Video still frames from Lady Liberty's birthday party!
ckpack unit for video transmission. All of the equipment I tethered to a four-wheeled cart with several bungee cords. Our deadline for air was 3:30 p.m. and our satellite truck would be parked back in Battery Park. But, just in case we couldn't get back in time, the up link unit would allow us to send our footage back to the broadcast center in New York.My biggest surprise this early morning was seeing the new security measures with the magnetometers and X-ray machines making hopping on the ferry at Battery Park about as fun as going through J.F.K airport on Thanksgiving. Lucky for me I had company in ace field producer Dave Hawthorne, who's traveled the world covering wars, tsunamis, and earthquakes, and CBS News correspondent, Bigad Shaban, a seasoned journalist.
The old Boy Scout credo of “be prepared” holds true on location. Anytime. Anywhere. Anything can go wrong. I also brought along a step ladder just in case my view was obstructed as these kinds of events are known to have dozens of photographers all jockeying for the same shot. It is highly unpredictable. But as I approached the huge tent where the ceremony was about to get started, I couldn't help but say "thank you" to the photo gods. Our subject, a Navy reservists born in Nigeria, was sitting in the front row. Yes!
Whenever my angle challenges are solved, I can relax and concentrate on my subject seeking the moments needed to tell the story. In this case, the soon-to-be American citizen was anxious
but obviously bursting with pride. I hooked him up with a wireless microphone and shot away. At first I stayed in off to the right of the stage on the tripod, but after a few minutes I knelt down right in the center directly in front of him. The lighting? A non-issue. The see-through tent filtering sunlight through m
ade the light easy to work with and quite beautiful. It was hitting him straight on. At one point I walked over to get even with where his chair was and shot a profile shot --admiring just how the light was sculpting his face from the side. Moments before the candidates finished reciting the words that would make them official U.S. citizens, one could feel the level of joy rising. It was a special moment I didn't want to miss. I checked my focus, my exposure, my sound levels, and started a slow zoom in as I had my man in the cross hairs and framed in the center with his neighbors to his left and right. I was listening carefully and with the words, "So help me God," I felt goosebumps as I observed him react with the purest of emotion. He nervously began waving his American flag and then shook hands with the men on either side of him. He was holding back tears.Though we had met and
interviewed our subject the day before, we interviewed him again immediately following the ceremony. Once more with feeling! And since part of the story was that Lady Liberty was closing for a year for renovations beginning on this day, I was off to get some shots of the statute. It was bathed in the morning sunlight. I couldn't resist and thought how weird it was that a quarter century ago my media of choice was Kodachrome film. Now it's all digital--video and stills. I used my "super telephoto" 2X setting on the Fujinon 20X video lens and shot detailed fragments, some slow tilts, and a couple of wide shots.
There's a reason this icon is so revered: it's an amazing work of art and, in this light, you could see the rivets that keep her together!
Once back on the ferry, we still had some work to do. I shot Bigad doing his pieces-to-camera (standup and teases) and shot a few minutes of footage as we passed by a fire boat shooting water into the air as part of the birthday celebration.
Once on land we hooked up with our satellite truck, sent our footage back to the broadcast center where a producer and editor would put it all together, and set up for live shots. I couldn't help but notice that the line of tourists waiting to get onto the ferry was several blocks long snaking around us as far as the eye could see. She really is one very popular Lady, even 125 years young.
