaller Markets) from the National Press Photographers Association.
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