[Chris Marra]

I think it is very reasonable to try to get photographers arranged to share footage and tips and tricks and such. Since we have about 2-3 people who do it on our team, they share tips amongst each other. By the end of UTC we had camera and video angles down, even if the camera quality ended up a little lower than desired. However with the size of Nationals, it is a little of a daunting task. For both Philly and Nats I won't be doing media like I did at UTC, since I am on the drive team now, but I think its a great idea to have a 'meetup' of the press members of various teams.

What I really think this would be good for is to have a mini-DV or Digital8 copy deck, and a laptop with a card reader set up, so that teams can swap footage and pictures amongst each other if one person got a better shot or a different shot of something that another didn't get. Trading video in full quality over the internet can get a little bandwidth intensive, and being able to meet up in a hotel somewhere or the pits or anywhere at the end of a day at Nationals would be a big help to some teams who want to share their media with others.

What you propose, with more of an info-session type thing where people share their secrets for how to get good pictures or shots, would probably work best during lunch each day, since the photographers don't usually have other commitments to strategize during the lunch break. Instead, a bunch of teams can sit down and talk about things, show off some of the shots they got, and talk about methods and tricks. Or even on Thursday you could do a little session for rookie teams or anyone interested in how to effectively cover your team at a competition, in terms of video and photos, on a limited team or while doing other things.

Overall, I think its a great idea. Too bad there's no good acronyms with FIRST photography, videography, or other various terms in it to have an organizational thing.