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25,000 DVDs

Hammy
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p.1 #1 · 25,000 DVDs

I need to pay a special tribute to my team that helped pull off delivering around 25,000 DVDs last weekend.

The event consisted of about 11,000 international competitors on the main day, almost half that on the final day - where we burned 30-40 copies of each team's 300-400 pix (from 4 shooters) every 4 minutes - simultaneously on three stages.
Every competitor walked out of each arena with all of their pix each day (with extra copies burned for coaches and media - including all teams from a smaller previous competition the day before)

Total of over 243,000 photos (550Gb), 2 blown shutters, one bent pin in another body, one suspect bad controller on one DVD set and an average of 2 hours sleep a night for my wife and I for over a week leading up to and during the event.

But the fact is, that I've never felt so confident in running a show because of the team we had in place (3 places).

Special thanks the following FM'ers (in no particular order):

- Luke "Midcoast" Trottier and wife
- Scott "WideAngle" Sewell and family
- Dan "Fireman" Neri and wife
- Shane "Powerphoto" Psaltis
- Paul "JediMaster" Alesse
- Chuck "Federale" Brown
- John "OnYourMark" Patrick
- Ariel "Inspiration" Bravy

and to the other 20 staff that made everything go so smooth!

May 04, 2009 at 04:27 AM

bryanlc
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p.1 #2 · 25,000 DVDs

Sounds like a memorable weekend !

Congrats on the success !

May 04, 2009 at 08:32 AM

clarence3
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p.1 #3 · 25,000 DVDs

Wow. 25,000! Were these pre-sold before the event? Even with a margin of only $10-$20 per DVD, I could see where this would be a nice contract. And with names like Scott Sewell and Paul Alesse, I'm sure those are some primo pictures!

I couldn't imagine the contract, logistics, back-ups. Obviously you've done mega events before and just scaled it up as needed.

Kudos for pulling it off.

May 04, 2009 at 12:20 PM

James Broome
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p.1 #4 · 25,000 DVDs

I look forward to joining you guys for a smaller event in Florida soon!

May 04, 2009 at 01:51 PM

MichaelKirk
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p.1 #5 · 25,000 DVDs

You ever get up to PA/MD/DE/NJ area, let me know - I'd love to be a part of something like that just for the experience.

Sould like you pulled it off perfectly!! Great Job!

Michael

May 04, 2009 at 03:06 PM

SAPierson
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p.1 #6 · 25,000 DVDs

One word.....wowza!

The word is applied equally to the volume of work and the talented individuals performing it.

May 04, 2009 at 04:34 PM

troybal1
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p.1 #7 · 25,000 DVDs

Wow I got to say impressive!

May 04, 2009 at 04:56 PM

Tractor
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p.1 #8 · 25,000 DVDs

What does 25,000 DVDs look like stack up, Your numbers are wild.. congrats...... Do you have any favorites from the weekend or did you see any of the pics

May 04, 2009 at 06:18 PM

P Alesse
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p.1 #9 · 25,000 DVDs

Tractor wrote:
Do you have any favorites from the weekend or did you see any of the pics

Ask and ye shall receive. Wish there was more time for fun stuff like this, but the days were long and hard. Three different venues around Disney and we hardly had time to even see each other. Did get a chance to grab a few on the last day of "the crew". Enjoy!

1) He shot the entire event with his cell phone. Yes, Sewell is that good!

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2) Luketrot, sort of. This is more of an example of how the Nikon never loses focus on the face, even despite the low contrast area off Luke's head!

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3) Hammy... this is Sibi's idea of "minimal footprint".

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4) The legendary Sibi at work. This guy is an amazing photographer!

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5) Yours truly... (photo by © Luke Trottier, 2009)

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6) And finally, working behind the scenes 24/7... the man, the myth, the Hammy...

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May 04, 2009 at 07:18 PM

Dan N
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p.1 #10 · 25,000 DVDs

Hammy,

Had it not been for the direction and organization that you and Amy provided, it would have been a lot hairier! Fact is, I couldn't imagine it running any smoother.

Paul, I think that's the nicest photo of you I've ever seen!

