They're Gaga over Gaga!

Two inches away (in the macro setting) from the eyes of Lady Gaga shows the amazing
details the artists put into to these figures. I swore she was about to sneeze!

Situation: Unveiling the wax figure of Lady Gaga at Madame Tussauds in New York has its challenges for a news cameraman. The assignment itself is pure promotion. To be sure, an event staged to create an image, launch a brand, and help a company and pop star icon make some noise and, well, news, is key to keep in mind when covering one of these. But still, it'll probably find its way onto someone's evening news broadcast. Did I say, "News?" All the entertainment TV shows were well-represented. I guess that's the point! I might as well join in the fun, too. I was lucky to have a front row position, so fighting the other 30-plus still and TV cameramen wasn't my concern (though I did at one point turn around with a 22 pound, Sony PDW510 XD broadcast camera mounted on my shoulder and nearly knock over a photographer standing right behind me on his step ladder). C'est la vie! Today I hear Gaga's in Paris so I don't expect much drama like the kind this drama queen usually draws. We're being spared the dead meat outfits. Whew! To think this was a global launch where all eight Tussauds were unveiling other Lady Gagas is a testament to her power. Put that out of mind, I tell myself, and stop thinking unnecessary thoughts--editorializing and opining don't belong here. Just get the shots!

Often these staged events have a life of their own and things happen when you least expect them to. The last time I covered an unveiling in wax it was Taylor Swift's turn. Close to one-hundred photographers waited nearly an hour for the real-life Swift to move in and stand next to her wax twin, say ten words, and move on out. It was so hot under the lights I was secretly hoping for a meltdown. Now that would make for some great footage! You just have to be ready at all times and react as if you're on a "real" news assignment--say, in the streets during a protest march or in Times Square during a bomb scare--different kinds of "staged" events. Today, I was feeling particularly lucky after filming some of Lady Gaga's followers known as "Little Monsters." With wigs in soda can curlers, glass mirror masks, and lovely cigarette sunglasses (as in sunglasses made with glued-on cigarette butts), how could you miss? These wild visuals always speak louder than words!

Technically speaking, I found the spotlights to match the color temperature of my on-camera tungsten lamp so that was one less worry (thank you!). The tight space was my biggest concern. I waited for the gaggle of photographers to thin out before I stepped in for my one-on-on with Ms. Gaga. Then I photographed her from every which angle starting down on the 6-inch shiny black pumps and finishing on her radiant blond mane. The noise level was also close to the edge so interviews with Gaga's "Little Monsters" and the wax museum's director required a little extra monitoring. With a quick test and playback, by squeezing my headsets close to my ears, I made sure the voices were clear above the background chatter. Not an issue.

But more importantly, you never really know what you're really looking at through the lens until you ask. Journalism's five W's and that one H do apply even in these concocted promotional events! "So what's the deal with the hairdo?" I asked Tussauds's director of operations--hoping she'd satisfy my curiosity. "Oh, that's what she wore when she attended an electronics convention in Vegas," she replied. And so it goes.

Shot on location in New York on December 9, 2010.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

Situation: This was the broadcast news story I worked on the day before Thanksgiving. We were hearing that more people are down on their luck during this period of high unemployment and are seeking out soup kitchens in higher numbers than ever before. In fact, at the Holy Apostle in New York City, they were averaging over 1300 meals a day, about a 500 meal increase above their average. But, today our task is to find people in a higher income bracket who perhaps had "white-collar" jobs, that would tell the story better. Remember, this is television news. We only have 90 seconds to tell our story. Once we arrive, it's a mad rush as we're on deadline. It's 10 a.m. and the writing and editing has to begin around 12:30, 1 p.m. the latest. At 3:30 a finished product will be made available for broadcast to the national audience of affiliate stations. My producer, Itay Hod, works the crowd looking for appropriate interviews. While he's busy I start filming the inner workings of the kitchen, trying to get as many activities as possible. It's like I'm in the game show, "Beat the Clock," as in how many items can I put in my basket. The buzzer sounds anytime Itay needs me to setup and shoot an interview. Also, our business correspondent, Alexis Christoforous, will arrive at anytime to do her stand-up (piece to camera) so I have to be thinking ahead to where we are going to shoot that, my lighting needs, and any sound issues.

Here's my inner conflict, my dilemma, as I move around the soup kitchen: My eyes scan and zone in on patterns, people, activities, and light but I have to find things that work as strong moving images. This ain't a magazine shoot. We're making movies here! O.K. Remind me again: It's TV News! Right. One of the first things I see is a stack of bread and I think, "Cool. A visual metaphor screaming out to me to be filmed." I gravitate to it and "work it." A man sits down, starts cutting the loaves, and tosses them on top of the pile. I think I have some nice images, something that is a somber truth about hunger in America, something the editor could use in our package. But, as I walk away I think maybe I've captured something that is stronger as a still than as a moving image! Who knows? If the scene is too depressing or doesn't fit somehow into our short video package, I've just wasted five minutes! I better hustle to get some other "bread and butter" (excuse the pun!) shots of food preparation.

