Daniel Sato

For some, being asked to spend 16 hours working the day before (and into) one’s birthday would be cause for complaint. But if your assignment is to shoot Opening Day, and you are a huge baseball fan like I am, well, lets just say … best. assignment. ever. (sorry President Obama)

Going in to the assignment, my editor was hoping that I would just grab some scene shots and interview a bunch of fans in a manner similar to a piece I did with fans tailgating during last year’s World Series. I had plans to try something new, and luckily I am, for the most part, given the freedom to do pretty much as I please (in regards to trying new forms of storytelling).

At first, I thought I would do some form of timelapse … perhaps shoot fans going through turnstiles, players on the field, seats filling and emptying, etc. However, after hearing that one of our photographers AND a photographer from Cherry Hill (a neighboring Gannett paper) would be doing that same exact thing, I decided to go the opposite way and experiment with slowing down time instead of speeding it up.

While there are some definite issues in some of the shots (athletes were moving too fast and I tried to slow them down too much) I do hope to use the effect for future profiles on local athletes. And next time, I will avoid hand-holding a 300 …

Just over a week ago, the Delaware Department of Transportation went out to the Radnor Green neighborhood in Claymont and began removing basketball hoops that were planted in the parkway facing the street. Apparently, a resident in the neighborhood lodged a complaint after his car was hit by an errant basketball, and the hoops were found to be in violation of a 2005 “clear zone” law that requires the area adjacent to pavements in residential developments to be free of obstructions such as basketball hoops and bushes.

One resident apparently was not having any of it, and climbed her basketball pole in protest, causing DelDOT and the police presence that arrived in response to leave one pole shy of their goal. The photographer on scene shot some great photos of her pole protest, but we did not have a staff videographer on site (though a freelancer did arrive later and shoot an interview).

I strolled into the office three hours later and was told to head back out, see if any state troopers were still around and basically feel out the situation. Not knowing exactly what the freelancer shot, I thought I would conduct an interview just to cover my bases (after all, there must have been some reason they sent me back out). As luck would have it, the Delaware State Police and DelDOT returned to retrieve the last pole during the middle of my interview, affording me the chance to film the drama as it unfolded.

While I’m sure the video would have gotten some play on Libertarian sites just because of the general theme of government taking away from private citizens, the video because a plain-clothed officer informed the homeowner he could keep his basketball hoop one minute, and then seemingly did a 180, telling him that it would be taken away the next.

The story hit the frontpage of Reddit two times, was listed on Youtube’s main page and was featured on a few prominent national blogs. Of course, as with any news organization, the first thing some editors thought was, “How can we capitalize on/emulate this?” Whenever something brings in a large amount of traffic, even if it is a one off, it becomes the next hot thing and everyone tries to recreate the same numbers. In St. Cloud, they found success in posting photo galleries from parades and graduations, and we would bend over backwards to ensure that not a single one went uncovered. In Des Moines, prom season was especially hectic and you could always find a Metromix gallery on the frontpage.

At The News Journal, the video’s initial success meant that Mr. McCafferty was our life for the next week. From following him to a meeting with the state police, to accompanying him to pick up his hoop. I will admit, while we did have our doubts as we waited outside of the New Castle County Public Works building for over an hour just to talk to Mr. McCafferty about filing a complaint, the story and accompanying video did generate far more page views than other daily content.

Lessons learned:

• Keep shooting (if it helps, turn off your tally light)
• Don’t underestimate the power of social sites such as Reddit and YouTube (far more views came from these two sources than any other … I’m still surprised more news sites don’t regularly submit things to Reddit. It’s not like this is a new phenomena, Digg has come and gone and Slashdot before it)
• Arrive early and stay late (It was always taught to me in j-school, yet I am constantly surprised at how many journalists show up late to assignments)
• If something works, be prepared for someone to try and milk it

A few months ago I purchased a Canon 7D with the intention of using it for work. I know, I know, I shouldn’t use my personal equipment for work, but considering we have no budget for business cards, I wasn’t going to wait for work to purchase an HDSLR.

While there have been both pros and cons to switching from the Sony HVR-A1U to the 7D, I have been mostly satisfied. Shooting with the 7D allows for a much shallower depth of field and better image quality in general and especially in low light. Also, because the 7D is a still camera, I feel as though people are less threatened by it. They don’t immediately assume that I am filming, especially if I am holding it at hip level. In comparison, when I shoot with the HVR-A1U, it is more easily recognized as a video camera, and I will often be asked not to shoot. The Sony remains superior in regards to audio controls and is still my go-to camera when shooting sports such as football where I need a reliable autofocus and the ability to zoom far down field.

I also enjoy shooting with the 7D because it allows me to stay at least partially connected with photography. I may not be shooting for the paper, but I can still switch out of video mode and grab a few stills if I see something worth capturing.

Two months ago, I moved to Delaware to take a job at The News Journal as a multimedia producer. In doing so, I went from a photographer that occasionally shot video, to a videographer that occasionally shoots stills. While I do enjoy shooting video (and I definitely enjoy being out of the office again after a year as Web editor), there are certain aspects of shooting video that take a good deal of getting used to as a still photographer.

Hurry up and wait.There is a lot of waiting involved in shooting video. Often, I will arrive at an event one to two hours before it starts just to set up. Part of that process involves plugging in cables, checking mult boxes and testing audio. Mainly though, it is to secure a good spot within the press area. (Truth be told, I started writing this post a month ago, right in the middle of election season. Since then, I have had to go to fewer of these types of events, though one does still pop up from time to time).

Tripods. Tripods are almost a requirement when shooting video. As a photographer, they make me feel nailed to the ground. I recently went out to shoot the funeral of a prominent state politician. I entered the church, set up my tripod in the back and started shooting. At the same time, our photographer was there running from the front to the back, lifting her camera as high as she could and setting it on the floor. Her action definitely made me feel like I wasn’t doing my job (and at times the reporter must have felt the same way too, because he kept glancing at me and my viewfinder), but sometimes shooting video means standing in one spot for what feels like forever.

Audio trumps visuals. At least to me it does, which is why I am OK sitting back and recording someone talking without worrying about gathering b-roll that I know will be there later (as mentioned above). That person may say something incredible, and I want the camera on them when they say it in case I either want to cut to their face because they are so emotional or (and someone may disagree with me here) in case I somehow don’t get enough b-roll or the b-roll isn’t relevant to what they are saying and I need to put their talking head up. I would rather run a great quote that goes back to their head than not run it because I was running around shooting b-roll while recording their audio.

Less is more. We currently shoot on Sony HVR-AU1′s here at the News Journal (though some photographers have 5D Mark II’s and 7D’s), something that I believe is pretty standard across Gannett papers. The Sony’s record to MiniDV tapes which are captured into Final Cut in real-time. That is, if I shoot an hour of video, it will take an hour to bring that into my editor to be able to work on. Unlike photography, in which one could potentially shoot as much as their card will allow and then quickly sift through all of those images in Photo Mechanic later, shooting video efficiently means capturing the shots you know you need to tell the story with sometimes minimal experimentation.

There is a flip side to the less is more aspect to shooting video. That is, as a photographer shooting video, I approach every video assignment as if I am shooting a gallery. When you are shooting stills, there are those assignments that you just know will not be a gallery. Perhaps it was a press conference, or a portrait of someone destined for an inside page, or you have six or seven assignments that day. Either way, you are in and out. Video does not work this way (it can, but it would be boring). When shooting video, from the most interesting feature to the blandest press conference, you need b-roll. Crowd shots, details of the speaker’s face, his or her hands, all of these let you edit an interview down to the length you need it to be.