Behind the scenes on QandA

Tony Jones and the team that put together the very successful ABC TV production Questions and Answers invited me and my cameras to shoot and tweet real time pictures from behind the scenes as they prepared to host The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday 14th March.

 I was given complete freedom to shoot whatever grabbed my attention,  uploaded the results in monochrome and colour and they can be seen on Twitter here

http://twitter.com/#!/abcqanda

A selected gallery of colour pictures can be seen on the Q & A website here

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/photos.htm

Here is a small selection of my favorites from the QandA offices at 700 Harris Street, the rehearsals and the show, live from Studio 22.

The day begins in the QandA offices on the 5th floor at The ABC in Ultimo......

Production meeting in the early afternoon with Tony Jones, Senior producer Lindsay Olney and Executive Producer Peter McEvoy (who's elbow is framing Mr Onley)

Tony Jones reads through some of the hundreds of questions submitted by viewers

Sorting through the video questions sent in by viewers in Executive Producer Peter McEvoy's office with Tony Jones and senior producer Amanda Collinge (Peters sense of humor is evident from the Frontline Team photograph on his office wall)

 The known questions are ordered and edited

 The crew check camera angles, lighting and generally sort out the myriad of technical details that all must run faultlessly and reliably when broadcasting live TV

 Audience members start to arrive and wait patiently in the foyer at 700 Harris Street

Tony has a practice run through with the crew in the Studio

The magnificent ABC wardrobe department stand by with a selection of ties all pre-knotted and ready to slip over Tony's neck during rehearsal and camera check.

Tony Jones talks to the crowd in the foyer at The ABC prior to entering the Studio

 The Prime Minister is in the building

The Executive Producer Peter McEvoy talks to the audience after they have taken their seats in Studio 22

 The Prime Minister Julia Gillard in her dressing room with her advisors.

Some last minute instructions to the studio audience.

Julia takes her place on set

It's airtime

All the crew have these very cool T-shirts, the new shirts have a pair of shoes and the phrase "now with added security"on the back

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard watches the Julian Assange video question

 Prime Minister Gillard and Tony leave the set

Executive Producer Peter McEvoy and Tony debrief after the show

As well as the behind the scenes pictures I set a camera about half way up gantry stairs that lead to the roof in an empty Studio 22 on the Friday before the show.

I programmed the automatic timer to take 1 picture every minute and let it do its thing.

I assembled this into a time-lapse video that covered the over 9.6 hours of activity on the set, this included the set up, camera tests and rehearsals, dry runs, lighting adjustments, warm up, the show and finally taking down the set and readjusting the lighting. The video runs for 24 seconds and for those who want to know such things was put together at a frame rate of 24 frames per second.

 

I had a wonderful and time with the Q and A people and I will be returning for another visit later in the year so stay tuned. Thanks to everyone at QandA especially Tony, Peter, Amanda and my old mate Lindsay.

Cursing my packing on the McIvor Highway

Picture opportunities often present themselves at inconvenient times and your instincts are to push on and ignore them. I have learnt over the years that you always regret not stopping and getting the gear out, the picture that never was. I suspect that every photographer has a file of "missed opportunities" through either apathy or fatigue the picture that was glimpsed but never conceived. I made a resolution this year to chase every glimmer of a picture no matter what the circumstances, a no regrets picture year if you like.

It started as a faint glow growing steadily brighter.  I could see over the top of the trees what I thought was sprinklers working under lights, playing fields being watered I thought. As I drew nearer I realised the moving mass was actually small crickets swarming around the lights at the Bendigo trotting track. A night meeting was underway. 

Their zig zagging flight lent itself to a timed exposure which I hoped would show their erratic flight path so I fought my fatigue and pulled the car over.

I cursed myself for packing the tripods first. After a few minutes on the side of the road, the air heavy with expletives I liberated the sticks, the passing trucks must have puzzled as their lights revealed a lunatic hurling lens cases and light stands out of the boot. I scrambled down a steep bank with my gear and played around with exposures and apertures until I was happy.

It’s not going to win a Pulitzer but I am glad that I stopped and took the time to capture it. No sick feeling in the stomach for a lost opportunity.

 From time to time this year I will post my taken opportunities here.

 

Cartooning in Benghazi

My Friend and Middle East correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Jason Koutsikas sent me these cartoons from Libya. Some have  been painted on walls and the large works on paper are being exhibited on the Benghazi corniche near the courthouse building where the uprising began on February 17. He sent translations with some of them, the others need no translation

 

 Libya kicks out Gaddafi.The map of Libya is in the colours of the original flag adopted when it gained independence in 1951. The flag was replaced after Gaddafi took power in 1969 with a plain green flag. If you look closely at his right shoulder you can see the star of David. There is a widely held perception in Libya that Gaddafi  is the son of Jewish parents and is a secret ally of The State of Israel.

 

 The 42 on the boot heel is the number of years that he has been in power 

Gaddafi says: “If I leave Libya, I take everything with me”. The red script identifies the man kneeling as a member of the February 17 Youth.

“You Next”  In the rubbish bin are Hosni Mubarak and written across the arse of the other guy in the rubbish bin is "Ben Ali", the former President of Tunis, Zinedine Ben Ali.

 

On the rubbish bin is written: Trash. 

 

  The map of Libya crushes Gaddafi. Written on the map in blue: Libya Free, Libya Together. In the speech bubble, Gaddafi is saying something like: “You, Libyan people, I am not dead. I am stone”.  

  Gaddafi points to an African mercenary: Go get ‘em.

 

Gaddafi and his son, Saif al-Islam, who was his designated successor. On each of the bullets is a reference to various things that have upset the people. For example, Libya’s war with Chad, his neglect of health and education, political prisoners who have been martyred.

 

  

Check-mate.  

Gaddafi cries and bangs his fists against the date February 17 2011, the day the uprising began.

 

 

 

Standing next to Gaddafi is the “nurse” that was referred to in the Wikileaks cables as taking special care of the colonel. With his right hand, Gaddafi is trying to block the satellite dish. He is looking at the satellite which is identified as belonging to NileTV, which is Egyptian State Television. The caption across the top effectively says: You will not tell Libya what is happening in Egypt.  

 

 My thanks to Jason for the considerable effort he went to in photographing and translating these works.