Funeral arrangements have been made for Gordon Davis, WJLA News Photographer
Saturday December 23, 2006
Stauffer Funeral Home
1621 Opossumtown Pike
Frederick, MD

• 10am to Noon The Davis Family will receive Friends and Relatives prior to the service
• Noon Funeral Service
• Internment will take place immediately following the service at the Blue Ride Cemetery in Thurmont, Maryland.

Scholarship Fund
WJLA Television has set up a scholarship fund for Gordon’s 15 year old daughter, Megan.
Donations can be made by check to:
Megan Davis Scholarship Fund
c/o WJLA TV
1100 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, Virginia 22209

By Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 19, 2006; 8:48 AM

A veteran television cameraman was struck by a car and killed early this morning in Upper Marlboro, authorities said, while returning to his vehicle after recording footage of a strip mall fire.

Gordon Davis, 51, had been a fixture on the scene of overnight shootings, fires, accidents and other emergencies for more than a decade, Capt. Mark Brady, a Prince George’s County fire department spokesman, said this morning.

Brady said Davis, who worked for WJLA-TV [ABC7 and NewsChannel 8], was the only fulltime overnight videographer employed by any local news station, and could be seen “at just about any of the hot spots in the Washington metro area.”

This morning, his live television truck arrived in the 7500 block of Crane Highway shortly after 1:40 a.m. to cover a blaze in a framing store in the Safeway Shopping Center. Brady said firefighters extinguished the flames within about 30 minutes.

About 2:40 a.m., Davis was crossing Crane Highway (Route 301) to return to the truck, when he was struck by a car traveling south on the roadway, Brady said.

The driver of the car stopped, and summoned firefighters who were still at the strip mall to try and help Davis. He was taken to Southern Maryland Hospital, and pronounced dead a short time later. There was no crosswalk or traffic signal where he was crossing.

Brady said the accident is under investigation by Maryland State Police, in accordance with regular procedures, and the findings could be presented to a grand jury.

Davis, who lived in the town of Thurmont in Frederick County, is survived by his wife and 14-year-old daughter, WJLA said. Staffers at the station said Davis liked the overnight shift because it gave him more time with his family.

Bill Lord, vice president for news at WJLA-TV, said Davis’s work appeared on both Channel 7 and its partner station, NewsChannel 8.

Davis “was a beloved character on the overnights both here in the station and among the police, fire, and media communities who share those hours,” Lord said.

It seems Stewart “Lenslinger” Pittman, a good friend of b-roll.net, hasn’t outgrown toys. Back in October, he wrote about yearning for a 12″ tall version of himself. A mini-photog complete with Betacam, photog vest, and tiny beta tapes.

Fellow photog blogger, Chris Weaver, rallied the troops to pony up a bit and help the cause. With assistance from, Newshutr, Billy “The Blogging Poet” Jones, J.L. Watkins and others, the gift was delivered on Friday.

Thanks to Weaver for making it happen… and for Stewart for inspiring photogs the world over.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

The concept of the new reality show/documentary “Dream Science Classroom” is to deliver one teacher’s wish list of technology for the classroom. The program debuted on The Science Channel in November and will be re-broadcast in high definition on The Discovery Channel’s HD Theater.

Once an outstanding middle school science teacher in Rahway, NJ, was chosen, the show’s premise was set in motion. Students worked during their off-hours to help gut their classroom and construct a new state-of-the-art facility, revealed in the final episode. Through the course of production, interviews were conducted with students and school personnel using Sony XDCAM® and HDV™ camcorders, with footage inter-cut for the final broadcast.

Director Eli Kabillio of Mad Dog Films, the show’s production company, said the professional XDCAM HD system was highly effective, especially because it is a preferred format for the Discovery Channel. The blue laser disc-based system’s file transfer feature and use of proxy video made the production process faster and easier.

“We would shoot that day’s footage, I’d transfer the files into my laptop as proxy video and then I’d take those proxies home with me and review what I had. I could start building the storyline in my head while the editors were working with the high-res content. When we’d all meet the next morning, we could sync everything up.”

According to Kabillio, the system also allowed for multiple members of the crew to share the footage. “I could review clips, the composers could work on the soundtrack and the editors on dialogue.”

The camera’s flexibility was a perfect match for the show’s “on-the-go” style of shooting. “We recorded interviews in the classroom, in peoples’ cars, around town. The ability to quickly review what we just shot as thumbnails on the LCD screen, without having to lug a separate monitor around, was a huge benefit.”

New Zeppelin® Fleecy Windscreen

The makers of K-Tek® professional boom poles and location recording accessories have introduced the Zeppelin® Fleecy windscreen, a simple and unobtrusive solution for microphone protection.

The Fleecy features an exterior of charcoal grey fleece backed with tough tight-weave microfiber fitted over a body of open cell foam designed to slip easily and snugly over most popular shotgun microphones. This new windscreen is the ideal option for shotgun mics mounted on DV cameras in most light weather situations.

The K-Tek Zeppelin Fleecy is available in five lengths. Suggested U.S. list price for each is $92.

For further information on the Fleecy or the complete line of K-Tek products, contact M. Klemme Technology Corp., 1384-F Poinsettia Ave., Vista, CA 92081; phone 760-727-0593; fax 760-727-0693; info@mklemme.com; http://www.mklemme.com.

BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ, Miami Herald
dmoskovitz@MiamiHerald.com