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8:57 AM, Wednesday, March 5th,   And just like that I’m back on a plane. I checked in for this flight before I even got to spring training.   So. The day that was… well, it was kinda familiar. It was Lakers Media Day all over again except this time with way more players and lots of cameras in a tiny tent. Now I understand why my Dodger contact literally asked for a picture of my rig. They had a guy with a ronin steadicam rig that was gargantuan as well as an on-the-shoulder cam, a still photographer and every now and then a behind-the scenes hand held cam. Now throw me in? It was quite a dance not to run into everyone.   As usual the other camera guys had so many questions about the camera. We’re all such geeks just excited about new tech. I love the brotherhood of tech geeks. We're just happy. Though the ronin guy admitted he’s firmly in the “3D isn’t worth the struggle” camp. I agree with him 10 years ago… different now that there’s so many headsets out there. You’re playing to an existing base that doesn’t find it cumbersome. And the results are so much better than pancake 3D (I think that’s what you’d call it?) The difference between a flat screen with things coming at you as opposed to simply being present within a scene. I mean, duh, of course I believe in it.   So the 3 Japanese players were the focus since this will be premium content for the Dodgers fan club in Japan… but I got nearly every player because, well, I’m there. More importantly I waited outside the tent to get the Japanese players walking to the tent. I always treat these shoots like I’m a 10 year old kid and the players are Michael Jordan. It’s why I got the hallway shot with LeBron and something as innocuous as Ohtani walking across a field - if I was a little kid with access? I’d want to see as much as possible.   Ohtani is remarkably large. Like not just tall, he’s thick. You realize quite quickly where that power comes from. He did his media photoshoot and then an absolute magic moment occurred. Much like the moment with LeBron in the hallway - it’s one of those things you don’t have control over, but you can almost will it by being in position.   So I follow Ohtani out of the tent and change the settings on my camera for daylight and hit record. As he’s walking away he realizes he took the baseball they were using for the prop. Ya know when you’re in the stadium and they show the player intro videos and the pitchers hold the ball to the camera or throw it up and down? Yeah that one. He turns around and says “oh this isn’t mine” and hands it to me… from the perspective of the VR camera. That’s what some kid is gonna see in his VR headset. This is the epitome of Virtual Presence: because we’re agile and mobile? We can be in these positions that lockdown cameras simply cannot. These are organic moments that just can’t be captured any other way. Talk about a proof of concept!   I was then able to get some dugout shots during the game… pretty cool. And finally spent some time in the stands with a guy Hef hooked me up with that he used to work with at Fox Sports who lived in the area. I actually thew him in the headset IN the stadium to show him some stuff and he may be the only person who has ever done that before. Ha. Todd Merkow, take a bow.   Then of course as I’m walking to my hotel room I realize the entire shoot comes down to whether or not I nailed the focus on the Ohtani shot. That’s the thing when everything is manual… you honestly aren’t certain. You can be close, but until you render it out and throw it in your headset? Ya don’t know. And I have indeed fucked up before.   So since I really can’t share any of the footage from the shoot, that’s gonna be today’s video (lol): me finding out if I fucked it up or not…     I mean did anyone think I was gonna give the prop ball back? They have tons of ‘em. That ball instantly became one of the most meaningful items I own and it would’ve meant nothing to them. It represents hustling my ass off for the shot and holy fuckballs he hands it to the VR viewer and the exposure, focus and everything is perfect. I cannot believe that happened.   Ex-haaaaaaaaaale. Seriously, that’s the whole shoot right there. That was the magic. And let’s think about this for a moment: I have two of these moments with arguably the two greatest players in their respective sports… of all-time.   Blink.   Next month I’m going to be face to face with Tom Brady and the other owners of the Raiders and should be able to show them a reel of what we do. Tom Brady, inarguably the greatest quarterback of all-time. Pretty sure he’ll appreciate the LeBron and Ohtani footage…   Blink.   Sometimes shit just works man. It all leads into the next thing. Finally the ducks are in a row and even my PTSD ass is starting to get excited. Wait, wow, that’s actually true. It’s funny in the last entry all I could talk about was my lack of joy and I think what I’m saying is that ball represents just a tiny bit of it creeping back in. I sat in the hotel room and just tossed it around and for the first time felt lucky. Sure it was my hard work that got me there, and the foresight to go beyond the media shoot and follow his ass outside the tent, but that was an absolute lucky break that he forgot he had the ball and the fact that I was recording that? And it’s gonna make people get all tingly when they watch it?   How joyful. It’s joy. Dude I am tearing up on this fucking plane right now. What the hell.   Art heals.   <tear>   Adam