I shoot a mound of bread with my video camera as if I'm shooting a still photograph. I'm either wasting my time or I'm betting on it becoming a useful shot used in a sequence of others from the soup kitchen for our news report. Only my editor knows for sure!

I get lucky when one of the cooks begins mixing a huge bowl of cheese. I avoid showing his face and work off the movement and sound of the bowl and his hands. The head cook enters and is opening and closing the oven doors. He reels of a list of different food items being heated up. In video, it's not always the images that are meaningful. Editors love "nat pops," those moments when a natural sound (like a door being slammed or steam shooting from a kettle) or even voices which might add a bright spot in between shots and could make it more entertaining.

I follow a worker down to the basement where he's getting food to be placed in the oven. Again, I'm not sure if I'm wasting time or might find a nice surprise. At the top of the stairs I notice glass block windows. I like the way the light is shimmering off the walls. Again, I see a simple still image and weigh whether it's going to help our story or be useless. I shoot it anyway and follow the worker up the stairs and into the kitchen. You just never know!














Some still frames from the video. The question for me while I'm working is always, "Will it pay off for the story or be a poor use of time on especially a painful deadline with so much to do?"

But, I know I'm sometimes drawn to images that don't always work into our short, news pieces so it becomes a minefield for me. I work the area where the women are lined up making the lunch plates for the guests. The women in a row make a nice pattern and the light coming in from the kitchen windows helps overwhelm the incandescent overhead bulbs. Lots of angles to pursue here, including a bunch of closeups of spoons and food and hands in action!
















Six women make up the food line and give me plenty of shots to make--all in good light. On right, Rev. Glenn Chalmars, Executive Director of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, greets a visitor and displays his warm touch.

Usually after interviews we have to shoot some b-roll which are shots of our subject walking, sitting at a computer, talking on the phone, doing some activity to cover edits and introduce them to the audience (over a line of track). They can be very corny and contrived. It's always an issue with the clock and being creative takes a back seat. During my shoot this morning, and after we interviewed the director of the soup kitchen, I followed the Rev. Chalmars as he met and talked with patrons. He may have been hamming it up for me a bit, but when he saw this man wearing a Detroit jacket, he held on to the man's hand after a long handshake and then studied the jacket in admiration. My brain's shutter was busy clicking away as my video camera was also rolling. A nice still image and a sweet moment on video, too. Sometimes the two do meet.

Ultimately, the piece was centered on a gentleman Itay found who formerly worked in IT, was unemployed for some time, living in a homeless shelter and visiting the soup kitchen out of desperation. At the end of the interview he informs us that he's starting a new job the week after Thanksgiving. I was happy for him, but, excited for us that after a half dozen interviews, we found our guy that gave us our story.

Alexis Christoforous, CBS News Business Correspondent, reporting from the soup kitchen in Chelsea. While concentrating on follow-focusing Alexis while she walked around this table of men eating, I failed to notice the gentleman in the background waving to me during the shoot. There are always surprises!



Unfortunately, as he became to main focus of the piece, that didn't leave too much room to use my favorite images I had fished around for all morning in the kitchen. But, in the end, it's the story stupid! And in TV News, that's really all that counts!!

Ah, yes, a hurricane to cover--finally!

Situation: Moments before our next live shot, CBS News correspondent Karen Brown rests on the balcony of a hotel in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, during hurricane Earl in early September, 2010. While the hurricane only touched the coast, with some minor flooding, it still looked pretty good through the lens.

Time: About 5:20 a.m. Two spot lights highlight the rain to her right and left, pointing towards the ocean, with another one inside the hotel room, illuminating Karen from the front.

What I'm thinking? Honestly, I'm saying to myself, "This is crazy! Just keep the lens dry. But, the sideways rain and sheer amount of water definitely says major storm! Just make it until 9 a.m. without any electrical or sound issues and we'll be o.k.!" And, with the door open to the hotel room, wind gusts hitting close to 60 mph, the carpet in and around my tripod is soaked. I'm constantly trying to keep the cables away from the forming puddles. We did over 40 live shots to stations all over the country in a 5-hour period so there wasn't much time to dry off. Did you say fun? Well, challenging. Moisture is not a cameraman's friend! What you don't see: There's a cable running from the camera and microphone down the balcony leading several hundred feet around the hotel to where the satellite truck is parked. As a back up in case the signal disappears, we've got a computer connected via an ethernet cable that is sending the image from the camera with sound streaming back to New York. Why this was special? You're not going to believe this but I've been sent to cover hurricanes five other times. Each time, and I mean each time, it's been blue skies and bright sun! So, this time at least I'm dealing with a driving rain and blowing sand that actually hurt when we ran outside to shoot Karen Brown's stand-up piece-to-camera. But the crew I was with kept reminding me this was "nothing!" A real hurricane, they said, (based on their experiences first-hand in Katrina and many others) is when there's no power and no running water--resulting in hygienic emergencies! By 2 p.m. that afternoon, wouldn't you know, the sun was shining as Earl was hundreds of miles away.