It's not all wildfires and car chases that make up my day at work.  Okay, sure, the people who bean count might wish those stories filled the time, but the reality is that we cover other stories.

If you were watching our newscast earlier this week and happened to see a Stacey Butler story about the woman on whom Dan Brown based a character featured in his latest magnum opus, there were a few shots of the book itself that you might find interesting.



Yes, it was a slow day.  i was working a day side shift, but the reporter (Stacey) I was assigned to work with wasn't going out into the field.

No HD liveshots for me that day, but there were a couple of elements for her story she was going to need.  Nice shots of the book itself.



Having been shiuffling from van to van over the last couple of months, I've left a good deal of my "specialty" gear at home.  One of the basics that I use all the time is a large piece of dark black material used to create impromptu product stages.  The material I use is called duvatine (or duvetyne) and you buy it from photo and video supply stores.



Nope.  I had none with me that day, so being the MacGruber kind of guy that I am, I used a black fleece hoodie jacket that I happened to have with me that day.



I set up my camera in the garage area of the station and shot into the side of the van.  I also narrowed the light on the book by using a piece of black wrap.  That's a thick aluminum foil material sold also at photo and video supply stores.

Good for shaping light, but not so good for storing leftovers.



Like I said, it wasn't a particularly busy day, but even the little odds and ends need to be shot and that's what I do.  I shoot things.  Sometimes the backstory is more interesting than the actual story, but the cool thing is that every day is something different.

Plus they pay me.



What I do isn't as complicated as a Dan Brown plot, but I could throw in a couple of car chases and maybe a fire and heck, maybe we could get Tom Hanks interested in playing a role in the movie version of my life at work.

Tom would have to be content with the sidekick or comic relief role.  If there's a movie to be made, darned if I'm not playing the part of beFrank.

Helloooo?  Hollywood?