I got a nice call last week from Ken Babby of The Washington Post Advertising Group with a nifty assignment. The gig: photograph the traditional "first pitch" at the Nationals new stadium, transmit it to the Washington Post printing plant where they would print up 50,000 posters and deliver them to the stadium before games' end! I began a challenging technical week which preoccupied me completely. The POST/NATIONALS project team was SUPREMELY competent and did a great deal of prep to ensure a good outcome!
We tested for color, ISO, stability, the length of a pitch. We finally decided on three cameras firing alternately so the buffers would overlap in case I prematurely fired the cameras. On the Press side, Costa Bugg and his team had already prepped the layout files and preset the color from the transmission tests the night before. I chose the new 3G AT&T wireless modem should the stadium internet go out. The Press Box view not only allowed us secondary transmission facilities but also because the President was throwing the "ceremonial pitch", kept us away from the Secret Service and the Presidential Press Corps.Naureen Kandar and Ken Babby of the Post oversaw a steady schedule of testing and organization. The prep paid off. About twenty minutes before the first pitch, two of the large rolling windows in the Press Room window collided in front of us and one shattered. Fortunately, it was safety glass and we didn't lose more than two minutes as it was moved out of the way. Then as the pitcher stepped to the mound, two inevitable (... we had actually planned for "something" at the critical moment) "morons" started pressing against me and the camera rig. Jeffrey kept them at bay while I made the shot.
I made two frames showing the pitcher poised and the ball speeding to the batter. Ah...serendipity! John G. of the Nationals chose one of the two shots that showed pitcher poised perfectly and the ball in the air. The image took about thirty seconds to move to the Post. Should you attempt this feat, it takes 25 minutes to print 50,000 posters, 15 minutes to "palletize" them, and forty minutes to drive them into the city where the truck driver was sent "this way and that" with some chaotic security measures. Lauren Pober--the most determined woman I've ever met-- took off into the darkness, found the truck and got it right to the front of the Stadium where teams distributed the posters. The fans had posters just as the last home run of the ninth inning closed down the game. "Photography is 90 percent preparation and 10 percent serendipity" (Gjon Mili) or "Photography is 90 percent furniture moving and 10 percent serendipity." (Arnold Newman) In any case, it worked and my ulcer is for rent once again!
Fans hold poster up with the new bigger billboard behind them.
Lauren Pober (far right) and Nationals Team distribute poster***George Cosmo posted a link about the poster's impact with fans. Seemed like it worked for everyone! Thanks George!
