Nevada State High School Baseball Championship

Hello Sports Fans! Your Reno Camera Guy spent May 20 & 21 shooting the Nevada State High School Baseball Championships in beautiful Henderson Nev at the College of S Nev. The games were played at Morse Stadium which is a wonderful complex and I of course was in my usual position over the 1st base dugout.

Once again we were not only recording the games but streaming them live on Gustin Sports Productions website (http://gustinsports.com/). All I can say is Dan Gustin is a real pro and did a great job of calling the games. Here's a picture of me with Dan and Eddie doing the pre-game taping.

Our whole Reno crew made the trip down to Henderson along with all of our gear. Here's our TD, Craig Moss at the production table in the press box. We used our Tri-Caster along with the Three-Play for replays of all 3 cameras. Everything went smoothly once we figured out how to get a Hip Hop radio station from blaring in my RF headset.

We used the same cameras (JVC DV500) from Eric Darensburg at Envision Video (http://envisionvideoreno.com/home) that we'd been using all season. They worked well and with that beautiful southern Nevada weather there were no clouds so we didn't have to mess with white balancing or changing filters during the games. Our camera guy behind home plate was none other then the fabulous Mark Cronon. I love working with Mark, he gets the job done and has fun doing it. It guess that's the mantra for our whole crew.

Well it was a great High School baseball season and I'm sad to see it come to an end but football will be starting up again at the end of Aug. Until then have a great summer and be on the lookout for other blogs because you never know what Your Reno Camera Guy will be up to next.

In Door Football with Your Reno Camera Guy

I had the pleasure of working the first 2 home games of the Reno Barons -http://www.renobarons.com/ indoor football season at the Reno Events Center this past week. I was onfield covering the north endzone. Lots of action on this 50 yard field that's only 85 ft wide and surrounded by hard plastic water filled road barriers covered in yellow plastic. All that yellow really messed with my white balancing but didn't stop me from getting the shots. I love football and one that's so offense minded is very entertaining. There's lots of passing and up to 2 people can be in motion (up field motion!) at the same time. Because I was in the endzone I got all the action coming right at me, passing, running, slaming into the barriers, it was great fun.

Of couse the Reno Barons have a dance team called the Baron Babes. They do a great half time show that we try to capture the energy of on video.  Once again I'm working with Envision Video http://envisionvideoreno.com/home and Gustin Sports Productions http://gustinsports.com/. As always Dan Gustin is calling the play by play and he's joined by former pro Jo Jo Townsell. They're a great team, good insight, fun and always give the camera guys credit when due. Checkout the first game on the Reno Barons website - http://www.renobarons.com/

As you can tell from the picture above the lighting in the Events Center is not really camera friendly so I had to be on filter 1 and low light gain. That makes focusing difficult so after the first game we decided it was best if everyone was set on auto iris so the camera could just ride the ever changing light levels itself and you could focus on focusing, ha!
From the looks of things I think the Reno Barons will do well here in Reno. The crowds were enthusiastic and full of energy. They have 6 more home games that I'll be working and should keep me busy till June. Fine with me because we all know how I love to be down on field in the action. Football, indoors, on video, all good with Your Reno Camera Guy.

Play Ball !!!

Well it's that time of year again when baseball season starts and Your Reno Camera Guy finds himself perched on top of the first base side dugout. Great vantage point but watch out for those righty's and their foul balls.

Once again I'm working with my friend Eric Darensburg of Envision Video (http://envisionvideoreno.com/home) who supplies all the cameras. He spends most of his time out on the center field camera, while I'm on first and another camera person behind home plate. Baseball can really test your skills as a camera guy because the focal point is always changing. There's a lot of horizontal/vertical and shallow/deep action to follow. I'm good for a shot from home to first but after that I've got to really watch my focus. If a player is out at second I pretty much set my back focus on them so I can get both first and second bases at the same time if I need too. If I know there's going to be a play at home I try to get my focus set ahead of time so I can just follow the play. 

As always we're all working for Dan Gustin of Gustin Sports Productions (http://gustinsports.com/) Dan does all the play by play and is occasionally joined by a color commentator but lots of times he'll just go solo. He's a real pro which makes my job easier. We stream the games live via Dan's Tricaster and also record them to the hard drive. No tape at all. The games are played back on Charter Cable here in Reno as the NIAA Game of the Week. It's great fun watching these High School players give it their all and the best part is that I'm outside getting paid to do what I love. It's spring time in Reno and it's good to be Your Reno Camera Guy.

