Your Reno Camera Guy in Las Vegas for the MWC basketball tournament

Your Reno Camera Guy was lucky enough to work all 16 games of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament last week (3/8-12/2011) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.  Just take a look at that boat anchor of a camera I'm holding on my shoulder.

Your Reno Camera Guy on court at the Thomas & Mack

It weighed 37 pounds and after doing all 3 games on the first day I thought my shoulder was going to freeze up. But thanks to my friend Christine and her wonderful body oils (http://www.keepitrealproducts.com/) I was good to go the next day and was fine all week.

I spent most of my time under the southern basket in a low wheeled chair. I like this low angle, you can get more content in the under the rim shots and the break aways are coming right at you (and sometimes over you). I got one game winning shot at the other end of the court as time expired. That was a thrill. It was the ladies semi final game and we were told to take wide shots during the final seconds that included the clock. I did so for this shot, there were 4 seconds left, they swung it out right, she put it up, clock went off as the ball traveled through the net. The players and crowd went wild. The refs reviewed my shot to make sure that she got it off in time. She did and all was good. Nice shot Reno Camera Guy!

All the other camera people, both still and broadcast, were on the other side of the basket crowded together. The only people next to me were the cheerleaders and mascots. That made my job so much easier with all that action happening right next to me. Just swivel to my left and there's a shot.

The crew at the Thomas & Mack are great to work for. They keep the energy going and there's never a dull moment when you're working for the in-house venue. As opposed to broadcast camera work we have to cover everything that is going on in the Thomas & Mack so they can show it on the jumbo tron. During breaks we'd have to show crowd shots, cheerleaders, on court promos (usually someone shooting baskets for something), national anthem, half time shows, team introductions, and whatever else was going on. It made the games go by quickly and gave you a chance to be creative. With 16 games you could change up how you cover the player introductions and say use a different angle or whatever you liked.The challenge was finding people in the audience that were fun to show on the jumbo tron. Lots of times you'd catch people dancing or doing something fun and once they'd see themselves on the tron they'd either dance crazier or stop all together. I loved it. 

I did have a chance to give my shoulder a rest and work the high camera for 3 games. It's a whole different world up there then on the floor. Much wider shots covering the whole floor and because you were the go to shot, most of the time you were hot. One of the benefits of that rig is the 50x lens so because I had the most glass I was able to get lots of good crowd shots.  

My cable page for the week was Mark and he did a great job. He always had my back and coiled a great cable. I can't tell you what a benefit it is for a camera guy to have a page who does their job and takes as much pride in it as Mark does.

It was a great week over all, my shoulder held up, I didn't get hurt, I got the shot, I got to hang with my Thomas & Mark friends, I saw some great basket ball, and I got paid. It's good to be the Reno Camera Guy in Las Vegas for the MWC basketball tournament.

Me and Pistol Pete