Each year the NASCAR Season is divided up among several broadcasters, the first two being FOX Sports and TNT. Tom helped FOX Sports wrap up their season in Dover, DE at the Monster Mile and transitioned over to TNT’s Summer Six Pack (named after the 6 races that TNT covers) the very next week. Tom […]

Few words fill a photog’s heart with more dread than “This way to the conference room”. Sure, that cradle of organization may seem like sacred ground to your CEO, but it makes for a lousy backdrop. White walls, low ceiling, that forklift safety award -…

Few words fill a photog’s heart with more dread than “This way to the conference room”. Sure, that cradle of organization may seem like sacred ground to your CEO, but it makes for a lousy backdrop. White walls, low ceiling, that forklift safety award -…

In an on-demand world, technology has and will continue to change the newscast producer’s job. “A digital rundown allows you to be more immediate. It’s the news, not the ‘olds,’” says Rick Russell, news director at WJTV in Jackson, Miss. “Producers must be organized and able to change things on the fly.” The station uses the AP’s ENPS to put together its newscasts. Each story element — the intro, the graphic elements, the video, the tag, etc. — has its own line in the show’s electronic rundown. Russell says that allows the producer to make changes to the content much more rapidly. Producers can adjust the anchor intro to add information or drop a graphic that includes an error, without having to “float” the entire story to a later time. Russell, a former producer himself, says the system has cut down quite a bit on the chaos of a live newscast. “The control room is much quieter now, except for election nights when I’m in there,” Russell says with a grin. ENPS and other digital news producing systems also allow you to build content in the rundown without it actually appearing in the live newscast until you need it.  At […]

Usually if I’m shooting for SPEED it means I’m in Charlotte.  However, this time SPEED came to me.  We ended up shooting three features in two days. The first day we shot a feature on the old Fairgrounds Speedway located in Nashville.  I was rocking the HDX 900, 5D, and Contour POV camera.  We were […]

Norman Alley seen trapped in a land where everyone wears ugly Christmas sweaters… Okay, not really. Actually was taken at Godthaab, Greenland where Alley, soundman Jerry Altifleish and the Hutchinson “Flying Family” landed before attempting an ill-fated flight across the Atlantic to Europe. I’ll refrain from commenting on Alley’s hat that a certain nameless photog […]

MISSING: Habitual lenser, recently seen loitering outside Greensboro’s federal courthouse. Answers to “RAD”, “TV Tog” and “Dude, is that thing heavy?”. Often seen schooling news crews at emergency scenes. Subject has profound attachment to his little y…