Tractor, All I can say is that 30,000 DVD's are a bitch to unload out of a truck!! Those things get heavy when you add them all together!

May 04, 2009 at 07:41 PM

Hammy
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p.1 #11 · 25,000 DVDs

Tractor,

We had 30,000 DVDs pre-printed for the event - they came fully loaded on a skid: side to side and 5-6ft high. Had a forklift put them in the already loaded 24' truck, and unloaded them by hand as Dan mentioned.
The 36 11-bay DVD replication towers were also heavy enough to deal with. We made carts for them, but they were still 'fun' to deal with.
After those, the servers, viewstations and everything else seemed easy.

Pix: here are a few from Friday's inaugural International Cup:
http://www.varsity.com/event/1199/icu.aspx#photos
(click on galleries)

May 04, 2009 at 08:40 PM

Michael H
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p.1 #12 · 25,000 DVDs

Sounds like one heck of an event! Wow...25,000 DVD! Incredible.
Paul, what the heck kind of device do you have attached in #5, and when did you move over to Nikon? I guess I missed that move

(not that I've been real active here lately though)

Mike

May 04, 2009 at 09:08 PM

clarence3
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p.1 #13 · 25,000 DVDs

Michael H wrote:
Paul, what the heck kind of device do you have attached in #5

Looks like some sort of waistbelt stabilizing pod?

I'm also interested in Sibi's viewfinder camera in photo #3.

May 04, 2009 at 09:24 PM

Hammy
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p.1 #14 · 25,000 DVDs

Camera mount:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/240748-REG/Novoflex_PISTOCKC_Chest_Shoulder_Pod_Reduces.html

Viewfinder:

http://www.argraph.com/Zigview/Zigview%20S2/free_accessory_bundles/S2_Accessory-Bundles.htm

May 04, 2009 at 09:25 PM

P Alesse
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p.1 #15 · 25,000 DVDs

Hammy wrote:
Camera mount:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/240748-REG/Novoflex_PISTOCKC_Chest_Shoulder_Pod_Reduces.html

Viewfinder:

http://www.argraph.com/Zigview/Zigview%20S2/free_accessory_bundles/S2_Accessory-Bundles.htm

The stock gives just the needed support to make it through a 15 hour day of 20,000+ photos handholding the camera. Essentially, the stock leans against your chest and your body becomes the monopod. There are the little things that you wouldn't think about when shooting in volume like this. You actually get blisters on the tips of your fingers from the zoom ring. If even just a little bit of sweat is on your fingers, it slides enough on the bevelling that you actually get blisters. Necessity is the mother of invention. I brought a retractable baseball pine tar stick for my zoom hand for this event and it worked like a charm. It gave me the traction I needed and didn't get blisters.

May 04, 2009 at 09:36 PM

luketrot
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p.1 #16 · 25,000 DVDs

Dan N wrote:
Hammy,

Had it not been for the direction and organization that you and Amy provided, it would have been a lot hairier! Fact is, I couldn't imagine it running any smoother.
!

+1
Paul, I think that's the nicest photo of you I've ever seen!

+1

BTW, thanks Paul for not deleting that image. I keep telling myself it's 2005 and I still look like this..

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May 04, 2009 at 11:25 PM

P Alesse
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p.1 #17 · 25,000 DVDs

That's okay. I still keep telling myself that I look like this...

2008 © P Alesse

May 05, 2009 at 12:18 AM

kiwifamily
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p.1 #18 · 25,000 DVDs

wow, my mind's boggling over so much in this thread

25000, what Paul's doing in those shorts

, new gadgets

It's got it all

May 05, 2009 at 01:26 AM

John Patrick
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p.1 #19 · 25,000 DVDs

Well, that was a heck of an experience! I was constantly wowed by the performances of the teams; I guess "World Championship" means the best of the best! I was impressed by Hammy's (and his entire family's) resistance to let anything get them down, although not much seemed to go wrong.