Your Reno Camera Guy at the Underground

Your Reno Camera Guy spent last Friday and Saturday nights shooting video at the Underground (http://renounderground.com/) for a benefit called "Made in Reno". It was nothing but local bands raising money for the UNR Dept of Music general scholarship fund. A good cause indeed that I don't mind volunteering for. Each band did a short set of 5 or so songs. It made the night go quickly and gave me a lot of variety to shoot. I love the Underground because the sound system is so wonderful and Doug the sound engineer keeps it all dialed in. With all those bands and all those change overs he did a great job of keeping his cool and making it happen. Of course ear plugs were a must.

Your Reno Camera Guy with his Z1U stage side.

I used my handy Sony Z1U all night long. The Z1U is so light weight and portable that it was easy for me to get some great shots and move easily around the stage. A single battery got me through the whole night even though I was zooming in and out all night long. I set everything thing on auto so I wouldn't have to deal with re-adjusting for all those low light changes. It worked flawlessly.

Offstage as "The Regan Years" tear it up onstage.

I shot 2/60 minute tapes on Friday and 3/60 minute tapes on Saturday. I shot in DV since they are going to be posting it on the internet I saw no need to do it in HD. The Underground streams all of their concerts live from 2 ceiling mounted fixed cameras. I wanted to show Remi the owner how a hand held, low level camera would look in the hopes that he'll upgrade his system to include another camera that can get these close, stage side shots. A switched live multiple camera shoot is so much more powerful and not that hard to do these days.

Drinking with Clowns Martin and Baldo with Your Reno Camera Guy

The final band of the night was - Drinking with Clowns (http://www.myspace.com/drinkingwithclowns). They're a favorite of mine, I love their latin style and world music touches. It was a great way to end the weekend, I got video of all the bands, I got my picture with Martin and Baldo of Drinking with Clowns, I got to listen to a lot of Reno talent, and I got to be creative with my shooting. Just another night in Reno for Your Reno Camera Guy.

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

Your Reno Camera Guy at Ultimate Reno Combat 23

Well last Friday it was fight night in Reno as I worked ringside for the Ultimate Reno Combat 23. Promoter Rick Collup always puts on a good card. These MMA fighters are inexperienced but hungry. The 2 championship fights that night didn't disappoint with fists a flying and kicks a landing.  It really makes my job so much easier with all this action. We were using Sony S270U HDV's which I love because they have the color viewfinder.

I was perched up along the ring on a 8 ft ladder. Great vantage point as you can see from these pictures. It's always fun when they fight right below me and slam into the ring as I'm precariously perched on that ladder.

 

We used our standard Tri-Caster system with a 3 Play replay system which was used a lot. Some fights only lasted seconds so having the replay playback on the 2 projection screens for the audience in slow mo helped kill a lot of time and also gave me a chance to see my work. Here's a picture of Craig Moss our TD who calls a smooth show and runs the production table. A very easy setup that only takes us minutes. It really helps when you can drive your truck right on stage at the GSR and unload everything right there.

After the fight I was in the ring getting some final shots and congratulating the winners. I can't believe that I get paid to do this, it's such a thrill being right there in the middle of all this action.  I love being a Reno Camera Guy.

Camera Op for the 2011 Nev High School State Basketball Championships

 Hi Sport fans, another Nevada State High School Basketball season has come to an end. I worked 8 games over 2 days at the Orleans arena in Las Vegas. The in-house crew there are pro's and were a pleasure to work with. We brought in all our own gear and crew from Reno. Everything traveled nicely, no technical glitches at all. I spent all 8 games under the North end basket just where I want to be. I love being so close to the action. Only a couple of close calls, a random ball to the head or player at my feet but no real run ins with wayward bodies. It's good to be on a chair with wheels. The most fun is following a break away play from the other end of the court as it develops right at you. I always held my ground and got the shot even though my nerves where tingling. Things do appear closer threw a view finder. I love that feeling you can only get from a live event. It was a thrill and great fun watching these athletes compete from all over the state.