Were you this motivated as a kid?

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Shannon is the writer of the group and asks the questions, making my job much easier.

I just finished shooting an event at the Ritz Carlton just outside the Pentagon.  It was run by the nonprofit Operation Homefront and was a celebration for the Military Child of the Year.  Each branch awards the honor to one child and let me tell you, they all deserved it.  Check out their bios below and realize that, like me, you didn't do half this much as a kid.

The event itself was one of the best I've shot in a while.  This was because three things happened that need to happen on a shoot.

1. ORGANIZATION:  The planners emailed us ahead of time with an hour-by-hour schedule telling our DoD team where we needed to be at what time. They also had a planned media availability which gave us access to the kids for interviews.

2. PLACEMENT:  Sometimes I show up to these events and have a terrible shooting position.  This place had a nice riser for the camera folks to stand on so we could shoot over the crowd while the awards happened on stage.

3. HELPFULNESS:  You'd think this would be automatic considering these groups request, and benefit from, our coverage.  It doesn't always happen though.  Our point of contact asked us several times if there was anything we needed.

It's the little things, you know?  Thanks to our photographer, EJ Hersom, for the photo!

Read the bios here.

MC perspective: Teachers get to play too!

MC 2 Don White

WARNING!  This is going to be another one of those posts that makes you want our job!

MC2 White is a photography instructor for the Basic Mass Communication Specialist Course at the Defense Information School.  He spends most of his time grading, not producing.  Every once in while he gets to pick up a camera and do some shooting.

NAVY LEAP FROGS

WHITE: I was fortunate enough to be offered a ride along with the Leap Frogs when they came to Baltimore to perform a jump during the Orioles/Yankees series. It was a great experience, just being able to get back out and shoot again. Especially the photos I was able to take from the back of the C-130. 

Preparing to fly.

 I love aerial photography, so I jump at any opportunity to fly.

Preparing to jump.

Being an instructor, you always want to show the students your work. However, after a few months, it becomes old. 

 "You need fresh material to let them know you still have it."

I like to take jobs outside of DINFOS to help keep my imagery fresh for my students.

SAFE!

 
I AM YOUR EYES: Thanks MC2! 

If you're not familiar with them, check out the Leap Frogs here. 

"The United States Navy Parachute Team, commonly known as the Leap Frogs, is the parachute demonstration team of the United States Navy. It consists of an all volunteer team of active-duty personnel drawn from Naval Special Warfare (NSW), including Navy SEALs, Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) and support personnel."

They better not be talking to Yankees fans.

Hello from [hold on I need to adjust my mask I'm freezing] Alaska!

See that guy in the photo getting destroyed by a Chinook?  That's me. Photo by Seth Robson from Stars & Stripes.

The Chinook helicopter flew directly over us and landed, a deviation from the expected "fly near us and land".  That meant a -70F downdraft nailed me, the Army shooter and the Stars and Stripes photographer as it coasted over our heads on the way to deliver the top-level international and U.S. badasses that were in Black Rapids to share their knowledge.
 

"WHY AM I HERE?"

Because melting ice in the Arctic means new transportation alleys and new resource opportunities.  And also because we need to continuously talk to our allies, and we need to do it in person.
 
Never underestimate the power of showing a Mongolian officer how to blow it up after a fist bump.

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I just got back from Black Rapids, Alaska, the Army's premiere training site for cold weather survival and combat.  They just hosted a first of its kind international event that saw 12 countries flying in to share their knowledge of sub zero tactics.

I spent five years in South Florida before enlisting in the Navy.

No problem. I enlisted to serve...and sacrifice.

Back row from left to right: Finland, Japan, Norway, Germany and Mongolia.

Much of the event happened in a conference room at Black Rapids.  That was disappointing for a camera guy but it paid off eventually for the countries involved.  They bonded!

Here's one of my favorite parts of the mission.  Emily is from a local Alaska TV station.  She absolutely killed it with that camera.  I'm terrified of those things, so big ups to her!  Stand by for a link to the story she created from the event.

Zack interviews the Mongolian representative for NPR.

This is Zack from a local NPR affiliate.  This guy gets it.  He said to me, man as long as you're curious and humble, you'll get the story.

YES.

Survival tip:  Former MC Andrew Breese told me to route my wireless mic through a Zoom recorder to achieve less background noise.

LISTEN TO THIS ADVICE.

This is me using the latest technology!  It doesn't happen often but I'm pretty sure no one in the military is using the new Feiyu Tech G4 stabilizer.  It makes using the GoPro siiiiiiiiiiick!

This is my favorite photo.  This is a super high-ranking Japanese officer that loved my GoPro setup.  He was very cool considering he probably could've 1-inch death punched me at any time.

At the Vice President's...Naval Observatory?

We recently shot some video of a Holiday party at Mr. Biden's house.  I had no idea it was located on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory.

Here I'm recording his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, welcome the military families to their home. The Secret Service was media - friendly and carved me out a spot to shoot from.  It's rare, but very nice when that happens.

Dr. Biden is amazing with a crowd btw.  She's very charming, graceful and down-to-earth. The VP wasn't there.

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device