Big Knock Out at Ultimate Reno Combat 43

 

Here I am ringside perched above the action at Ultimate Reno Combat 43 on Aug 24th where Sinjen Smith defended his URC Lightweight title against Rob Gamble with a devastating kick to the head early in the first round. I got all the action from my position and wanted to share the video with you.

 

As you can see it was lights out as poor Rob Gamble lay there frozen for minutes and they couldn't get his mouth piece out because his jaw was clenched so tight. I've seen a lot of knockouts in my day but this one takes the cake. You look at the replay and you can see it was Sinjen's lower leg that got him. You can read more about this fight in the most recent Reno News & Review (http://www.newsreview.com/reno/home) there's a great cover story called "Fight Night" by Brad Bynum where he discusses this fight and talks more about Ultimate Reno Combat. But for me nothing tells the story like a video from a person who was there.

Reno Combat 40 and Your Reno Camera Guy

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Audio Visual Support for CANA 2013 Spring Meeting

On March 8-10, 2013 I was working in Monterey CA for CANA. They're probably my favorite client and I enjoy every minute working with them. Plus I get to see some of the coolest places in California like this beach scene below.

This is the second year I've been supporting CANA. It stands for "California Association of Nurse Anesthetists" (http://www.canainc.org/) and they meet twice a year. I supply and operate all their Audio Visual equipment for the 3 days. This meeting was held at the Monterey Marriott (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mryca-monterey-marriott/) which is a lovely property right there in Monterey Bay. I was impressed with their superb service. Don't get the idea I was walking on the beach everyday because I was busy working and spent most of my time in San Carlos Ballrooms III & IV.

Here I am at my front of house control table. Pretty straightforward with wireless mics, sound reinforcement, 8 channel mixer, 6 hardwired mics (SM58's), PC/MAC interfacing, vga switching, video projection on a 7.5'x10' rear projection screen, walkin music, and that's it. Nothing too fancy but perfect for a group of 120 - 220 attendees.

This is my brand new Eiki LC-XB43 projector. 4,500 lumen's in this little box! My friend Amanda at Wagner Media in Houston (http://www.wagnerdirect.com/) cut me a sweet deal and I couldn't be happier. Projection is very important to me - if you can't see the screen why even be there? This XB43 is a powerhouse of brightness and clarity. I was running the brightness at 33% which was more then enough. The setup was simple and it's got a menu interface that's easy to navigate.

I also purchased a couple of Alto TS110A self powered speakers. I can't stop talking about these gems. They're light weight - only 26lbs. and have that new neodymium driver. This is the latest in magnet technology. Plus it's 600 watts!!! I love'em. Best purchase I ever made from my good friends at Reno's Guitar Center (http://stores.guitarcenter.com/Reno). I'm going to buy a couple more once they go on sale.

From this viewpoint you can see the front of the stage and the CANA gobos in the background. I had the screen flanked with their gobos. My Beringer B300's on the downstage corner of the stage with one of my new Alto TS110A as the center fill. I love the sound of my Beringers, very full with lots of bottom. But man are they heavy. I'll get a few more years out of them but I don't know if my back can take it. As always I had to rent a few items that I don't own - Lekos w/gobo holders and a 7.5'x10' rear projection screen. I got these from my new best friend - William Trombino at AV Images (http://www.avimages.com/) in Livermore CA. He cut me a heck of a deal and had good gear on top of that! It worked out that Livermore was on my way to Monterey so all I had to do was pull off the freeway a little bit and I was there.

I love the ocean and working these Audio Visual events. It's probably something I've done the most of in my life and it comes as second nature to me. If you need some AV at your next event give Your Reno AV Guy a call and I'll be more then happy to wave it in!

2012-13 N Nev HS Basketball

Basketball season started last Dec and I can't believe that I'm only NOW getting around to blogging about it. It's been a great season with close games, lots of action and Your Reno Camera Guy has the best seat in the house. I was there to see the Gov's Son play, the McGuire sisters dominate, another Wurm arise and I was on the court when poor Gabby Williams hurt her knee. It's been a physical fast season with all the games we broadcast being top notch.

Here's Eric getting Dan and Ethan for the pre-game with his lightweight JVC500. These two work great together and I really enjoy hearing their banter over the ear buds. The GSP network (http://gustinsports.com/) couldn't ask for better. Most of the time they'd get it on the first take. I always got their shot for the half time segment. I'd have to get out on the court sometimes and push in as far as I could with my camera to their position in the stands or on a platform. That's a tough shot to hold with your camera for any length of time. So I got smart and just stayed in my roller chair taking it on the court with me to help hold the shot. I think it might add a couple of years to my career.

We did all double headers this season with the Girls Varsity first around 5:30 and then the Boys at 7:30. Lots of times we worked out of the Envision (http://envisionvideoreno.com/) video production van. Or as some call it -"The Fridge". I'm so glad I don't know how to run any of that gear and can stay inside on the court with my roller chair and camera.

Most of the time we got to setup court side which made our cable runs easy plus it's good to have visuals with the Director. My position was under the closest basket so I could look over, get eye contact when needed without having to interfere with their conversation. I did it most of the time when I had to hold the refs while Chris counted down or needed me to hold them longer as he rebooted the system. It helps be their eyes and hand in the air when needed.

I can't believe that with this Tricaster system we can do a live 3 camera shoot, stream it live, send it to radio live, record it onto a HD/DVD,  add replay and graphics as we're going and you've got a pretty hot show with ONLY all the gear on the table. Compact and easy to setup. Nice.

Here's our crew after a evening of work. We all work well together by keeping it fun. Fun for me is doing a quality show and having a few laughs along the way. But once the cables are coiled up and the gear is stowed all we can talk about is the next game. The play offs are around the corner down in Las Vegas, next year they'll be back up here in Reno. But since Dec 2012 to Feb 2013 Your Reno Camera Guy has been working N Nev High School Basketball and loving it!