Things I'll remember:
- Having two of the other three photographers at Josten's with me blowing a shutter. We were starting to get paranoid! Dan, Tammy, I feel for you!
- The Chilean team's "near wardrobe malfunction" that was caught in time.
- Chimping out the vomiting.
- The "You don't see anything back here" speech Amy gave whenever we were in the back studio of Disney.
- Paul wasn't as short as Hammy led me to believe.
- The "Use Reader 1" "OK, use Reader 2" "Go back to using Reader 1" "You're using Reader 2, right?" that went on in during the Dance finals.
- The packout Sunday that looked like a Think Tank, Pelican, and LowePro bag lineup. I think we had all the Think Tank rollers, most of the Pelican rollers, and a good selection of LowePro bags and backpacks there.
- Paul and Shane driving back to the resort on Sunday: The whole "New Yorker" experience, the GPS/phone discussion, and ordering "pie" to be delivered to their room at 2:30. (Vagueness left on purpose.)
- My sore hands, wrists, and arms after shooting about 25,000 shots, hand-held with a 1DMkII and the 70-200/2.8 IS (I didn't use a pod of any sorts: they're for wimps!), which is about 10,000 more than usual for me on a big weekend.

All in all, a heck of an experience. Next year, Hammy, I'm going to stay longer; 3 hours at Epcot wasn't enough!

John

May 05, 2009 at 03:30 AM

Scott Sewell
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p.1 #20 · 25,000 DVDs

Paul, that post was too funny! I about spit water all over my keyboard when I read that the other day.

I finally got a chance tonight to look through the handful of photos I snapped while getting a break during Sunday's event. But first, I want to add to what others have said...this was a tremendous experience. One of the best photo gigs I've ever been a part of, for many reasons.

First, Brian is an all-around good guy and a real pleasure to work for. Not many people could keep so cool and collect on such little sleep and with such a big project, but he did it with class and always kept things light.

It was also a blast to get to shoot with such great shooters and fun people, but it was somewhat ironic that we all were there and some of us barely saw each other unless we happened to be shooting at the same venue. I have yet to try to order "pie" at the local pizza joint, but will report back on how that goes when I get a chance to make the order.

Here are a few "fun pics" I snapped and a couple of action shots while sitting next to Paul and Sibi during one routine.

Ariel is only looking so happy because he didn't sit in front of the coaches box all day Sunday. My ears just stopped ringing two days ago...and I was wearing ear plugs!

I'm not sure how people take pics of themselves with a 1-series body! How in the heck do you hold the thing! This was my lame attempt to catch me and Ariel.

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Is Luke standing on Paul's foot?

This guy (and pose!) looks familier.

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Mr. Alesse

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And a few action photos.

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Brian, thanks again for such a tremendous experience, The entire Sewell clan appreciated being part of the event.

May 06, 2009 at 04:59 AM

joezasada
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p.1 #21 · 25,000 DVDs

Wow, looks like quite the event!

May 06, 2009 at 06:27 PM

Jon Uhler
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p.1 #22 · 25,000 DVDs

Wow....looks like a lot of fun....

Ariel is a great guy to work with!

May 06, 2009 at 06:38 PM

fdldb
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p.1 #23 · 25,000 DVDs

Thanks for sharing all this with us.

I'm curious about the card readers that we can see on the left & right of the camera in pictures 3 & 4 posted by Paul.
You were able to download the cards directly from your shooting locations ?

-
Frederic

May 06, 2009 at 07:18 PM

Hammy
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p.1 #24 · 25,000 DVDs

fdldb wrote:
I'm curious about the card readers that we can see on the left & right of the camera in pictures 3 & 4 posted by Paul.
You were able to download the cards directly from your shooting locations ?
Frederic

Frederic,

Yes - we download the images from the camera positions via Firewire 800 readers (and extended length cables and reapeaters) Two per photographer position (one as a backup) and we usually tether the center camera via FW400.

This allows for minimal footprint (sans CB), faster than USB performance for multiple cards (15 seconds to d/l all 3 cards simultaneously) and no worries, power issues, etc with having a laptop(s) near the stage - and allows for more chimping by shooters if needed as well as no runner hussling back and forth.

May 06, 2009 at 08:40 PM

mervifwdc
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p.1 #25 · 25,000 DVDs

Cracking good thread! Any more behind the scenes pics? and did you have to bring long those big comfey looking chair things? They look awsome!

Merv

May 07, 2009 at 07:34 PM


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