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.
