The First Week

My apologies to all for not updating sooner. It has been a stressful and exhausting but interesting week. I'll just go day by day and pick up where I left off:

Wednesday

Training day. I spent the day with my chief photographer. His name is Rick, from here on referred to as "CP Rick."

CP Rick is not a nice person. CP Rick is mean and grouchy. CP Rick is convinced I am an idiot. CP Rick made sure I knew I'm an idiot.

I wasn't quite what to expect, since I hadn't seen him on Tuesday. You'll recall I spent Tuesday morning in the lobby, and he had been out on a live shot that afternoon, so we hadn't met. He walked in Wednesday morning wearing old, faded jeans and a ragged button down shirt. He has shoulder length hair and apparently only shaves once a week. I would guess his age at 40, but it's hard to tell.

"You're Max?" he said, giving me the evil eye.

"Yes," I said. "I guess I'm riding with you today."

He literally looked me over from head to toe. I now realize that photogs don't really dress that well, but I didn't want to make a bad impression my first couple of days and was wearing khakis and a polo shirt, tucked in. I also shaved, which doesn't seem very popular with our crew.

"Are you some kind of neat freak?" he asked. "You look like you might be a neat freak." He didn't wait for me to answer, but instead went looking for his reporter. I followed along.

When we arrived at our first shoot location, he opened the back of the truck and handed me his camera. "You're shooting this," he said. "Don't fuck it up."

So I shot my first package. I kept looking to CP Rick for advice or pointers, but he seemed bored and completely uninterested in what I was doing. I remembered all I had read about the importance of communication between reporter and photographer and asked the reporter plenty of questions. Every now and then CP Rick would scoff at one of my questions.

The real pleasure came when I got back to the station to edit. Rick stepped in and said, "I'll edit this. You just watch." Then he proceeded to bitch about everything I had shot.

"Let me tell you why this shot sucks." And he did.

"Crap. I can't use THAT shot." And he didn't.

"Ha. It's obvious you haven't done this before." And it probably was.

When it was all over, he said, "It ain't the worst I've seen. At least none of it was blue."

I think that was a compliment.

Thursday

I finally got my gear. It's a bit... disappointing.

We shoot Beta SP. My camera has apparently been brutalized by its former users. There's a strange line that runs through the middle of the viewfinder. Fortunately it's only in the viewfinder and doesn't go to the tape, but it's still a bit annoying. There's a permanent spot in the coating on the front of my lens that does show up quite distinctly on tape.

The tripod is a Gitzo, the kind with collars on the legs that you twist to lock. Unfortunately, when you twist these, they don't lock. The head also feels like it has gravel in it, and it has no handle.

The kit has no lights at all, not even a camera light. It also has no wireless. Apparently it once had these things, but when the last guy left the other photogs raided his (now my) gear. I do have a stick microphone, but I only have a thirty foot and a fifty foot cable.

I have four brick batteries. I have a dual charger that only charges two of them at a time. Unfortunately, one side is dead, so it really only charges one battery at a time.

CP Rick was a little annoyed when he saw the state of the gear. He said he hadn't intended to stick me with so many problems and promised to track down some of the stuff that has been looted.

I chased VOs and VOSOTs the rest of the day in a borrowed vehicle. My van is still in the shop. The last guy ran it 12,000 miles without an oil change, and all the oil leaked out.

"You better take better care of it," CP Rick said. "We're not buying new trucks any time soon, so if you break it, you're walkin'."

Friday

Speaking of walking, my own truck broke down. I noticed coolant coming from the back of the engine. That's probably a bad sign. So I walked to work Friday (three miles each direction) and will continue to do so until it's fixed unless I can convince someone to give me a ride. That's tomorrow's major goal.

I finally shot and edited a package by myself, without helpful criticism from CP Rick. It was a dull story on a tax proposal. It was mostly uneventful, and the reporter insisted on using a lot of file.

I left work Friday night sullen and dejected. I went home to an empty house, since both my roommates work nights. I just sat in front of the television. I don't even remember what I watched. I wanted to go out somewhere, but I really need to save my money.

I think this is just the excitement giving way to the reality of the situation. I knew what to expect, but I think I was still harboring some unreasonable hopes. I still don't think I've made a mistake. I just need to get into the swing of it, build up my confidence and do my best.

The Weekend

Mostly uneventful. I tried to clean up around the house, which is a little scary (I'll write more on my living situation later). I hardly brought anything with me in the move, yet I could hardly move among the boxes in my room. At least now things are taking shape a little better.

Probably the most interesting development of the week concerns my friend Kat. I had left her a message earlier this week with my new information, and she called me back Saturday. She says she wants to come visit. It's an awful long drive, but she sounded serious about it.

We'll see.

For now I just have to get my head right for the coming week. Hopefully this week I can prove I'm not a moron.