(I realized that video applies too, but I’d already written the bulk of the post before I did. Photographer = Video Camera too from here on out.)
This idea is just a little bit off the wall, but bear with me here.
When I covered the VCU regional from on the field, I consistently ended up shooting beside a few other photographers of varying degrees of experience. As the regional went on, a sort of informal media group formed, which was readily observant during the awards ceremonies, when a small pack of photographers assembled in one spot. This was because we had the opportunity to converse in the downtime between rounds and help each other scope out good angles. Other tips and tricks were exchanged as well, and after the regional had ended, I felt that I had actually learned something while shooting on field.
Now, with Atlanta on the way, I’m gearing up my equipment even more heavily than VCU, as covering Atlanta is going to be a much greater prospect than VCU is. I assume that, like last year, a media pass is going to be issued to each team, which allows a person to travel about (safely, of course) on the main floor to cover whatever they need to. I assume that most teams will be taking some advantage of this while in Atlanta.
What I’d like to do is assemble a pack of photographers in the large courtyard outside each day to discuss things that they’ve noticed while shooting, and other basic observations. Things like finding the color temperature and good angles to shoot from would be nice things to bring up.
How hard would it be to assemble a group of photographers once daily while in Atlanta? All are invited, regardless of equipment, experience, team, or anything. Even people not on field can come, as obviously I’m not going to spend the whole day on the field.
Daniel
I enjoy photography very much, but since I am on drive team this year I don’t have the opportunity to take any photos of our robot in action. 
i belive samsung makes a head mounted video camera that you could wear… then you could drive and get a view of the robot the whole time…just edit out the frames you like and use them as pictures
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.
I have taken pictures and video for Team 384 (Sparky) for four years. I think that it is a good idea to meet alll of the media people. I would be very interested in participating.
What type of media and camera do you guys use for photography and video?
I use a Sanyo Cameracorder (SD card) for video and pictures, and a Fuji Finepix 2800Zoom (Smartmedia card) for photos.
Check out my pictures of Sparky this year at www.sparky384.com
Josh
Lead of Media and Chairman’s Groups
This is starting to look good already.
I’ll be bringing 2 Canon Digital Rebel XTs with a 70-200 f4, 28-70 f2.8, 17-35 f2.8-4, and a 10-20 f4-5.6. Only problem is, this is my largest assignment yet, so I still need to find a bag besides my photo backpack that will fit all of the gear, and my dad and I still need to get a hard-drive/cardreader that will allow us to dump files from our cards onto a hard drive in the field.
Waits for more replies so that I can possibly start coordinating something on CD soon
fellow photo/videographers…
I’m teaching one of the seminars on Thursday afternoon in Atlanta on digital photo basics including the tie-in to Google’s Picasa s/w (provided this year to FIRST).
So, if any of your photo gurus have special tips for FIRST photography, just let me know (home e-mail is dhitchco-at-rochester-dot-rr-dot-com)
Also, we can easily plan an all-photographer get-together on the Georgia Dome lawn. And, since nobody takes our pictures since we’re behind the lens, we can have a GROUP PHOTO taken of all of us.
Thoughts?
I am the videographer for Atlanta area team #1002. I would be interested in learning new things and talking to others.
Dave
All team photographers,
during the 2006 world championships in Atlanta, at any time, bring your top five 95) digital photos (in any card format or USB cable) to the team 1511 pit area and we’ll copy-off your photos and display them proudly on one of our four ThunderPit TV screens! You won’t be able to miss the red camo motif and LCD screens in our pit.
ref: http://rollingthunder.smugmug.com/gallery/1108508/1/61645691/Medium
How about that; your name in lights in our pit…we especially would love rookie teams to share their photos with us!
Also, since I’m teaching a seminar on digital photography at the FIRST Conference in Atlanta (Thursday afternoon), the Powerpoint slides from my presentation will likely be available online after Atlanta.
Ditto. :rolleyes:
I’ve taken a lot of the pictures and video on my team website, but it is kind of hard to do that while being the operator. I can usually manage photographs fine, as I carry around my 4.1 megapixel digital camera in my pocket like 24/7 at FIRST events. As for video, well, I just kind of hand off my camera to any person [usually freshmen] not doing anything. They don’t take the best video, but its better than nothing.
Is it a bad thing that because of FIRST I love photography, videography, website developing, CADding in Inventor, building the robot, driving [as operator] the robot and volunteering my time for FIRST events? Because I usually try to do all of these. Sometimes many of these in the same day. 
Just to refresh this thread,
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Bring us your BEST pics to the team 1511 pit during the 2006 championship and we’'l uploads to one of our ThunderPit TV monitors for your team’s posterity. There are a lot of great “inspirational” photos out there.
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Those of you who are always behind the camera, let’s do a group “picture of a picture” on the mall outside the World Congress Center at noon on Thursday about the same time that ChiefDelphi will be doing the “group hug” thing…
Bring your camera!
I am normally the photographer for my team and the past two years have served as a photographer for other teams in Atlanta. This year, however, I will be coaching.
I would like to make a call out to a gracious photographer and videographer that would be willing to take pics and video of our robot and team in Atlanta during our matches for me to use in the promo videos I make. I was scrolling through what we have assembled thus far, and its not a whole lot to work with. Thanks for the help, please PM me and I’ll give you my phone number so we can keep in touch when we get our match schedule. THANKS!
Barry,
your team is in the Galeleo division; we’re in Curie. I’ll only be there on Thursday and Friday, but will try to write-down your divisional match times and come over and shoot some pits/video for you.
After the championship, I’ll need a mailing address and can then ship you a DVD with video and stills…
ps: remember that I’m teaching a quick overview class on digital still photography and making highlights shows at the FIRST 2nd-annual Conference on Thursday afternoon.
Doug,
With the two “get togethers” on Thursday at noon will we have time to do both? 
Also, thanks for your offer to help Barry with video & stills. I had pm’d him to let him know I could shoot a match on DV tape but your offer sounds great.
Dave