Oh Look... More TV Magic

I got back from shooting a Midwest Regional Ballet production of CATS last night and realized that I missed five new episodes of the HPT had dropped a while back. Lucky you!

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Quick Update...

Before I hit the road for Colorado this weekend with the HPT, I just wanted to share a quick update. More of my work is popping up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. I've posted them below so you don't have to go searching for them.

First we have two new episodes from the Heatland Poker Tour. These are from nearly the end of season eight when I joined the crew full time last year. We'll be shooting the second event of season nine this weekend.





We also have my most recent work for SPEED at the Sprint Center up in KC. I shot an Arenacross event which marked a few firsts for my career, most notably my first motosports event. I have to admit, it was tricky to keep up with at first because it's the fastest thing I've ever covered, but we had a few practice races to get acclimated and I was good to go when it counted.



Definitely more coming around the corner, so stay tuned.

Thanks!

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That Time of Year...

         

Well, like the title says, it's that time of year again. Time to dust off the carry-on bag, grab some magazines, and get ready to hit the skies for another season with The Heartland Poker Tour. It's been 3 long months since I last worked with the crew, so I'm looking forward to making TV magic with them again. Speaking of the crew, the HPT was kind enough to add all our bios to their website. You can check them out at this link here. Now, in hindsight, mine needs a new picture and to be reformatted, but that was because of a misunderstanding on my part, so know that going in.

        

We'll be starting off season nine with one of our biggest events on the tour, Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. It's typically one of our largest prize pools, so we like for it to go smoothly. Of course, one of the reasons I love working in TV production is because of all the hidden factors that nobody ever sees in the final product. Of the many small challenges that come with setup at Golden Gates (and every venue big or small has their own), the biggest one has nothing to do with the venue or our equipment. What is it? Altitude sickness.

This was a minor problem for a couple other crew members and myself last year when I traveled to Black Hawk for the first time. Coming from an area of Kansas that sits at about 1000 ft above sea level and ending up around 10,000-14,000 ft above sea level over the course of about 5 hours doesn't exactly acclimate you gradually. You literally feel like you have a mild case of the flu and want to throw up. Luckily it does start to fade after being up there for a while, but you could imagine how much it might effect a production if the entire crew were still feeling the effects of it during setup or even when cameras started rolling. But you still have to end up with a good production every time, because that's television.

Thanks for reading, see you in Colorado!

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The Times, They Are A Changin'...

Well, for those of you that don't already know, things are changing quite abruptly for myself and the ZiF blog this weekend. Around the middle of August I was approached by one of my regular clients, The Heartland Poker Tour, and asked if I would be interested in working for them year-round instead of just two or three events a year. After a phone call to my wife where I begged like a 5 year old in the toy section of Walmart, I gladly accepted their offer. Why was I so excited? Well, allow me to explain what getting this position means to me.

I'll be good, I promise. -Yahoo search

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Seniors, Seniors, and... Seniors?

I'll be completely honest, when I switched to doing portrait work instead of just shooting for myself, there was one thing I feared shooting above all others... Seniors. In my opinion, senior sessions are just one step below wedding photos on the photo pyramid. Most people are only a high school senior once, and if they aren't their parents probably aren't celebrating it with photos. So, it's a once in a lifetime photo session for the senior. That's a lot of pressure to get it right.So, having this fear, I was assured of one thing my first year of doing portrait work... I would end up doing more seniors than anything. :(

Lucky for me, I've been able to work with some great seniors this year, not to mention some great senior moms as well.  They have definitely helped me conquer my fear a little bit. Also, I'm starting to understand how shooting seniors helps you become a better photographer. When you truly make an effort to personalize the images to the senior, you find yourself being more creative out of necessity instead of trying to force it. You can't get away with posing every kid the same because it just won't fit them.

 I think I had also forgotten that I am going to perpetually be a goofy high school kid. Thus, I think it's actually easier for me to work with seniors instead of adults. We'll see about that 10 years in the future, but for now, I get them and it seems to be making things go easier.

Recently, however, there has been one 'senior' session that meant a lot more to me than all the rest combined. That was the session I shot with my grandparents for their upcoming anniversary. I love them very much and I was happy to be able to give them their pictures as their gift.

Thanks for reading!

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