MMA Fight Night at MontBleu S. Tahoe

 

 

Last Saturday night (01-12-13) our crew made the trip over the hill to South Lake Tahoe for the World Fighting Championships (http://worldfightingchampionships.com/) MMA fight night at Montbleu (http://montbleuresort.com/) A beautiful casino right there on the border of Nev & Cal in South Lake Tahoe. I get the opportunity to do camera work in some of the most beautiful places in the world and this is one of them. Check it out.

Here I am with the promoter and the belt for the Championship bout that night between Justin McClain and Corey "The White Mamba" Carlson. The White Mamba prevailed with a choke hold in the first round. But the fights leading up to that were very entertaining.

Here I am ringside setting up our video production land, running cables, and hanging with the ring installers.

Here's our video production area where Chris calls the show and Mark does replay/graphics. Once again Envision (http://envisionvideoreno.com/) did a stellar job with the video production gear and getting us up there on a cold winters day.

This is one of our camera ops, Jason in position for the fights. My position is just opposite of him. You can't see me in this pic but I'm the guy handing up the cable to the guy on the ladder.

Here I am in my position. Great vantage point for a video camera op but killer on your neck because the angle is so steep. But I'm not complaining, I've got a great view and can rotate easily to catch any of the action in the whole venue.

Here I am mugging with one of the fighters before his fight. He won his bout which made me feel good like I had something to do with it.

Here I am backstage where the fighters in the blue corner are getting taped up and ready for their fights. In all the fights I've worked over the years I've never been witness to this but because of the layout there at Montbleu I could watch for the first time. Of course I had to be professional and give them their space but it was fun watching for the first time nonetheless.

 

One thing I love about this business is once you've been in it as long as I have you never know who you're going to bump into. Well here I am with old friend Sylvia Lee. We worked together in Las Vegas for over 8 years and surprised the heck out of me that she's now a Fire Inspector for Douglas County!

 

 

 

Here I am with some of my new friends! These ring girls were a couple of the best I've worked with. I love being your Reno Camera Guy!

 

Over all is was a great night for video production, no gaffs or goofs.

We 3 camera guys got all the shots and the best part was we got to enjoy the Montbleu buffet.

The set/strike took minutes with our Tricaster and a few cables.

My camera made it through the night on one battery.

I put a tape in my camera and got all my shots so look for that video soon on my site.

I'm loving 2013 so far!

Next Fight on March 15th with a blog to follow.

 

Until then Keep It In Focus!



 

HS Football Final

 

 

It's the NIAA High School Football Northern Championship between Reed and Damonte Ranch at Macky Stadium on the campus of UNR. Do you think we're way overdressed? Ha! Welcome to Reno on Friday, Nov 16, 2012. The NIAA (http://niaa.com/landing/index) once again had GSP (http://gustinsports.com/)  produce the game live on ch5 KNPB (http://www.knpb.org/). What a thrill it was to do live football once again, it just adds an extra positive energy to the day. In the picture above you can see me on the right with my fellow on field camera op, Brian on the left and Eric Darensburg (http://envisionvideoreno.com/), the high camera op, in the middle. The weather held and the game went on without a hitch. I think it was our best produced show of the season.

 

 

From the warmth of the media box here's Chris, our director, and Mark our graphics op. Usually they're crammed in the back of a van or stuck in a closet somewhere but having this much space is nice. You can't see Jason our replay op but he's there on the right kicking it. It helps to do a quality show if your comfortable. Once again we were using our TriCaster system for switching/streaming and with the 3 Play for replay. We had a direct fiber feed to KNPB which was only a block away. Their engineer Fred is a pro and fun to work with.

 

 

Here I am on the field with Bill our OnField reporter. He provided lots of great insight during the game and really helped break things up for me whenever I had to go live to him. Lots of fun for a camera op for sure. If you look at the video you'll see that I also did all the pre-game hand held shots when Dan, Stu and Bill were all on the field together doing what they do best which is talk football. The game turned out to be a blowout with Reed easily winning. Poor Diamonte Ranch's best plays where the very first play of the game and the very last play of the game. It's the in between stuff that got'em. Watch the video and you'll see what I mean. Overall it was a very entertaining football season, I'm going to miss these Friday nights, but I can't think of a better way to end it then in Macky Stadium. Bring on basketball!



Perched High for Fight Republic 6

Hello sports fans! Your Reno Camera Guy here and once again it's time for my monthly MMA fight which took me to Harrah's Reno (www.HarrahsReno.com) this time for Fight Republic 6 (http://www.facebook.com/fightrepublic). A great night of bouts full of action.

 

 

Here I am standing ringside with Envision Video (http://envisionvideoreno.com/) owner, Eric Darensburg. As you know I love being a camera op for MMA fights because you can't get any closer to the action then my position. Checkout my own personal cage below.

Here's my perch that I have to access from a 12ft ladder. My head is only a foot or two from the ceiling and it gets hot up there with all those lights. The toughest part is once you're up there there's no coming down until the end of the evenings bouts. So I make plenty of trips to the bathroom before I ascend my camera position.

This is the view from my perch. As you can see it's totally unobstructed which is good for a camera operator. The only problem is that the angle is pretty steep and when the action is right below me it's hard to hold that camera out for any length of time. I make do and tough it out, you can lean against the railing for support so it's not that bad.

I know this picture is kind of dark but you can see Eric in the same camera position across from me. They should really lower these perches so the top is even with the top of the cage but hey I'm just a camera guy. Thank you Fight Republic for providing the work and a great nights entertainment. I love being your Reno Camera Guy!