CAA tournament

So yesterday we started to set up for our long weekend at the Richmond Coliseum shooting the CAA basketball tournament. We didn't do a whole lot yesterday, it was primarily setting up strobes, which is pretty typical in a days work, but it was just a lot more steps than usual. The Coliseum is a little bigger, so it was a workout getting all that equipment up that many steps. Obviously, we handled it, but it should be pretty interesting to see how everything turns out. We only spend 2 hours there yesterday, which is short compared to the countless hours we'll spend there over the weekend. Tomorrow, i'm assuming we'll be there somewhere from 10-12 hours. I show up at the studio at 8:30, the games start at noon, should be a long day. I'm pretty excited about it though.

Total tournament hours: 62

VCU vs ODU

2:00-10:30

VCU on ESPN2

Just thought I'd take a few minutes to recollect my experience yesterday at the basketball when VCU played on ESPN2 against Old Dominion. Overall, it was a great experience, just not the outcome i was looking for at the end of the game, we were up, but maybe some crucial mistakes in the end, we wound up losing in a heartbreaker. Anytime you play on tv like that, there are always big crews, which means you have to work around everyone else. We showed up at the studio at 2 and didn't get out of Siegel Center until 11:00, it was a late night, not a bad day of work though, we did really well on the setup and breaking down lsat night. We only had minor problems with the equipment, we just got back the Mark IIIs (canon) recently, and they've been acting up again, just something different this time. We kept getting a "error 99" message, the camera just had to be turned off and back on, but its inconvenient when it happens to your remote cameras, you have to track them down, screw around a bit, not very reliable. Besides that, everything else worked out nicely. We also experimented with a new pocket wizard configuration, originally we thought it would take less pocket wizards, but it doesn't. There is an advantage to it though, we are able to trigger multiple cameras just by shooting with our hand-held, so we can get multiple angles from one shot, it works out nicely, we just have to compensate for the shutter lag between the different cameras, whenever we get that figured out, everything should be great. Wish I had more to discuss but thats about all that was new for the shoot last night, we have another game on wednesday so we should be fine. I'm looking forward to the CAA tournament thats coming up in March, should be exciting and also bring in some good money, which I could really use at this point.

Finishing up

Finished off the photo shoot where we left off last night, we shot from about 1:00-5:00. The photos turned out well, again just typical shots, just products from different angles and finding ways to light them evenly and making sure logos and text come out well. Can't say there was much else, just exhausted, it was a long day.

Camcorders, etc.

Just another Circuit City shoot at the studio yesterday (Feb. 13, 2008). By the time i got in, Barry and Scott had already been shooting, the lighting setup was pretty standard for what we've been doing lately, 3 soft boxes connected at the corners to form a semi-circle, more or less. I can't say there was anything out of the ordinary with the shots, just following the standards and shooting different angles of cameras and camcorders, even some out-of-box shots. I wound up getting there about 11:30-12, stayed til 7:00, not a bad days work. I go back in today to finish off the shoot, we only have a few things to do. Its Valentines Day today, so I'm hoping we dont work too hard today, I haven't even gotten to work yet, and already I want to go home and take a nap.

Another Shoot w/ Circuit City

Today I worked from 11-10:30, we shot some product shots for Circuit City, which mainly consisted of a stereo system, some camera cases. There were a few other things, and there will be even more next week. Its never really that exciting, because its products, but i'm learning a great deal about lighting and how light hits different products, and how to resolve certain lighting issues. The majority of the time, we use a big softbox over the top, then just reflect the light using white foam core or mirrors that are sprayed with dulling spray. I can't really say there was much more today, unless you'd like to know what I ate during the shoot, we ordered lunch from Bakers Crust, again, its not really the greatest place, I think we're starting to dislike it. The place is made out to be gourmet sandwiches but they skimp you. I got a "New Yorker" which was pastrami, swiss, and mustard, few other things, just dont remember. The highlight food of the day was definitely my dinner at the studio, Chicken and Vermicelli from Vietnam I, one of my favorite places in Richmond to eat. Its cheap and it tastes fantastic.

Weekend

Saturday was another basketball game shoot, we showed up at 12 o clock. We showed up early because it was a busy week around campus, so we had to get in there to make sure we had enough time to get everything up and running. The game was good, lots of screaming fans and a conference win, it never can hurt. Besides that, I can't say theres much going on around the studio, we do have 4 upcoming Circuit City shoots, but they're not penciled into the schedule at the moment, we still have to get the objects to photograph and a final date hasn't been reached up to this point. They'll probably happen last this week or sometime next week, should be pretty busy with the basketball tournament coming up as well. Besides Circuit City, I dont know of any other goings on in the studio. Thats about all I've got for now. I would like to add, we finally installed the motorized winch for the enormous softbox. Now we don't have to lift 250 lbs by hand everytime we need to adjust the lights. It should make our jobs a lot easier.

Total Hours: 7