What a weekend! Thursday I picked up my Astros season credential at Union Station (cant wait for the home opener) and headed then over to Reliant for my NCAA credentials. It was one post and one week or so ago that I was at Reliant and in that week the whole complex, mainly Reliant Stadium, was transformed from rodeo to march madness. The NCAA set up was excellent as far as facilities go. Good food, good accommodations and organized for us photographers, however the actual set-up of the raised floor and seating were kind of sketchy. Its a huge football stadium so transforming it to accommodate a basketball court is strange. It was a feat for sure and I commend those involved, however with the overall seats being so far away from the action and the team benches being off the court itself it just didn’t feel as intimate as it could have been at the Toyota Center. Regardless, my seat was awesome! I was about 5 feet to the right of one of the goals and about 5 more feet from the baseline, which made for some interesting captures. With the two Sweet Sixteen games on Friday and the Elite 8 regional championship on Sunday I was a bit nervous about my gear scenario. I had shot a limited amount of collegiate and pro basketball in the past so I wanted to make sure I was good to go as far as gear went and having a camera at CPS getting a shutter replaced did not help. When I arrived I met Mark Sutton from Nikon and he was so great to loan me a brand spankin new D3 (Nikon’s new full-frame wonder camera), a 14-24mm 2.8 N, a 70-200mm 2.8 VR and a 300mm 2.8VR. Everything was fresh out the plastic new and ready to roll. I shot the two games Friday without incident and Mark even gave me a battery charger so that I could use the gear for my shoots Saturday. I absolutely loved the camera. So many features that I wish I had on my N’s; retouching in camera, dual cf slots, bigger and more accurate screen and viewfinder, full frame, and the most important…the noise. You can crank that sucker to 3200 and the noise looks like my 800 ASA. The image above was taken with the D3 and the 14-24mm lens at Libby’s rollerskating birthday party at Funtime Skating Rink in Clear Lake City, Texas. Our friend Kevin was trying to catch a cupcake in his mouth and failed. Good fun.

There really wasn’t too much to discuss today regarding images captured however I have to discuss the day’s goings on, as it has been a quite interesting few hours. Mondays are my late day so I sleep in a bit and start my shift at 2pm. About 11am, just minutes before my alarm was scheduled to wake me I was awakened by a call from a 213 area code. Now anyone that remembers the 1994 hit “Regulate” by Nate Dogg and Warren G would remember that 2-1-3 is LA, so in anticipation of a washed up rapper on the other end, I answer. “Hello my name is ____ with USA Broadcasting.” Here’s a little background info before I continue. A few weeks ago on an industry forum I am a part of called SportsShooter.com, there was a forum topic about a craigslist LA casting call for a reality show on the USA channel where they fulfill people’s dreams or fantasies. This one was about wanting to become a photojournalist for a day. The applicants would email the contact with a photo and a few paragraphs about what the opportunity would mean, etc. Everyone had a good laugh and that was the end of it…until my phone call. He told me he received an email from me and they were interested in casting me for the part. We talked a bit. I was confused. I answered questions. Apparently someone had put my name in the hat so to speak. Amusing. The conversation came to an abrupt close when he found out that I didn’t actually live in LA. He told me he has my info and if I’m ever in the area to give them a call because I would be perfect for some of their stuff, whatever that means.

I had a pretty poor day as far as shooting goes. With my only assignment at 4pm I started hunting for features and found a great scene with a lady blanketed in great light raking leaves. There were tons of leaves and it was perfect, but when I approached her she didn’t want to be in the paper, which is odd because I’m pretty good about getting people to be OK with my presence, but she wasn’t budging. I went to my 4pm and after the reporter held his interview for almost an hour the light was pretty much done for. The combination of daylight savings and being close to the mountains means the sun sets well before 5pm daily and if you’re in some of the closer mountain towns sometimes as early as 3pm.

After my wash out assignment I headed back to find the newsroom in a heated debate. Jerilee, one of the staff photographers was dispatched to a murder/suicide scene and captured a very storytelling image complete with cop cars and the exposed dead bodies of the two teenagers involved. The department heads and a number of others were debating to run the photo A-1 lead. I was on the fence, but it was awesome to get to see a newsroom at work and engaged in something like this. It doesn’t happen often as I am told. Amidst all the controversy and debate I managed to get my hands on a promo D3 that Nikon has graciously let us use and was definitely impressed with its performance…I mean…for a Nikon! The above image is from a crazy “coffin race” I photographed in Manitou last month.